Falling Water: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Broege has written a concert band piece that sounds nothing like the obligatory Grade 3 festival selection. The fantasia structure gives you freedom to shape the dramatic arc rather than following rigid formal expectations, and the varied textures keep your ensemble engaged across the full 4:45 runtime.

Water in motion captures the piece's character; sections build and recede like waves, the tonality shifts unexpectedly like light refracting through spray, and moments of clarity emerge from restless harmonic movement. The drama builds organically rather than through bombast.

Young concert bands ready to program something beyond the standard Grade 3 repertoire. This works well for ensembles that have solid fundamentals and are eager to explore more contemporary compositional thinking.

• Pay close attention to the restless tonality shifts; students should hear these as intentional color changes rather than mistakes. Mark them clearly in rehearsal so sections understand when the harmonic ground has shifted beneath them.
• Balance the dramatic energy across different sections of the band. Because the piece moves through multiple textural areas, watch for thinner passages where a single line might get lost in the upper winds or brass.
• Work with your rhythm section to establish confidence early. The varied textures mean some moments ask your percussion and low brass to anchor the sound while upper voices have more melodic responsibility.

Pair this as a centerpiece selection on a festival concert or use it as a programming contrast against more traditional works. Its length and sectional structure make it ideal for showcasing different instrumental families within a single piece.

• Managing tonal shifts and harmonic ambiguity
• Balancing varied instrumental textures
• Phrasing within a non-traditional formal structure
• Responding to dramatic dynamic and tempo changes
• Articulating fast moving passages with clarity