Program Notes

Triptoe Suite for Orchestra

By Pamela J. Marshall (1954- )
Dedicated to Robert Blais and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony

Triptoe Suite started originally as two pieces for violin and piano, written for intermediate-level violinist for a concert of music for children presented by Just In Time Composers. Both pieces had a folk-dance quality and I knew they needed some companion movements to make a real suite. When Bob Blais asked me if I had anything that would be appropriate for the Green Mountain Youth Symphony, I thought of Triptoe Suite, but I knew it would need more development to make good use of the full symphony orchestra.

The original violin pieces are Peasant Dance and Hopping, now movements 2 and 4 of the orchestra version. In adapting these movements for orchestra, I revised and added countermelodies and made the pieces longer to give the sections the right balance. After all, the orchestra is a much bigger playground than a short solo piece. The first and third movements are newly written for this occasion. Here’s a quick description of each movement.

• Trip the Toes is a short introduction to the suite. The trumpet plays a fanfare-like melody that recalls the chants of children’s games and the horns play a countermelody with the trumpet. A second melody is faster and has a driving jazzy quality. If the players don’t pay attention, its fast, chromatic notes can trip the fingers. Woodwinds and strings alternate playing this faster melody until they all pile on and play it together at the end.
• Peasant Dance has a singing melody with a touch of syncopation in the second half of the piece. It sounds cheery even though it mixes G minor and G major chords in the accompaniment. The minor interval is always leaning toward the major.
• Ceremonial is a stately piece, like a solemn procession. It begins in a very regular 4/4 meter, but in the middle, the time signature changes frequently as the main melody is shortened or lengthened. After the fact, I notice that the main rhythm of the melody (short-long) becomes the main accompaniment figure in the next movement Hopping.
• Hopping is a lively piece with a snappy (short-long) rhythm in the accompaniment. The melody begins with an upward jump that comes back in different sizes throughout the piece. Toward the end, at the loudest moment, a funky rock bass line puts the focus on the low strings and brass.

The music is tonal with lots of chromaticism to add richness and complexity to the harmonies. I like orchestrating with plenty of color changes so there are lots of woodwind and brass moments, both solo and ensemble, and lots of variety in the string sounds, including pizzicato and glissandi. Don’t be shy about tapping your toes!