Runs, Hits, and Ayres (2025)

Euphonium Ensemble – 20 min.

Performance Video

Scrolling Score Video

Audio

Score (free download)

Program Note

Runs, Hits, and Ayres is dedicated the Jacobs Euphonium Ensemble and its terrific director Gail Robertson. I originally thought of the title (borrowed from the baseball box score statistic of Runs, Hits, and Errors) as clever way to bring together a suite of short pieces that were “runs” (toccatas with lots of scales and arpeggios and such), catchy tuneful “hits,” and more lyrical “ayres.” But as I began putting the piece together, I started having more fun with baseball ideas and parlance which might need some explanation for non-fans.

First Run: Inside the Park – “inside the park” is a homerun that features fielders chasing the ball around the field while the batter successfully circles all the bases.

Lead-Off Hit: Scruffy Ballad features a core melody with a captivating hook preceded in true pop-tune style with an introductory “verse.” It ends with a grand arrival of the verse superimposed over the melody.

Ayre on G Pedal has nothing to do with baseball. Its inspiration is the idea that Bach’s popularly misnomered “Air on a G String” could be reimagined as a melodic piece that uses only the harmonic partials of the G pedal on the euphonium – one fingering for the entire movement, and harmonic sweeps that include the deliciously out of tune 7th partial (a very flat F).

Another Run: Off the Wall is a repeated note toccata with the ball bouncing unpredictably.

Fresh Ayre (trio) is a short, beguiling tune, a sweet solo with accompanying dyads.

7th Inning Stretch: Easy Going revisits a tune that was a featured euphonium solo in my orchestral piece Urban Pastorale. I thought it needed be heard again in this euphonium family gathering.

Suite of Ayres: in baseball, a “balk” is an illegal pitching motion that results in awarding base runners an extra base; spoiler alert, it sounds a lot like “Bach.” It often requires a slow motion replay to be appreciated. “Walk” (a base on balls) seemed like a good occasion for displaying a sauntering 7/8 accompaniment and wistful melody.

Dance at the Old Rum Battered Inn: Ok, this is stretch, but a vital baseball statistic is a batter’s RBI’s – runs batted in. I couldn’t resist anticipating a celebratory dance, giving the players a chance to sing: “We’ll soon be dancing at the Old Rum Battered Inn, Sweet celebration if we just can get a win.”

Caught in a Run-Down/Walk-Off Homer: One final frenetic toccata leads to the ecstatic joy of a homerun which ends the game if the home team scores the winning run in the last inning of play. The only walk-off homer in the 7th game of a World Series was Bill Mazeroski’s shot that led the 1960 Pirates over the damned Yankees. I was 12. Still get goose-bumps.

The composer will provide a series of title screens for projection during the performance, and 40” mp4 video to be projected during the “Walk-Off Homer”.