On the Wing: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

$55.00 USD

On the Wing: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Name: On the Wing: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 98-B1578
Price: 55.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

By Jack Wilds

Grade: 2

Item: 98-B1578

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This tribute to the exhilaration and majesty of flight is a perfect opener for your next concert. The aggressive opening fanfare provides the catalyst for the entire work as the music moves through a series of textural shifts. After a more subdued middle section (at the same tempo), the opening music returns once more in heroic fashion, driving to a thrilling ending.

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Series: FJH Young Band

Publisher: The FJH Music Company, Inc.

UPC: 674398232895

SKU: 98-B1578

More about this title

About the Composer: Jack Wilds

Jack Wilds writes music across an unusually broad spectrum of ensemble types and age groups, from children's choirs through professional orchestras. His compositional voice integrates literary and visual inspiration alongside rigorous musical craft, consistently creating works that challenge performers without losing sight of accessibility. This foundation in both artistic ambition and pedagogical clarity runs through everything he writes.

Wilds spent years in the public school classroom before joining the faculty at Texas State University, where he teaches composition and theory. His wind band catalog spans over 40 publications and appears regularly on festival required lists across multiple continents. He maintains active roles as clinician, adjudicator, and co-director of music at First Presbyterian Church in San Marcos, where he has worked for more than a decade.

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Why we love this

This is exactly what a Grade 2 opener should be: immediate, confident, and architecturally clear. The fanfare grabs attention without demanding technical pyrotechnics, and Wilds uses the textural shifts to sustain interest across the full arc rather than relying on a single musical idea. You'll feel the piece land exactly where it promises to land.

What to expect

The music captures flight as metaphor: explosive takeoff, a moment of weightless suspension, then the surge of return. There's swagger in the orchestration and real emotional shape in how the middle section breathes and recedes. It feels like something important is happening, from the first note through the thrilling conclusion.

Who it's for

Concert bands at the Grade 2 level looking for a programmatic opener with genuine musical substance. This works equally well for festival programs, regular concerts, or as a confidence-builder for developing ensembles. The piece respects your students' growing musicianship without overestimating their technical facility.

How to get the most out of it

Shape the opening fanfare with lift and projection, but avoid rushing the rhythmic drive. The aggression comes from commitment and clarity, not speed.
Use the middle section's relative quietness as genuine contrast. Bring the dynamics down enough that the return of the opening material registers as a real event.
Lock the ensemble together at key structural points (the fanfare returns, the final drive). These moments need collective precision to land their intended power.
Balance the texture shifts carefully. If some sections drop out, make sure the remaining voices maintain the phrase shape and momentum.

How to use it

Open your concert with this and signal to your audience that they're hearing serious music, not warm-up material. It pairs well with contrasting middle pieces (something lyrical, or a folk-song arrangement) and allows you to close the program with something equally substantive. At festival, it establishes your band's musicality immediately and frees your remaining performance slots to showcase different colors and styles.

Skills your students will build

Reading and executing dynamic contrast across sections and formal boundaries
Balancing texture when instruments drop in and out of the mix
Shaping ensemble sound through collective phrase control rather than individual virtuosity
Responding to structural clarity and using architectural form as a guide to musical expression