Escape Room (Flex Band Gr. 1.5)

Escape Room places musicians and listeners in a race against the clock, using repeating, layered figures to steadily build tension. The piece culminates in a driving conclusion that leaves one question unanswered: did we escape, or not?

Genre: 5-Part Flex Band | # of Players: Flexible
Series: SpectraFlex Band Series
Level: 1.5 | Duration: 1:30

Instrumentation
Transposed Score (8.5"x11" stapled booklet)
Condensed "C" Score (8.5"x11" stapled booklet)

Part 1: Flute, Oboe, B-flat Clarinet, B-flat Trumpet
Part 2: B-flat Clarinet/Trumpet, E-flat Alto Saxophone
Part 3: B-flat Clarinet/Trumpet, E-flat Alto Saxophone, F Horn
Part 4: B-flat Tenor Saxophone, F Horn, Trombone/Euphonium/Bassoon
Part 5: B-flat Bass Clarinet, E-flat Baritone Saxophone, Trombone/Euphonium/Bassoon, Tuba, Double Bass

Piano [optional]
Timpani [optional, 2 drums]
Bells
Xylophone [optional]
Percussion 1: [2+ players] Low Tom(s), Bass Drum
Percussion 2: [optional, 2 players] Hi-Hat, Suspended Cymbal

Program Notes
In Escape Room, we find the listener locked in a room in a race against the clock. Repeating, layered figures gradually build tension throughout the piece, culminating in the return of the opening material before a driving conclusion. The ending leaves listeners to wonder whether our escape was successful, or whether we’re forever stuck inside. Though quite literal in its nature, this piece can also serve as a metaphor for being stuck in a place you don’t belong with a desperate need to get out.

The work draws inspiration from a defining musical experience in my early years as a percussionist: playing timpani on Robert W. Smith’s Furioso as a middle school student in the 2005 San Benito All City Band. It was my first conscious experience with musical layering, and the excitement of that moment has stayed with me ever since. Escape Room represents a long-held goal of capturing that energy, serving as a middle school-level companion to my more advanced piece for band, Nightmare Fuel.

Escape Room was commissioned by Omar Blanco and the Perkins Middle School Symphonic Band based in Brownsville, Texas.

– M.C.