Chamber music, Arrangement, Brass quintet Ashley Killam Chamber music, Arrangement, Brass quintet Ashley Killam

Adoration, for brass quintet

Instrumentation: brass quintet (2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba)

Year Composed: 2022

Duration: 3’


Originally composed for organ by Florence B. Price

Premiered April 2022

Program Notes:

Adoration (1951) by Florence Price is a piece originally written for organ that I arranged for tuba-euphonium quartet, horn quartet, and brass quintet. This piece features a sweet melody reminiscent of truly adoring something and transports the listener to those fond memories. In the middle, there is a brief section with minor tonality that portrays the conflict that can sometimes occur in love, but the original melody returns as things will almost always resolve in the end.

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Chamber music, Arrangement, Brass quintet Ashley Killam Chamber music, Arrangement, Brass quintet Ashley Killam

Total Praise, for brass quintet

Instrumentation: brass quintet (2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba)

Year Composed: 2022


Originally composed for Gospel choir by Kirk Franklin

Premiered April 2022

Program Notes:

Total Praise is a Gospel standard composed by Richard Smallwood. This arrangement uses brass to match some of the magnificence of hearing a full choir and band perform the work.

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Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam

Spiritual Medley No. 2, for tuba-euphonium quartet

Instrumentation: tuba euphonium quartet (euphonium 1-2, tuba 1-2)

Year Composed: 2020

Includes “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” and “Steal Away”


Originally by “traditional”

Premiered August 2020 (virtual) by Black All-Star Tuba Euphonium Quartet. Premiered February 2022 (live) by Peabody Tuba-Euphonium Quartet.

Program Notes:

Spiritual Arrangement 2, written in summer 2020, incorporates three of my favorite spirituals: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” and “Steal Away.” Spirituals are songs created by African American slaves and passed down by rote. “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” tells the story of the speaker crying out for the support of the Lord during difficult times. This arrangement opens up with a solo voice playing the melody over drones. As the melody continues, the accompaniment gets more active and supportive until all the voices end playing in octaves, symbolizing a level of camaraderie. “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” is about the sorrow in being away from your home—the way the African American slaves were taken from their motherlands and often brought away from family through the American slave trade. This arrangement utilizes dissonance to convey the turmoil and the weight of the sadness. It ends with the tuba-euphonium pairs repeating the line “a long way from home.” The first uses extreme octaves between both instruments to present the distance between the speaker and their home, and the second uses closer octaves, ending on a unison, to present that there is no hope for a return home and they must accept where they are. “Steal Away” has an entirely different character from the first two songs. This song presents a story of the speaker “stealing away” to Jesus. While the story sounds as if it is more positive, finding “Jesus” and “home” can be viewed as symbolizing death. This arrangement captures the seemingly lighter character by using a blues style, but it ends by slowing down and fading to silence.

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Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam

Adoration, for tuba-euphonium quartet

Instrumentation: tuba euphonium quartet (euphonium 1-2, tuba 1-2)

Year Composed: 2020

Duration: 3’


Originally composed for organ by Florence B. Price

Premiered May 2020 (virtual) by self multi-track video. Premiered October 2020 (live) by Arizona State Graduate Tuba-Euph Quartet.

Program Notes:

Adoration (1951) by Florence Price is a piece originally written for organ that I arranged for tuba-euphonium quartet, horn quartet, and brass quintet. This piece features a sweet melody reminiscent of truly adoring something and transports the listener to those fond memories. In the middle, there is a brief section with minor tonality that portrays the conflict that can sometimes occur in love, but the original melody returns as things will almost always resolve in the end.

Read More
Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam

In the Bottoms Suite, for tuba-euphonium octet

Instrumentation: tuba euphonium octet (euphonium 1-4, tuba 1-4)

Year Composed: 2020

Duration: 13’30”

Movements:

I. Prelude: Night
II. His Song
IV. Barcarolle: Morning
V. Dance: Juba


Originally composed for piano by R. Nathaniel Dett

Premiered June-August 2020 (virtual) by the COVID-19 Black All Star Ensemble. Premiered April 2021 (live) by Appalachian State Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble.

Program Notes:

When I heard this piece, I was fascinated by its orchestrational potential. The nearly complete suite transferred to tuba-euphonium ensemble quite well, given the versatility and range ability of the ensemble. In addition to Dett’s own program notes, I would like to highlight the following: The second movement utilizes some liberties in arranging rather than transcribing. The fourth movement is essentially a virtuosic solo-euphonium feature. At this time, I do not have an existing arrangement of movement 3 (Honey) but can arrange it if there is demand.


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Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam Chamber music, Tuba-Euphonium, Arrangement Ashley Killam

Lift Every Voice and Sing, for tuba-euphonium octet

Instrumentation: tuba euphonium octet (euphonium 1-4, tuba 1-4)

Year Composed: 2020

Duration: 3’


Premiered September 2020 (virtual) by the COVID-19 Black All-Star Ensemble

Program Notes:

Lift Every Voice and Sing is considered the American Black National Anthem. It was originally composed by J. Rosamond Johnson and the lyrics written by James Weldon Johnson. This arrangement was written as the finale for my COVID-19 Black All-Star Ensemble project during the summer of 2020 (June-October). In its virtual premiere, it featured over 25 Black tuba and euphonium players around the US. The arrangement includes elements of fanfare to set up the anthem and features different sections of the ensemble.

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Arrangement, Wind band Ashley Killam Arrangement, Wind band Ashley Killam

In the Bottoms: Introduction and Juba Dance, for wind band

Instrumentation: wind band

Year Composed: 2022


Originally composed for piano by R. Nathaniel Dett. Arrangement commissioned by the Black Composer Revival Consortium

Premiered December 2022

Program Notes:

In the Bottoms was written originally for piano by Robert Nathaniel Dett in 1913. This five-movement suite is meant to depict “negro life in the river bottoms.” For this arrangement, I took the introduction from the first and second movements of the piece, “Prelude (Night)” and “His Song.” The “Juba Dance'' is the last movement of the piece.

According to Wikipedia, the juba dance is an “African-American style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks.” Typically, the dancers would form a circle to keep the rhythm and a solo dancer could get in the middle. Percussion instruments were often not allowed to be used by the slaves for fear of secret communication, so body percussion took their place. In the piece, the ostinato accompaniment line would be the equivalent of the rhythmic stomping and patting or clapping that would have taken place in a juba dance circle, while the melody would be sung or played on a fiddle.

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Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam

Spirituals of H.T. Burleigh, for orchestra

Instrumentation: orchestra (2.1.2.2.1/2.2.3.1/perc/hp/str)

Year Composed: 2019


Originally composed for voice and piano by Harry T. Burleigh.

Program Notes:

This arrangement is a suite of orchestrations of Harry T. Burleigh’s versions of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Chil’,” “Deep River,” and “Ain’t Goin’ to Study War No Mo’” (also known as “Down by the Riverside”). While the first two are transcriptions, the third song incorporates elements of  New Orleans Jazz in my own variation/arrangement before returning to Burleigh’s.

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Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam

Precious Lord, for orchestra

Instrumentation: orchestra (2.2.2.1/1.0.0.1/timp/hp/str)

Year Composed: 2020

Duration: 3’15”


Originally composed for choir by Thomas Dorsey.

Program Notes:

Precious Lord, Take My Hand was originally written by Thomas Dorsey. The lyrics were written in his despair after his wife and newborn child died during childbirth. It communicates the need of having God when things go wrong. 

This arrangement for a modified symphony orchestra relies on the harp and flute for much of its character. It features the french horn, tuba, and bassoon. There are elements emulating the hammond organ improvising and accompanying a sermon or prayer session in traditional Black churches.

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Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam Orchestra, Arrangement Ashley Killam

In the Bottoms: Introduction and Juba Dance, for orchestra

Instrumentation: orchestra

Year Composed: 2022


Originally composed for piano by R. Nathaniel Dett. Arrangement commissioned by the Black Composer Revival Consortium

Premiered October 2022

Program Notes:

In the Bottoms was written originally for piano by Robert Nathaniel Dett in 1913. This five-movement suite is meant to depict “negro life in the river bottoms.” For this arrangement, I took the introduction from the first and second movements of the piece, “Prelude (Night)” and “His Song.” The “Juba Dance'' is the last movement of the piece.

According to Wikipedia, the juba dance is an “African-American style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks.” Typically, the dancers would form a circle to keep the rhythm and a solo dancer could get in the middle. Percussion instruments were often not allowed to be used by the slaves for fear of secret communication, so body percussion took their place. In the piece, the ostinato accompaniment line would be the equivalent of the rhythmic stomping and patting or clapping that would have taken place in a juba dance circle, while the melody would be sung or played on a fiddle.

Read More