In
2010, the City of Birmingham Brass Band was fortunate enough to find a
permanent home at Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in central
Birmingham, and it wasn’t long before a concert was planned in our magnificent
new venue. As a composer and arranger (as well as the band's Musical Director) I was
honoured to be asked by the band to write a little piece to celebrate this
occasion.
Of
course, my first inspirational thought was of Joseph Chamberlain himself,
“something in the style of Elgar, perhaps,” I said to myself. However, after
a little research on the man, I soon realised that, although an inspirational
and philanthropic figure, his life was littered with tragedy – hardly the
uplifting theme I needed! (“Another time
perhaps, Mr Chamberlain?!”)
Shortly
afterwards, whilst on a walk to clear my frustrated mind, I wondered what
material might be suitable for our “launch” concert. And then, in that one
thought, the entire first three or four minutes of the piece came to me, along
with a couple of motifs I would use. “A launch” – of course! What better theme
to have in our concert than that of the endeavour of man to explore the
furthest reaches of his environment using the extremes of his capabilities?
After a little more research (thank the Lord for Google!) I came across a
fascinating interview with Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon and a key
figure in subsequent space missions. He was making the case for the next big
manned missions and summed up with “Mars is out there, waiting to be reached.” And
so I had it! – a programmatic piece depicting a fictional future manned
mission to Mars.
In my mind, the trials and tribulations
of the astronauts would correlate closely with those experienced by the students at the college – excitement at first, doubts,
fears and problems to overcome on the way, and (hopefully) the exhilaration of
success.
All I needed to do now was to put pen to paper write it!
I
own a scruffy-looking black notepad that I use to jot down all manner of things
musical, from ideas for concerts to subjects for pieces (as well as garden
designs and circuit diagrams at the back too!) and so I scribbled away
furiously, jotting down motifs, shapes, storyline, anything at all. After
tickling the ivories here and there, I made a few musical jottings before
sitting down to through-compose my piece. That is to say, although I had some
musical motifs and a framework, I started writing from the beginning of the
piece and worked my way through to the end.
The
piece begins with individual solo cornets, each representing the three
astronauts. First one, then another joins, and then finally the third too. Each
has a slightly different character but all three work together precisely. (A
distant military drum reminds us of who runs the show!) After the introduction
of the astronauts, the music builds to a much more majestic statement of their
theme and we imagine the monstrous machine that will journey
these brave souls on their way.
As
the theme dies away, countdown begins and “we have lift off!” A rising horn
theme depicts the raucous blast off and takes us out of the pull of Earth’s
gravity. Once here, a floating solo cornet tells us of the
astronauts’ amazement looking back at Earth, but then also their thoughts of
both what they leave behind and of what lies ahead.
As
their travels continue, warning lights flash and problem after problem is thrown
at them - imagine if you will circuits breaking, unexpected computer failures
and changes of course being undertaken now and again to avoid the odd meteor
here and there!
Having overcome these challenges and steered their way to their destination, all that remains to do is to land –
perhaps the most dangerous part of their journey? The rocket theme returns, but the music fades to a mere pulse from the timpani as radio contact is
lost....
Thankfully, in time, the Martian clouds give up their temporary captive and
the craft touches down triumphantly, three astronauts finally taking “one giant
leap” on Martian soil.
W Belshaw
Dec 2013
Postscript: Little did I know at the time how topical my chosen theme would prove to be – since writing the piece in 2010, NASA has announced its intentions to land men on Mars by 2040 and many other countries around the world are sending probes to Mars for scientific exploration. Mars really is waiting to be reached!
