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Welcome to my unit plan for Mark Williams' Primordium. A Grade 1.5 piece, this work is scored for young players; the composer is sensitive to range and doubles many parts. Unlike most Grade 1 works, Primordium uses a wide-ranging harmonic and melodic vocabulary. It is a wonderful introduction to contemporary compositional styles, employed frequently in advanced band settings. It is my opinion that band students become so accustomed to traditional or functional tonality from being immersed in simple, sing-able, Bb Major tunes in elementary and middle school. Upon reaching advanced levels of band, the repertoire suddenly includes atonality, aleatoric principles, and modal harmonies, some students lose interest because they dislike much of the repertoire. Therefore, the goal of teaching Primordium is to introduce students to the genre of contemporary or 20th/21st Century compositional styles and to encourage them to listen to more advanced literature with an open mind and ear. |