March of the Trolls: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Imagine a parade of creatures with a quirky swagger, their harmonies stacked in ways that feel ancient and mischievous at once. There's a playfulness throughout that invites the band to commit to the odd sonorities and strange march rhythm without irony.

Beginning concert bands and intermediate groups looking for repertoire with personality and character without excessive technical demands. This works especially well for directors who want to build ensemble cohesion through music that's inherently engaging rather than purely technical.

• Balance the parallel fourths and fifths so the harmonic color comes through clearly; these sonorities need careful listening from the ensemble to land with impact.
• Shape the call and response sections by establishing clear phrase breathing between the answering groups. Avoid letting the dialogue flatten into unison.
• Keep the march pulse steady through the meter, even as the troll-themed melodic material shifts. Lock the pulse section early.
• Encourage the percussion players to commit fully to their parts. With plenty of percussion writing, these lines deserve the same musical attention as the melodic voices.

Program this early in a concert to establish an energetic tone, or use it as an intermission piece where the musical humor reads clearly to a general audience. The thematic connection to fantasy literature also makes it a natural pairing with other imaginative or contemporary works.

• Hearing and blending quartal and quintal harmony
• Responding to call and response cues across sections
• Maintaining steady pulse within march meter
• Balancing melody against harmonic color rather than just block chords
• Ensemble coordination with prominent percussion writing