American composer Nicole Piunno (b. 1985) completed composition studies at Central Michigan University and Michigan State University, where her principal teachers included David Gillingham, Ricardo Lorenz, and Charles Ruggiero. Her music has been performed by top ensembles around the United States and beyond. Aside from her many wind band works, her output so far is weighted towards music for brass ensembles of various sizes. This may be related to her history as a trumpet player. Although she sustained an injury that nearly ended her playing career, she has since recovered and shares that experience of rehabilitation with others.
You Decide is a flexible instrumentation piece for young band. Its title comes from another flexible feature – in several spots, students can choose one two different lines to play, allowing for some early experimenting in composition in an ensemble setting. Piunno’s program notes:
This piece is written for five parts (plus optional percussion) to accommodate various instrumentations in a concert band setting. I want to give students the opportunity to play a role in the composition process, therefore the piece is set up so each part has an option A and an option B line. The teacher and students can decide which option to play every 8 bars. For example, the instruments on Part 1 can all play option A for measures 1-8, while Parts 2-5 play option B. Every 8 bars the students on each part can decide which option to play.
One possible way to approach learning the piece is to have the band all learn option A together followed by learning option B together. After the students have a good grasp on the piece, more freedom can be given over which option to play every 8 bars. The wind parts are set up with 8 measures per line so that the students can use a pencil to circle line A or B to help remember which line they are supposed to play.
I did not give an option of part A or B between m. 17-25 and m. 41-end, therefore lines A and B are the same during those phrases.
Here it is as performed by the Backyard Flex Band of Upstate NY:
Check out Piunno’s website, which has much more about You Decide and many other works, flexible and otherwise.