Northwestern Sketches: 4 Trombones Score & Parts

Contemplative and modern, shaped by the anticipation of travel and geography. The harmonic language feels open and exploratory, almost landscape-like; you're moving through space with intention but without the constraints of traditional functional harmony.

Trombone quartets ready to take on advanced harmonic concepts and explore repertoire beyond the standard canon. This works for festival programs, chamber ensembles competing at the college or advanced high school level, or groups wanting to champion underrepresented instrumentation in contemporary brass writing.

• Balance the harmonic density carefully across all four voices. The whole tone passages particularly need clarity; let each line breathe independently so the non-traditional harmony reads as intentional rather than muddy.
• Pay close attention to intonation in the hexachordal sections. When you're working outside traditional major-minor tonality, pitch accuracy becomes your primary tool for keeping the ensemble locked together.
• Mark your entrances clearly in rehearsal. Perrier's writing occasionally offsets rhythmic expectations, so consensus on how phrases land will save you revision time later.

Position this on a festival program or concert where your ensemble can anchor a set of contemporary chamber works. It also serves well as a standalone feature for an ensemble showcase or as the centerpiece of a program exploring modern approaches to brass writing.

• Reading and performing hexachordal harmony
• Intonation adjustment in non-traditional harmonic contexts
• Voice independence and balance across four equal parts
• Whole tone scale navigation and control
• Ensemble blend and clarity in complex harmonic textures