To Tame The Perilous Skies (Part 1): Moanalua High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble

[hautbois2460]

Holy trumpet batman.

[misslenny23]

Tough piece for french horns. Lordy we played this last week at our annual spring concert. It was the last piece of about six...and our second was Carnival Overture! I think our director wanted us all to pass out or something! (still fun to play though)

[doku2004]

I remember doing this piece for marching band. What a work out that was!

[ashleytheartist]

I don't know how anyone could not enjoy playing this.

Seriously, something is wrong with you.

The flute parts are brutal but it's so ridiculous.

[jngrand]

would anybody happen to know where i can download the mp3 to this? please.... i love this song so much!

[colemiller14]

easily the most fun I ever had playing tuba.

[jps13party]

its not an easy piece... especially for the poor clarinet soloists.

these guys are frikin GOOD. wth.. theyre like pros! how are they this good? they must have no lives and practice non stop.

the band can use a stronger trumpet player, better dynamics

[jps13party]

its not an easy peice... especially for the poor clarinet soloists.

these guys are frikin GOOD. wth.. theyre like pros! how are they this good? they must have no lives and practice non stop

[adamGLAMbertROCKS]

I'm a freshman and we're currently playing it. I cant stand the beginning because of all the constant changes and the runs get annoying from time to time. This is for the clarinet btw. I wish we were playing something different :(

[popnrocker]

This song is very hard. I play 1st flute and it's very fast and weird. It's a very pretty song but it's sooo hard to play.

[CixAx]

lead trumpet should practice more. but good overall

[Nowraidond]

man, i remember the beginning of this to be tough on the lips. not to mention tough to count. i played the second clarinet part in the wind ensemble i was in.

[band1]

You can watch this video in High Definition by clicking the annotation placed on the video. Part 2 is in the Video Responses Box.

[Isaacdlc]

This stuck me sorta odd. My HS freshman year during marching season, we played "To Tame The Perilous skies" by Key Poulan.

[darthdude194]

My only conplant is that when the trumpets first come in You are supposed to sound loud but you don't sound in control of your tone.....its a tiny little thing that might just be the recording but all brass usally except Horn need to learn to not only play nicely but to control their tone...

But it was very nice....:D

[wpirates03]

To Tame the Perilous Skies was not written by Key Poulan, but there is an arrangement by him.

I do love this piece though.

[brycebreezy1]

long beach poly high played this waaay back in 2004 and it was single handedly the hardest song we played in my 4 years there. we played the infamous "blue shades" the year before. but i know how difficult this song is, and i know how the subtle nuances affect this song. you did this very, very well. im extremely impressed

[WhiteDragonLove]

overall, it sounds great except the woodwinds sound kind of out of tune..lol but you guys probably sound more in tune than my band ever could be haha

[conspirabee]

(continued)

My only complaint would have been from 4:40 to 4:45 because neither of the impacts were sudden enough, but I might be biased because of the way my band director had interpreted it. When the woodwinds come in after the huge build-up, I thought the prolonged drumroll kind of ruined it and the brass's impact could have been even bigger. Of course, when we played it, I was sitting right in front of the euph's and I know just how loud it can be.

Oops, long comment. :D

[conspirabee]

Eee! I played this last year and I absolutely loved this piece. We called it "The Ball-buster" :)

Knowing the challenge brought on by this 8 (or maybe 9) page piece, I can really appreciate this school's performance. This is the first one I've heard where the crazy high clarinet part at the beginning evokes that mystical, ethereal sense instead of just burning your ears. Plus, the sextuplet woodwind runs around 4:20 were nice and pronounced. I like! :D

[kennyyouch]

Those were nice sextuplet runs, weren't they!

[lobstermeal]

took this to festival and everybody was good 2's and 3's from the judges and we go in and get straight 1's SUPERIOR!!!

[Shammy821]

My high school band played this and it sounded sooo much better than this... lol well thats only because we have amazing players....

THIS IS REALLY GOOD THOUGH!!!

i can appreciate how good this is because i have seen the music and it is freaking hard!

GOOD JOB!!

[mentalboi76]

wow you guys must have amazing players

to its such a shame that with all that talent

you don't have the talent to be HUMBLE.

[Shammy821]

i apologize. i discraced my school by posting that comment and i am greatly sorry about putting this school down. btw we got straight superiors by all three judges too!

[WVU40Trumpet]

I'm so tired of Holsinger. He can't compose anything original at all! He had a one time hit, and then went insane afterwards. Sure, it's fun to try and play the intense woodwind parts, or the high brass notes that you'll never need to hit again, but what is the point in the usic? This is one of the only songs he's written with a solid melody, the others being Elegy on an American Folk Tune and In The Spring At The Time When Kings Go Off To War. [While on topic, what is up with the long titles?]

[gullygunz000]

i feel exactly the same about this guy...

my conducter has a crush or something on him and keeps giving us these holsinger songs to play that all sound almost the same with unnecessary everything

blah

guess that's just his style

[s2frenchys2]

WVU40Trumpet: its just cuz us horn players get better parts than u trumpeters and u dont like us getting all the atention instead of u guys. no wonder, all trumpeters r the same. so seriously, let us get attention for once instead of being loud and obnoxious assholes like ur instrument.

[WVU40Trumpet]

Actually, I played French Horn for about three years bud; it's not that I'm jealous; just got tired and wanted a challenge. Don't spam/flame either; if you want to criticize me just be sure to send an email next time instead of publicly embarassing yourself. :]

[Adian00]

Fantastic Highschool Program!

[skipokeefe4350]

During my Junior year in High School I played first trombone on Pictures at an Exhibition which was simply amazing. I also played this piece my senior year on first bone which was so much fun. It's such a great song.

[stupefy07]

eeee! We're going to play this for MICCA and I'm wicked excited

[rekka671]

I remember performing this piece when I was in the Marine Band in the early 90's. We performed it as part of a tri service band (which included members from an Army band and a Navy band.)

Talk about a standing ovation. Nothing like a solid military band playing an outstanding military piece of music.

[Tromb0wnage]

four words: my favorite band piece.

[Scaraba]

I remember this piece. We always slaughtered with this one.

[jazzmanpat89]

whoever played the first trumpet part is incredibly out of tune, sounds fine as a whole though. First cornet sounds great.

[aesw813]

I love this piece. I had the opportunity to perform the trumpet solo part my senior year in high school (8 years ago).

There is a lot of talent in the group heard in this recording - but not much control. Little to no use of dynamics. It was basically loud and even louder. So much of what you get from the beauty of this piece of music is from the dynamic contrast.

[BandNazi]

UNC played this it was SOOOO amazing!!! ^^

[howard2112]

Yeah we played this during my Junior year of high school. Got a standing Ovation everytime. Most exhausted I've ever been after a sit down performance.

[indymaestro]

Man I love this piece - was lucky enough to play under Holsinger's baton himself for All-State.

[atrumbule]

Lucky...

[dunkchampishere2001]

dam thats awesome