Second Prelude: Viola

Ben Hawkins' arrangement captures the cinematic quality of Gershwin's Second Prelude while making it genuinely singable for string orchestras at the high school level. The writing balances transparency of line with rich harmonic color, so your players get real parts to sink their teeth into without drowning in technical demand. It's a piece that programs beautifully against heavier or more rhythmically complex works because it establishes mood without stealing the room.

Picture a rain-slicked street at 3 a.m., the city briefly emptied and quiet. Then you turn a corner and stumble onto a speakeasy flooding with energy, laughter, and saxophone wails. Second Prelude walks between these worlds, atmospheric and reflective one moment, then suddenly alive with the restless pulse of the Jazz Age. The music shifts without warning, mirroring the unpredictability of a late night that keeps surprising you.

This works for advanced middle school orchestras and standard high school ensembles looking to explore American concert music with genuine substance. Directors seeking a contest or festival piece that stands apart from standard repertoire will find this both accessible and sophisticated enough to reward careful rehearsal.

• Shape the opening phrases with a breath before each new melodic gesture; resist the urge to push forward, as the piece's power lives in its stillness and restraint.
• Pay attention to the Hawkins arrangement's voice leading in the inner parts. Those aren't filler voices; they carry harmonic movement that keeps the piece alive.
• Let the jazz harmonies breathe. Gershwin's chord changes are intentional, and rushing through them flattens the atmospheric quality that makes this piece distinctive.
• Consider tempo relationships within sections. The contrast between quiet introspection and brighter moments needs space to register; transitions should feel organic rather than abrupt.

Program this alongside other early twentieth-century American works to give your audience a coherent evening that illuminates how composers were experimenting with vernacular music. Alternatively, use it as an opener or closer because its dramatic arc and strong closing will anchor a concert. It also serves as an excellent festival piece that showcases musicality and ensemble refinement without demanding virtuosity.

• Stylistically appropriate vibrato control in jazz influenced idioms
• Reading and executing syncopated rhythmic figures
• Dynamic shaping across longer phrases without excessive tempo variation
• Voicing and balance in jazz harmonies
• Rubato and expressive phrasing within a structural framework