THE NEED FOR TECHNICALLY ACCESSIBLE CHAMBER WINDS MUSIC AND A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE TO WINTER RICERCAR BY KEVIN WALCZYK

Abstract

Chamber music should be an integral part of a musician’s performance experience. Although this is a widely held belief, chamber music is not always implemented into performance programming, particularly at small colleges and high schools. Perhaps this issue is larger than a director’s choice to program music, but is a reality due to a lack of quality music that meets the musical level and instrumentation of these institutions. If this is true, then it is vital that chamber music appropriate for these ensembles is commissioned and written. This document will illustrate why chamber music is important, demonstrate that this segment of literature is lacking substantial repertoire, and therefore advocate for additional works in this genre. A conductor’s guide to Winter Ricercar, a new chamber winds piece composed by Kevin M. Walczyk is also included.