Alternate Time: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Slater nails the balance between pedagogical focus and genuine musicality. Students engage with shifting meters because the bouncy theme carries them through the changes, not despite them. The piece teaches without feeling like a lesson.

Bouncy and perpetually forward-moving, with just enough rhythmic surprise to keep ears attentive. The chromatic and scalar writing creates color and motion, giving the piece an accessible but musically substantial character that feels fresh rather than rote.

Concert bands working at the late Grade 2 to early Grade 3 level who want to tackle metric modulation in a high-energy context. Directors seeking repertoire that teaches real concepts (constantly changing meters) while keeping students engaged and the audience entertained.

• Map out the meter changes before rehearsals begin. Have students mark time signature transitions in their parts so they anticipate shifts rather than reacting to them.
• Let the rhythm section lock in first. Once percussion and low winds establish the pulse through each meter change, the rest of the band will follow more confidently.
• Balance the chromatic passages against the primary theme. These scalar lines should support the energy without overshadowing the bouncy melodic material that anchors the piece.
• Conduct the beat clearly and consistently. Shifting time signatures demand a conductor students can trust; exaggerate your patterns in early rehearsals so the ensemble can feel the stability beneath the metric variety.

Program this early in a concert to set an energetic tone, or use it as a teaching showcase piece that demonstrates your band's growing sophistication with contemporary concert band writing. Its two-minute length makes it ideal for a mixed program with longer works.

• Reading and performing constantly changing time signatures
• Maintaining pulse and ensemble cohesion across metric shifts
• Playing chromatic passages with intonation and clarity
• Executing running scalar lines at tempo
• Responding to percussion scoring and rhythm section changes