Texas native Haley Woodrow (b. 1984) is a composer, educator, and performer who writes a wide range of accessible works. Her compositions have won many awards, including the Alfred Music Young Band Composition Contest and the Noteflight Big Band Composition Contest. Early adventures on the trumpet led her to a jazz performance degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, followed by a masters degree in composition from Texas Christian University. Between these degrees, she was the Orchestra Director and Arranger at Cornerstone Baptist Church for seven years, creating over 500 arrangements. She currently teaches at The King’s University and Tarrant Community College, both in Texas, while maintaining a busy schedule of new compositions and ensemble clinics. Read more about her at her website, Alfred Music, C. L. Barnhouse, New Music USA, and …And We Were Heard. Also check out this interview with her on the Masters of the Musiverse YouTube channel.
Woodrow wrote In Two Places in 2016. She writes about how it came into being in her score:
Contrasts. Sometimes we see them in color, other times in patterns, and sometimes it’s simply the best way to describe a season of life. In Two Places is a musical reflection of two contrasting ideas – neither more threatening, sad or angry then the other – but simply, different. For better or worse, often my real-life circumstances impact what I compose. While I was writing this piece, I was a graduate student at Texas Christian University and felt pulled in opposite directions in my personal life, my professional life and my social life. I experienced conflicting feelings of adulthood vs. adolescence, homogeneity vs. diversity and the jazz approach vs. the contemporary classical approach. In so many ways, I felt in two places at once!
In Two Places begins with an oboe feature and utilizes a motivic tambourine part throughout the piece. It is comprised of two main sections, both with strong melodies and a near-constant eighth-note motor. The dotted-eighth sixteenth figures should be played lightly and legato. A savvy musician will notice the homage to Holst’s First Suite in Eb in the second theme of the work. Present throughout the composition is a fight between the major and minor modes.
In Two Places is the winner of the 2019 Women’s Band Composition Contest, led by Shannon Shaker.
The Florida State University Senior High Band Camp plays In Two Places:
See more about In Two Places at Woodrow’s website, J. W. Pepper, …And We Were Heard, and Murphy Music Press.