Rippling Watercolors: Score
By Brian Balmages
Grade: 2
Item: 98-DB1628S
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Description
While many often underestimate the extensive colors, harmonies, and emotional ranges available to younger ensembles, this stunning lyrical work sets out to explore those very qualities. While playable by middle school bands, this fully expressive work is equally at home with mature ensembles. (4:45)
Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, Rippling Watercolors: Score comes alive with professional accompaniment, adjustable tempo, and built-in practice tools that turn solo practice into real progress.
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Additional Details
Series:
FJH Young Band
Publisher:
The FJH Music Company, Inc.
SKU:
98-DB1628S
More about this title
About the Composer: Brian Balmages
Brian Balmages has established himself as a composer and conductor working across orchestral, band, and chamber idioms. His works have received performances at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House, by ensembles ranging from professional orchestras to school groups. He is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and received the A. Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association.
Balmages won the 2020 NBA William D. Revelli Composition Contest for his composition Love and Light. He has served as a guest conductor at the Midwest Clinic, Western International Band Clinic, and numerous state and national conferences. His work was performed during the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, and he holds the inaugural James Madison University Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Visual and Performing Arts.
Why we love this
Balmages refuses to settle for the thin orchestration and safe harmonic language that often characterizes Grade 2 repertoire. This piece proves that younger bands can handle genuine musical sophistication: shifting color palettes, layered textures, and emotional nuance that keep mature audiences engaged without patronizing student performers.
What to expect
Rippling Watercolors unfolds like watching light shift across water. Transparent harmonies drift and merge; melodic fragments appear and dissolve. The emotional palette spans quiet introspection to moments of warmth and emergence, all sustained by the sense of gentle, continuous motion.
Who it's for
Middle school bands seeking repertoire that respects their musical intelligence while remaining technically accessible. This work also suits high school and college bands exploring sophisticated programming at an approachable difficulty level.
How to get the most out of it
- Balance the sustained harmonic backdrop against featured melodic lines. Train sections to listen horizontally so that inner voices support rather than obscure the primary musical idea.
- Shape phrases through subtle dynamic tapering rather than exaggerated contrasts. The watercolor imagery invites fluid transitions between color shifts.
- Allow the ensemble time to find their collective breath during rests. These silences are compositional choices that ground transitions and invite listener focus.
How to use it
Program this as an opening work on a concert mixing accessible and ambitious pieces, or feature it as a standalone offering at festivals where its lyricism and programmatic title will resonate with adjudicators and audiences alike. Its 4:45 duration makes it ideal for concert balance when paired with shorter works or a single longer selection.
Skills your students will build
- Voicing balance in transparent textures with multiple active melodic and harmonic layers
- Sustaining phrasing and musical direction through passage work without metric punctuation
- Listening to and executing dynamic shaping within a narrow, nuanced range
- Interpreting programmatic imagery (watercolor effects) as a guide for ensemble color and articulation choices