To listen while following along with the score, click here: (2) Concertgoers, by Dr. Daniel Thrower, for Brass Quintet - YouTube

This piece was inspired by a post-concert reception with the Sioux City Symphony to which all musicians, season ticket holders, and other select guests were invited. As I found a place to sit down and geek out with some fellow trumpeters, a group of concertgoers began to gather at the adjacent table. Each guest that joined that animated group added more character until they had spilled over into our small gathering. Their conversations also spilled over, including a couple of mild warnings about one final guest who would be joining us, who had already had just a bit too much to drink. Of course, she sat by me—a seasoned Brit with an easy-going love of life. During the course of the evening, several pairs of glasses made their way out of her purse and onto her head. Her friend asked me to take her picture and send it to her. That dignified portrait, textured and filtered with color highlights, became the cover to this work.

“Concertgoers” is a musical soundtrack to that memorable evening with the unforgettable group of concertgoers. It begins with the motivic intro in the horn that becomes the main melodic content throughout the work which repeats in allusion to concertgoers joining the festivities one by one until the party blooms in full. Quirky and fun, this piece paints a fitting aural picture of the cacophonous reception and varied chatter of the evening. The use of chromaticism provides much of the quirkiness, along with the use of mixed meter for some of the varieties of that night of entertainment. These modern compositional techniques challenge a good college-level quintet, though it is accessible to the musicians and listenable to the average concertgoer. To program it on a brass quintet concert or recital aptly tips the hat in acknowledgement of the audience, as it is a dedicated piece just for them!