Voyage To Ganymede

Always a fan of science and science fiction, I had space travel on my mind from some recent sci-fi reading as I prepared to write a recorder work for this first issue of the year. This early in the season we generally use a very restricted set of notes to be played by the recorders, either BA, AC, or BAG.

In this case, I chose to use BAG for several reasons. Aside from the fact that these are the most common first notes taught to beginning recorder players, to a composer, they also fit nicely into modal melodies and harmonies, so they function well with dramatic works like this one. They are also easy to fit into whole tone writing, and the three notes, a whole tone apart each, are great to use in ethereal sections like the one with the triplets in the middle of this work.

Ganymede - Our musical voyage is taking us to the largest moon of the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. It is a huge object, and is, in fact, the ninth largest object in our entire solar system, including all of the planets. It was reportedly first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, who also discovered that it created its own magnetic field and had a huge liquid core. It has had a number of names over the years, but the one that stuck is the name of the cupbearer of the Gods in ancient Greek mythology. (Galileo liked to refer to the moons of Jupiter as "Medicean Stars.")

The moon Ganymede has a number of interesting attributes, including a highly marked surface showing ancient impacts that may have been there for billions of years. Perhaps the most distinctive attribute is an aurora similar to our aurora borealis, seemingly generated by a giant saline ocean under the surface. (See the picture on this page for an example of this phenomenon.)

Big Music For Little Fingers - Much of the fun... and challenge... of creating a composition like this one is writing melodies that make sense and challenge beginning players with just G, A, and B as well as using simple rhythms. At the same time, you get to write an orchestral setting that sounds right with the kids and that will be played by top professionals, including players in a major symphony orchestra. The result is a piece that hopefully sounds like it was lifted from a movie soundtrack and that will provide a memorable playing experience for everyone.

As a matter of fact, one activity that goes well with this work is asking students to discuss what might be going on onscreen if this was the music playing behind a film. These thoughts were used in creating the work, so hopefully the emotions can be heard in the music.

If you'd like to follow along with the piano/recorder score, we have provided a downloadable version for you on our web site.