| 40642 | Banana Slug Blues |
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| O'Brien, Michael |  Score
 mp3 audio
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| Category: String Orchestra; String Orchestra w/solo |
| Grade: Medium Easy |
| Duration: 3:00 |
| Instrumentation: str=8.8.5.5.5,pf,(2 solos vn/va and vc/db) |
| Description: Banana Slug Blues was written for O'Brien's sixth-grade orchestra students in Ferndale, Washington, as a way for them to learn minor pentatonic/blues scale improvisation. In searching for the right descriptive metaphor for the slimy, legato, in-the-string bow style, needed for blues and jazz fiddling, we came up with a well-known resident of the Pacific northwest forests that seemed a perfect fit. Banana slugs spend a lot of time in the dirt getting rained on, and it only stands to reason that they would get the blues sometimes, too. The 12-bar blues harmonies will allow students to effectively improvise using the D blues scale over the entire progression. Two optimal solos have been provided, either as a starting point to give teachers and students melodic ideas to make up their own solos, or to be performed in lieu of improvised solos. |