Description
In a Quiet Way was composed during the early winter of 2014 for my friend, colleague and former tuba student Stephanie Frye, who premiered it in March, 2015. In a Quiet Way is a short, lyrical work that showcases the beautiful, singing capabilities of the tuba in the hands of a fine musician. The work is intended to serve as a quiet interlude, finale or encore in a program of perhaps more complex, technically oriented works. It could also stand alone when a simple work of a calm nature is suitable for a particular event.
The thematic material for this piece is developed from a melodic fragment in a choral work that I composed in 2011. I always felt that this melody, which played an incidental role in the earlier work, eventually deserved to play a primary role in a piece like this one. The title of the work is certainly meant to convey the nature of the piece, but it is also an homage to one of my favorite jazz recordings from early in my career; Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way.
Although I have certainly composed a great deal of complex and energetic music, there is nothing I enjoy more than writing a simple, beautiful melody. I hope you enjoy this one.
Score and Parts Included: Tuba
