Hell's Aquarium

This piece was commissioned by the Garden City Municipal Band for its 145th consecutive season, the summer of 2023. When approached by the board's president, Lawrence Hoerman, I had a sort of dark melody swirling around my head without a real purpose to it. At the same time, an article about prehistoric Kansas had been circulating the social feeds, and it all clicked that this melody belonged to that article; this is how this piece was born. The general idea of the article described what Kansas looked like between 145 and 66 million years ago. Monstrous and huge aquatic life that would have been nightmare inducing. Examples of prehistoric life that existed here in the western half of the state include the Xiphactinus, (the famous 14-foot-long, Fish-within-a-Fish fossil), which is on display at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas. Other aquatic examples include reptiles the size of buses, clams as big as car hoods, and in the air flew Pteranodons with wingspans the size of U-Haul's. This article had several phrases that were jarring to me, and it had me trying to imagine what prehistoric Kansas might have looked like. This is where the continuous multi-movement idea came from; the fluidity and mystery of dark water is why I chose continuous movements. The first movement is called "The Western Interior Seaway." This is the official name of the prehistoric body of water where many of these fossils have been found. Movement II is titled "Horror Under Water." This is what many paleontologists describe what would have been the normal everyday scene in the murky depths of Kansas. Movement III is called "Bus-length Reptiles and Car-hood Clams." This came from the description of the unfathomable sizes of the creatures. Finally, Movement IV is called "Fossils and Fish-within-a-Fish", named after the very fossil, that lives in our very own Sternberg Museum. Here is the link to the article that inspired the work: https://www.kake.com/story/47053820/western-kansas-was-hells-aquarium-80-million-years-ago-heres-what-it-can-teach-us-today This exciting programmatic work is great for an upper level high school wind ensemble, or a collegiate level ensemble. Melody is given to vibraphone, woodwinds, and brass alike. Tom toms have a prominent role throughout the piece. This piece features both lyrical and rhythmically complex and intense moments. Enjoy the ride!