Marche Diabolique Analysis

Marche Diabolique is composed by Brian Balmages. Brian Balmages is an award winning composer and has bachelor’s degree in music from James Madison University. He has composed pieces that have been performed worldwide. He has also won awards like the Albert Austin Harding award from the American School Band Directors Association.

The title “Marche Diabolique” specifically the March part indicates towards a march style piece. Balmages borrows elements from concert marches and puts them in a contemporary framework. Balmages also uses the Tritone. He surrounds the Tritone with spooky harmonic language. The piece is loosely based on A B A form but with a big finale right before the end rolls around. There are not a lot of tempo or speed changes

Larry Daehn got his B.A. in music education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He taught at a high school for more than 25 years. British Isles Suite is separated into three parts: I. Marching Song II. Barbara Allen III. Farwell Dundee. The first part: Marching Song, Its primary material consists of two Welsh Folk songs. The second part: Barbara Allen, England, Scotland and Ireland all have parts in this folk song. This part starts at a Eb major and ends as a Bb major. The third part: Farwell Dundee is the goodbye song, hence its name. This part is similar to the first but in 6/8 time. Its melody goes from D minor, to F major and then in the end, ends with D

Then the rest of the band joins in with the flutes maintaining the melody while the low brass is the background. The form is situated in A B A form. The dynamics in the A parts are louder then the B part. There is no temp change in the first part. The second part, Barbara Allen, has a much slower tempo and is in ¾. It also repeats a lot making the relatively short piece on paper last longer. The dynamics stay mostly the same and the tempo does not change. The Third part, Farewell, Dundee is in 6/8 time and again start with the drums and then the flutes join in. This part also repeats a lot. The main melody is by the flutes. The background is mostly low brass. The part is in A B form with a taste of the very beginning at the end. The dynamics didn’t change much besides for the end where it got softer. The tempo did not change in the piece. Some things we learned while practicing all 3 of these pieces was how to keep time from piece to piece. The first was in 4/4 , the second in ¾ and the last in 6/8. We learned how to keep track of time effectively for each piece especially for the last one that was in 6/8. Some things to look for in the first piece is at the beginning the call and response of the low brasses. In the second, listen for the repeats and how at the end of each it’s a little different. In the third listen for small dynamic changes when different