Starbucks & Marshall

 We've officially reached the point in the semester where the most energy I can muster is to walk across the street and go to Starbucks. I'm sure everyone here already has their opinions of Starbucks already decided, so I'm not going to attempt to sway anyone either direction. As much as I am not the biggest fan, I can't deny the extreme convenience of being able to order from my phone and barely leave the music building. 

Like many people my age, Starbucks was my first foray into coffee. My mom & stepdad Greg used to love taking me and my older sister to the beach for day trips. We would leave before the sun rose, and to keep us from being obnoxious the entire drive, we would always start trips with Starbucks. They would order drinks for us kids loaded with espresso and sugar, so we would have a crazy burst of energy, followed swiftly by a crash that would leave us knocked out for hours. 

I wanted to contrast a coffee chain that is so ubiquitous with a piece of music that is completely new to myself (and likely all of you). I typed "brass quintet" into our library's search engine and just scrolled until I found something I had never seen before: Hillslide by Pamela J. Marshall. I performed one of her works for unaccompanied horn on my qualifying recital this semester, so I was excited to explore more of her catalog!

Pamela J. Marshall is an American composer and horn player. She was born in 1954 and studied at Eastman School of Music and Yale University. Since graduating, she has played horn in a variety of professional ensembles and has been commissioned by many groups, including the International Horn Society. Marshall has written many works for brass, including solos for horn, trumpet, and trombone (sorry tubas & euphoniums). Her chamber music for brass instruments spans from three brass quintets to horn choirs to mixed ensembles. 

Hillslide is one of Marshall's three brass quintets. The piece was written in 1992 and is approximately 5 minutes long. The piece was written to Myra Little-Porter and the Commonwealth Brass Quintet. Hillslide consists of two movements: Meditation and Scherzo. The one interesting element to the instrumentation is that the horn part can be played either on the standard double horn or an alpenhorn! Most of us horn players don't own alpenhorns, but if a university's horn studio owns one this could be a fun way to have a student play more than just horn calls, and instead something "modern," on the instrument. The ranges of the different parts are very comfortable, and this piece could be programmed successfully by a student ensemble. 

Unfortunately, this piece has not been recorded so I was not able to share a performance with all of you. The piece also is currently not for sale through Spindrift Music Company (where one normally would buy Marshall's works) which probably contributes to the lack of recording. One of the challenges that historically underrepresented composers face is the barrier of getting their piece not only performed, but recorded (and a high quality recording can be even harder). I think it is a challenge for us as modern musicians not to let a lack of recording prevent us from learning a new work, and to instead take it upon ourselves to contribute new recordings when we are able. At the University of Iowa, we are lucky to have a robust music library and I encourage everyone to find a new (to them) piece this semester!