African Dances: Wind Band Score & Parts

Five distinct snapshots of African music, each with its own character and energy. The continuous five-movement form means your ensemble and soloist move through different landscapes without stopping, creating a narrative arc that feels both cohesive and exploratory.

Wind bands at intermediate level and above who want to program something that honors African musical traditions while offering genuine musical challenge. This work suits ensembles with a strong clarinet soloist and the rhythmic sophistication to handle cross-metric material.

• Balance the clarinet's virtuosic lines against the ensemble by rehearsing wind band sections separately first. The piece moves quickly between textures, so knowing when to sit back and when to support the soloist prevents muddiness and keeps rhythmic clarity sharp.
• Pay close attention to the cross-rhythmic patterns Turnbull incorporates. Mark beat divisions clearly in rehearsal and use sectional work to lock these layered rhythms before putting the full ensemble together.
• Give your clarinet soloist space to shape the phrasing within each movement. The African choral traditions that inform this piece depend on expressive rubato and breath control, not metronomic precision.

This work functions as a strong centerpiece for a concert exploring world music traditions or cultural diversity. Its length and structural completeness make it substantial enough to anchor a program on its own, or pair it with other multicultural repertoire to deepen thematic programming.

• Reading and executing cross-rhythmic patterns across ensemble parts
• Balancing complex ensemble textures while highlighting a featured solo line
• Interpreting and performing music grounded in non-Western musical traditions
• Sustaining focus and precision across five connected movements
• Responding to rubato and expressive phrasing in an ensemble setting