Score
Five note scale music is seen not only in Scottish music but also in
traditional music from Japan. This is a kind of 'Morris dance' but the
famous Japanese folk tune 'Soran-bushi' appears at bar 154 (rehearsal
number K) for trombones. All Japanese people know this melody. That's why
the title is 'Nippon hey!', with Nippon meaning Japan.
'Nippon Hey!' was premiered as an encore piece for the concert of GWE
(Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Green-Tie Wind Ensemble,directed by
Yasuhide Ito), held in Kanagawa, Japan, conducted by Douglas Bostock. In
this concert, the final piece was the famous 'Lincolnshire posy' by A. P.
Grainger, whom I admire very much. I wanted to write an encore piece
showing Grainger's influence on me that would fit well with the final
piece. You'll find a taste of Grainger in 'Nippon Hey!'
'Nippon Hey!' is in G major, because of 'G'WE.
And also at letter G and J, appears GWE motives, which is, GG (double G)E,
or, GEE (double E).
Some special trumpets such as the piccolo trumpet, Aida trumpet, slide
trumpet and bass trumpet are found in the trumpet section. Some trumpet
students were joking about bringing such special trumpets when we had a
photo session for the flyer which is why I used them. But, of course you can
play the piece with normal trumpets.
"Nippon hey!" premiered on July 21st 2010 and its European premier was on
September 2010 during the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra European concert tour,
conducted by Douglas Bostock.
