Epinicion by John Paulson

Official recording from publisher's website
Program Note: An epinicion is an ancient song of victory sung at the conclusion of a triumphant battle. The Greeks would sing it as they walked through the battlefield sorting the wounded from the dead.

[@grimbleys]

my brother performed this when he was in high school and i was in middle school. i still remember sitting in the audience during the concert, panicking to my core over the loud percussion, also cursing to myself, “why couldn’t i have been born a couple years earlier? i wanna perform this!” i’m still envious to this day, 10 years later…

[@isabellasandberg2859]

blow air through instrument

[@davidmccullough8346]

Have conducted this piece several times and, if the audience is given just a few comments as to what is going to happen, both they and the performers have loved this remarkable work. Thank you John Paulson for having the courage to give some of the work of composing the piece over to the performers. No two performances can ever be the same - just as you intended!

[@peanutbuttervibes1278]

*”Blow air through instrument”*

[@thurstonlee4427]

The band my brother's in had to play this... let's just say, the audience went wild IMMEDIATELY! Love this piece!

[@psychocraft4126]

Just got this song, god help me.

[@noahbromberg3675]

Anyone else get chills everytime they listen to this.?

[@ethanhany909]

N for Noah yes

[@AnnaCMeyer]

I remember playing this back in '87 as one of the pieces played by our award-winning high school band when we were guest performers at the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle. It was probably one of the hardest pieces we ever had to play, not because it was all that technically challenging, but because only the section playing the main theme got any actual conductor's cues. The rest only got cues for when to transition from one section to the next, which, if you weren't playing the main theme, could mean transitioning from the middle of one section to the beginning of the next.

[@AnnaCMeyer]

I was alto saxophone in a concert band.

[@sandwichxiii]

We played this in concert and upon the release of that chord at 4:52 suddenly we could hear babies crying in the audience...

[@diidimeh]

Chilling.

[@ronshields4776]

Lot of noise,not pleasant

[@LollyPopKiller-ow1kk]

For anyone who doesn't know why the song is like this, the composer wanted to capture the feeling of the aftermath of war. Imagine a soldier who had survived who looks over the sea of dead bodies and the horror he has gone through and now sees before him. Why was he the one to survive? He sees someone he knows, he screams, his heart his pounding and the world is crashing down on him. The composer took that feeling and put it into a song

[@steamcaptain3256]

It's actually even more in-depth than that! My wind ensemble director knows Paulson, the composer, and told us about this piece. To the best of my memory, it is actually the parent of a soldier, post-war, desperately looking for their child on the body-ridden battlefield. In the melody that keeps repeating throughout the piece, those last three notes are the parent saying, "Oh, my son," hoping to find him alive. Upon finding what I believe is a torn shirt that belonged to him, they come to the realization that he didn't make it. They let out a scream of agony, like you mentioned, and it is expressed through the ensemble. This is a very well-written piece, albeit the most upsetting one I have ever performed.

[@LollyPopKiller-ow1kk]

@@steamcaptain3256 oh my goodness I love that!!

[@KyleNally]

If you play a film in your head of the scene LollyPopKiller describes as the music plays and always bear that theme in mind throughout, the piece makes a great deal more sense. My high school band performed this. Our performance didn't sound a thing close to this. Twas a bit beyond us at the time, I think.

[@d0r0thy]

Just played this tonight in band and the audience just sat there and didn't clap for a good 30 seconds. It was awkward

[@Heartmusic1000]

some people clapped during my concert so at the end (and we counted) it took them 21 seconds to clap. it was so funny for the band but awkward for the audience

[@d0r0thy]

Lmao that's funny xD

[@xlaythe]

+Izumi Gamer Normal people cant handle dissonance or chaos. It's funny too... cause I'd imagine this is incredibly harder to play that your average 'pleasant,' more harmonic, orderly piece.

[@furiousarchitect3132]

Playing the piccolo in this piece for a concert in a little over 3 hours, I'll reply to this with how it went! I love the picc solos! Also this piece gives me an excuse to blast a high C 😆

[@furiousarchitect3132]

It went okay

[@lexin8139]

We're playing this at CO All State Band this year and I have no idea how to practice this (I asked my teacher and she doesn't know either)

[@jorinbenson680]

My best guess and what I have heard from my teachers is more or less "don't worry too much about it. The conductor will tell you what they want."

[@lexin8139]

Jorin Benson that's what I'm hoping, I've kind of given up on this

[@mrman5066]

Lol we're playing it in CO all state this year too! I guess they use songs repeatedly... by any chance did you also play pas redouble

[@seajayfour]

@@mrman5066 Me too! Guess I’ll see ya there

[@mrman5066]

@@seajayfour yoo cool! See you there indeed! What instrument do you play? I'm a clarinet

[@nataliestanley8654]

I absolutely loved playing this piece, just the feeling I got from it alone. I wish I could perform it again

[@rachelmills5289]

This is one of the hardest pieces I’ve ever had to play. And the biggest reason why is the agitating feelings you get from it. It’s like nails on a chalkboard, it’s so irritating

[@aaronthomas7163]

Simply incredible

[@Kintsugi23]

We played this 11(!) years ago at a high school band festival I took part in. We took two recordings of the concert, one the night before the concert and one of the actual concert, and the better version would be put on a CD of the concert. They had to use the recording we made the night before, because at the actual concert the audience was moved to tears and their audible crying ruined the take.

[@Finetales]

I played this 11 years ago at a high school band festival too...don't remember doing two recordings or the audience crying though so it must not have been the same festival (or my memory just sucks lol).

[@derichgels]

About to perform this in a week. Can't wait

[@kendallperry9247]

I just can't get enough of that "scream" gesture at 4:30. Makes the entire piece.

[@bubblymakamae3839]

Try being percussion at the end, exuberating!!!!!!! 😊😍

[@bigsamtheham]

played this at tonights honor band. Such a unique piece!

[@Eminemlovah12345]

+Flux AMP Where was it? I played this too at one around the same time as you

[@bigsamtheham]

+Alyssa Black Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our parish honor band

[@mambooooooo917]

my county's 9-10 honor band is gonna be playing this! can't wait honestly

[@lfe4242]

Wilco?

[@succcrab893]

god not wilco

[@lfe4242]

Unfortunately yes Wilco

[@johnathandoe5357]

Just played today at Mercyhurst Tri-State Honors Band. hit me up if you did too

[@confettiveda2460]

_My district's honor band played this for their concert and at the end, I got startled when I noticed everyone putting their heads down like "Oh no"_

[@ethanyoung9011]

Played this for honor band. This song is hilarious cracks me up every time because it is stupid and is just people playing random notes😂

[@nataliestanley8654]

Then you don't understand why it was created, this was one of my favorite pieces because the energy it gives off. Pieces like this aren't just "noise" and it's an art the way it's portrayed. Sorry I'm going on lol but listen to threnody for the victims of Hiroshima by pendereki. It's extremely remarkable

[@williamgreen8475]

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm almost positive that this piece was made to illustrate the horrors of the Vietnam war. It's so dissonant because it's meant to be difficult to listen to. The massive raucous of instruments is the terror and confusion of the soldiers fighting in it. If you listen hard enough, you can almost imagine human screaming in the noise somewhere. And the random percussion cracks and overall noise is meant to be gunshots, explosions, and overall destruction. I don't blame you for thinking it sounds stupid at first. But when you know why it was written and what it's supposed to convey, it suddenly becomes sickeningly disturbing, as you can imagine the pain and anguish suffered by soldiers seeing their friends' limbs get blown off and knowing that their life could be stolen from them at any second. It's truly an awe-inspiring piece of music and I highly encourage you to listen to it at least one or two more times to try and get the full effect.

[@ethanyoung9011]

Thank you Natalie Stanley and Willian Green for your opinions! When I made this comment it was the first time I listened to this piece. I practiced some more after this but it didn’t really work and you two definitely understand that. However, I hadn’t actually played it with the band yet. Once the director explained it to me and we actually got the song working, it sounded cool! I understand your guys points now completely. I still think the song is really weird for an honor band concert😂 but I have new respect for it now. It completely makes sense for warriors of any war to slowly become insane form all the death and horrible things that have happened.

[@nataliestanley8654]

@@ethanyoung9011 awe I'm glad, it's definitely people expect to hear at a concert but moving when you understand it

[@GetRocked4676]

WTF is this noise

[@nataliestanley8654]

Ik I'm two years late lol but if you really don't understand it, it's supposed to portray what I think is Vietnam or some war, the percussion hits symboling gunshots and explosions, the clatter of instrument voices symboling the terror and pain they had felt. It's more than just noise when you understand the meaning

[@spacemansam3416]

Wugglesfindsjroll yes

[@mogmason6920]

Music

[@mrpankau]

Some music is atonal and beautiful. This was atonal and boring.

[@sotogabriel64]

Wow I love to call random noisy shit music

[@MrWillysad]

What would you make the definition of music?

[@sotogabriel64]

+Spoodermen Pls well I admit I was wrong but I define music as something I enjoy playing as a musician and something that moves me. I wrote this at a bad time because I was required to play this at my schools annual concert at the end of the year and I was also required to play the flute solo at the beginning when in reality I don't like the flute (in my opinion). I wanted to play the piano and play the theme from castle in the sky but because I was forced to play this song I didn't get to play the piano this year and the piano is my passion.

[@sotogabriel64]

+Spoodermen Pls and I don't really find this song to be sentimental because my band director threw it together last minute and the story that comes along with epinicion that came with the piece is that some soldiers or whatever after a war that scavenge the dead body's of their victims or something and they sing that while they do that and I don't understand how it's even humanly possible for a person to sing like that like what?

[@sotogabriel64]

+Spoodermen Pls and by the way mr sorey who I mentioned in my last comment is my band director who I despise with a passion

[@carsonsaponaro1475]

Lol 69th like

[@lowie2840]

nice