Dudleytown

Grade 2.5 - 4:36

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Instrumentation

  • Flute

  • Oboe

  • Bassoon

  • Clarinet 1

  • Clarinet 2

  • Bass Clarinet

  • Alto Saxophone 1

  • Alto Saxophone 2

  • Tenor Saxophone

  • Baritone Saxophone

  • Trumpet 1

  • Trumpet 2

  • F Horn

  • Trombone

  • Euphonium (BC and TC)

  • Tuba

  • Timpani

  • Vibraphone

  • Vibraslap

  • Snare Drum

  • Bass Drum

  • Twirling Pipes

  • Wind Chimes

  • Slap Stick

  • Crash Cymbals

Rehearsal Notes

  • The first haunting (starting at measure 19), hereby referred to as the “owlry” is a rhythmic chant done by the Barred Owl, the type of owl that resides in the woods of Dudleytown. This owl is also known as the “who cooks for you” owl, as it’s rhythmic chant says that phrase. The woodwinds create this phrase using a cluster chord.

  • The first melody of the haunting starts at measure 37, but the melody is interrupted frequently by the woodwinds and trumpets. This melody returns in its full form in measure 59 in the trumpet.

  • The second haunting starts at measure 46. This theme is meant to symbolize a chase, where the faceless monster terrorizes the village, causing fear, distress, and chaos.

  • At measure 67 a variety of things are happening at the same time. The Owlry returns, while the flutes add frantic runs during the held portions of the owlry. Then the Hymn returns but this time it is set in minor, to symbolize the deterioration of the village and the loss of the hope it once had. The hymn is overlaid with returning elements from the previous haunts as well.

  • Measure 95 is a sudden wall of silence (symbolizing the abandonment of the village) and then the owlry returns with the haunting vibraphone melody played on repeat. The final cluster chord (starting at measure 108) is the town’s zip code (06796) spelt using the intervals between the notes to create the customized chord.


Program Notes

Dudleytown is an abandoned, haunted village found in the Litchfield Hills in Connecticut. Legend goes that the village was cursed by its founders, the Dudley Family, who had been related to Edmund Dudley, an Englishmen who was beheaded by King Henry VIII. The town, which was founded in the 1740’s, was converted from a forest to a farm land. The village was fraught with mental illness and poor crops, which was blamed on the curse. Some conspiracy theorists have even attempted to tie Lincoln’s assassination to the curse of Dudleytown. The song opens with a hymn, as this would be the music of New England when Dudleytown was founded. The song slowly transitions to the haunting, which begins with the owls lining the road to Dudleytown. The owls foreshadow the evil that is to befall upon the town, introducing the curse of the Dudley’s. The evil spreads, taunting and terrorizing the residents until the hymn returns, now a broken and sad variation of the original hopeful song. The closing section imitates the sudden way Dudleytown was vacated and abandoned, leaving only the owls behind.