Guardians of the Realm, Orchestra Commission Premiere

During the lazy summer months, the students and directors at Franklin Band & Orchestra Camp have been working hard to make great music, build technique, and create new friendships! Students get the chance to play in large ensembles, receive regular sectionals, and learn about music theory. When Lawrence Walker and Cindy Crumb commissioned a piece for the top two ensembles, it was both an honor to write and fun compositional challenge.

The Franklin Band & Orchestra Camp commissioned Guardians of the Realm in honor of its 30th anniversary. The piece is dedicated to the directors and students for whom the piece was composed. Musical ideas for the piece were inspired by the life and times of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), namesake of the camp.

Franklin was a contributor to the Age of Enlightenment, a period during the 18th century when people in Europe and America turned towards rational and scientific explanations. He was an author, inventor, philosopher, politician, and printer. A varied skill set, inquisitive mind, and problem-solving ability enabled him to become one of America’s Founding Fathers.

A contemporary of both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a young Ludwig van Beethoven, Franklin’s experiments extended into the realm of music. One of his inventions was the glass armonica, a keyboard of ringing glasses, filled with water to produce the correct pitches. Scores of composers wrote for the glass armonica, including Mozart, Beethoven, and Saint-Saëns.

The opening of the piece calls for glass armonica or singing glasses to accompany the harmonics heard in the upper strings. These sonorities become a foundation for the piece on multiple levels. Structure and styles stemming from the composers and ideals of the Age of Enlightenment are also found throughout the work. The opening soli is given to the low strings as a tribute to Franklin, who played the viola da gamba.

In addition to writing the piece, a “Keys to the Realm” technique and musical understanding was provided to the camp. It allowed sectional coaches to refer to and warm-up on scales and ideas specific to the piece in their brilliant format of daily sectional work. The format allowed students to stretch their playing exponentially over the course of their four weeks at camp.

The performers and audience members packed the gym and bleachers for the performance. Excitement was palpable as the young musicians shared their summer’s work with friends and family members. Not only was the premiere of “Guardians” outstanding (I could not have been happier with their performance), the entire concert was brilliant! Thank you to all the musicians, teachers, and directors at Franklin Band & Orchestra Camp!