Flautist and composer Anne McGinty (b. 1945) writes prolifically for bands of all levels, especially elementary and middle school. She studied at Ohio State University and Duquesne University, where her teachers included Joseph Willcox Jenkins. Among many other honors in her career, she was the first female composer to be commissioned to write for the United States Army Band. She has recently opened her own publishing company, McGinty Music.
From the conductor’s score of Clouds (1994):
CLOUDS is an original composition based on the imagery of different cloud forms. The first section depicts cirrus clouds, the white delicate clouds usually found at high altitudes. Thunderclouds begin at measure 23 and the accents and tone clusters are used to symbolize the increasing electricity associated with these thunder and lightning producing clouds. Eventually the sun comes out and the sky has the rounded cumulus clouds that gracefully float away.
See more about the piece at WynnLiterature and the Wind Repertory Project. Also, watch this great performance by a sixth grade band:
Clouds depicts three different types of clouds: the cirrus, thundercloud, and cumulus. Cirrus are long, thin, and whispy:
What McGinty calls “Thunderclouds” are known scientifically as cumulonimbus clouds. They are tall, dense, and unstable, which makes them produce rain, lightning and thunder:
Cumulus clouds are the cumulonimbus’s fluffier, happier cousins. They do not tend to produce rain:
See more about Anne McGinty at Wikipedia, the Wind Repertory Project, Barnhouse, LinkedIn, and Twitter.