Divertimento for Band: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Hearshen writes with genuine orchestral sophistication while keeping the score playable for strong high school and college bands. The five-movement structure gives you multiple entry points for programming: you could perform the entire work as a showpiece or select individual movements to pair with contrasting repertoire. The stylistic range keeps audiences engaged and gives your ensemble real interpretive challenges within each movement.

A musical travelogue that swings through American vernacular styles with orchestral ambition. Ragtime energy gives way to blues introspection; Latin mambo fire contrasts with the intimate warmth of Susan's Song; a spirited march closes the journey. The whole feels sophisticated yet approachable, never condescending to the styles it explores.

Advanced concert bands seeking substantial five-movement literature that challenges musicians across multiple idioms without requiring specialist knowledge of any single style. Directors programming festival competitions, concert tours, or traditional spring concert programs will find this work sits naturally at Grade 5 without feeling routine.

• Study the rhythmic interactions between ragtime syncopation in the first movement and straight eighths in supporting voices; precision here sets the tone for the entire work.
• Balance the solo lines in Susan's Song (Movement IV) carefully so lyrical content reads clearly over harmonic support.
• Lock the Latin percussion and rhythm section feel in Mambo Loco (Movement III) during sectional rehearsals before bringing in the full band.
• Use the dynamic contrasts between movements to reset the ensemble's energy; allow for brief pauses between movements if performing the complete five-movement cycle.

Program the complete five-movement work as a concert centerpiece or featured selection in a competition format. Alternatively, the individual movements pair well as contrasting items in a diverse concert program: pair the blues movement with folk arrangements, or use the march as a spirited closer alongside patriotic selections.

• Stylistic flexibility across ragtime, blues, mambo, and march idioms
• Balance and blend in five-movement large forms
• Rhythmic precision in syncopated and syncopated-against-straight textures
• Dynamic shaping and expressive phrasing within and across movements
• Latin percussion and rhythm section integration