Instrumentation

• C INstruments

• E-flat Instruments

• Tenor Saxophone

• B-flat Instruments

• F Instruments

• Bass Clef Instruments

• Tuba

• Mallets

• Percussion (Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Suspended Cymbal)

Rehearsal Notes

• Every instrument has the melody or a feature at some point in the song

• All parts use only the first 6 notes of the concert B-flat scale

• Percussion parts are written so each part can be played by a single player, with three unique percussion instruments in addition to mallets

• F Horn parts have some altered notes to better match the unique range of beginning F Horn students

Program Notes

Dots is inspired by the artistic work of painter Georges Seurat. Seurat lived from 1859-1891, and painted using a style referred to as pointillism. Pointillism is a painting technique where instead of using brush strokes to create the art, the artist uses small dots of paint. The style depends on the ability of our eyes to merge the dots together to create the colors and images that the painter intends. While from a distance the eye merges the color dots together and the image seems to be one fluid piece of art, when viewed up close the individual dots can be seen, and they can seem to be random.

This song aims to create a musical image in the same way Seurat created his art, with a consistent steady rhythm of eighth notes present throughout the song. Every instrument gets to play melody and harmony, and contributes to the eighth note motif present throughout the song.

This version of the song is written for three part FLEX band, with all instruments using the first 6 notes of the concert B-flat scale. This includes three percussion parts (Snare drum, bass drum, and suspended cymbal), along with all three parts being available for mallets as well. Some of the F Horn parts have been adjusted to different notes outside of the first 6 notes of the concert B-flat scale but match a more comfortable range for beginning F Horn students.