A favorite band piece

Rocky Point Holiday; Ron Nelson, composer

On our first Symphonic Band concert during my freshman year at South Dakota State University, we played some outstanding literature: H. Owen Reed’s “La Fiesta Mexicana”, John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare” and Antonin Dvoark’s “Slavonic Dances, just to name a few. But, my favorite piece on the program was written by Ron Nelson. He called it “Rocky Point Holiday”.

He composed it while on vacation on Rocky Point, Rhode Island, and was his first major work. The University of Minnesota band had commissioned him to write a piece for their tour of the Soviet Union, and he served them this scrumptious entree.

Why do I like it? I’ve thought about that question for years. I think that I like the contrasts in the rhythms. It seems like there are always at least two rhythmic ideas happening at the same time; one fast, and the other not so fast. I suppose one could consider it an exercise in relativism. You don’t know how slow one part is until you play it in conjunction with its counterpart.

I had hoped that I would hear the Marine Band play this piece during my time with them. Alas, it wasn’t to be. But, thank heaven for the World Wide Interweb and it’s iTunes. This is a favorite track.

Credits: To H. Owen Reed, Mr. One Hundred Years Old. Thank you for your service to music education. And thank you for “La Fiesta Mexicana”. Awesome, haunting piece.