Balancing Act
Concert Band - Sheet Music

Concert band - Grade 3.5

SKU: TU.FSBAL3

Composed by Richard A. Brasco. Score. Duration 3 minutes, 48 seconds. Published by TRN Music Publisher (TU.FSBAL3).

The idea to compose this piece came from the composer’s observations of his grand daughter, Julia, as she progressed from crawling to taking her first steps. The initial stage of balancing on all four limbs; then lifting one, or two causing her to topple over, was fun to observe. Like most young toddlers, her persistence prevailed until she was finally able to crawl.

The second stage of learning to take those first steps was very similar to the early attempts to crawl. She would try to balance herself as she stood. Then she would teeter and fall. Her persistence prevailed, again, as she finally was able to maintain her balance and take her first steps. After all of the hard work in accomplishing her goal, she would sit and rest.

The thematic material of this piece was the result of the composer and Julia sitting at the piano and banging out some melodies which were recorded by the composer. He later used them to come up with the motifs to describe Julia’s adventure into her new world of moving about through her own “Balancing Act”.