SERENE

SERENE for concert band (grade 3)

Serene was composed in October 2021. Something that is serene is said to be calm, peaceful, and tranquil. Serene is this, with its gentle, rocking 3/4 flow, but it also contains passages of more intense, expressive, emotions. Episodic in form, Serene builds to a powerful central explosion of emotion before subsiding to a quiet, peaceful ending.

The form of STAND is roughly A- B- A’ - Coda. To oversimplify, the A sections have a fanfare- like, major- mode quality, and the central B section has a more lyrical, minor-mode sound, while the concluding Coda combines several ideas in a bold summation.

– Steve Rouse