Passing - Brass Band

COMPOSER : Chris Allen

Passing was written over the course of a series of weekly virtual workshops, with fellow young brass band writers, led by composer Mike Sheppard during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. The piece has a ternary (ABA) form, beginning with a haunting melody accompanied by untethered, bleak harmonies.

From letter B, the clouds begin to dissipate, leading to a central section with a very traditional, romantic climax. However, this relief is short-lived and the music quickly returns to the atmosphere of the opening, but with small recollections of the bliss of the central section.

The image I had in mind while composing this piece was the experience of depression, and the idea of fleeting moments of happiness being overwhelmed by feelings of numbness, a sense of inevitable failure and things 'just happening'. This theme materialised musically in the bleak harmonies of the opening, and the ABA form, which leaves the listener in a very similar position to that they were in at the start, and conveys a kind of endlessness.

Chris Allen, December 2021

Tweet