Ghost Dances: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

This piece refuses sentiment for authenticity. Rather than score the Wounded Knee tragedy with conventional emotional crescendos, Barrett deploys aleatoric fragments and contemporary techniques to create something far more unsettling and honest. Conductors report that the work's formal boldness generates genuine engagement from students, who must grapple with intentional musical uncertainty and fragmentation as compositional tools, not distractions.

Fragmented and haunting, with moments of eerie stillness interrupted by urgent gestures. The aleatoric writing creates a sense of voices emerging and receding unexpectedly, as if witnessing scattered, overlapping testimonies. The piece prioritizes honesty over catharsis, leaving listeners in contemplation rather than resolution.

Grade 4 concert bands prepared to engage with contemporary music and significant historical content. This work suits ensembles with solid fundamentals in intonation and rhythmic precision, as well as the musical maturity to sit with discomfort as a deliberate artistic choice.

• Study the conductor score carefully before rehearsing; the aleatoric sections require you to establish clear cueing conventions so musicians understand when to enter and how their parts interact with the conductor's beat.
• Balance the contemporary harmonic language against the emotional weight of the subject matter by drilling ensemble blend and intonation in the more static passages, which will give the fragmented sections greater impact.
• Use the work's 6:45 duration as an opportunity to build sustained focus across your ensemble; break rehearsals into targeted segments on specific sections to prevent listener fatigue while maintaining the piece's cumulative power.

Pair this with other twentieth and twenty-first century works to create a thematic concert exploring how contemporary composers address historical trauma and social rupture. Its emotional and musical demands make it an excellent centerpiece for a program that educates audiences about both music history and American history.

• Interpreting and performing aleatoric notation with precision
• Maintaining ensemble cohesion across fragmented, non-traditional musical structures
• Recognizing contemporary compositional techniques as expressive tools rather than technical challenges
• Connecting musical form and gesture to historical and cultural context
• Reading complex contemporary scores with multiple layers and unconventional notation