Introducing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Movement I for Eight Trumpets!

A few years ago – the summer of 2009, to be exact, – I was exposed by a colleague to a youtube video which served as a life-altering experience for me and an inspiration to me as an up-and-coming composer. The video was the National Trumpet Competition’s (NTC's) video of the 2009 Ensemble Division winners, the Juilliard School, performing Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Before that day, I had no idea that NTC existed or that trumpet ensemble stood as a real and existing ensemble that people could perform in. Never in my life had I seen or heard a Piccolo Trumpet or an Eb Trumpet. Most importantly, I had no idea a trumpet player could steal parts meant for woodwind instruments and play them at blistering tempos without being given weird looks by their friends and band directors...

Surely, this paved the path for a love of trumpet ensemble music – growing a love and respect for the works of Erik Morales and for trumpet ensembles like Indiana, Grand Valley State, and Northwestern. – as well as an enthusiastic request to join a trumpet ensemble in college.

Once I joined a trumpet ensemble, the dream was to write for it and play in it at the National Trumpet Competition. The thought was this: among the most exciting NTC performances are the brand new compositions (Morales’ “Path of Discovery”, “Cyclone”, etc.) and the legendary pieces of literature (“Festive Overture”, “William Tell Overture”, etc.). Thus, the original composition Suite for Six Trumpets was born, tailored (to the best of my ability) to the specific strengths of the trumpet ensemble for which I performed. 2 years later - a different time in a different ensemble - it was time to take the other approach.

The Sonata from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony – particularly the opening motif – stands as perhaps the most well-known piece of literature in the orchestral world today... Capturing its essence to fit a Trumpet Ensemble has easily been the most difficult yet most rewarding of any project I’ve ever tackled. Virginia Commonwealth University's Trumpet Ensemble performed the WORLD PREMIERE of this arrangement in November, submitting it one month later into the National Trumpet Competition for preliminary judging in hopes of performing live in semifinals.

Featured on Composers Circle today!

It is a distinct honor and pleasure to announce to the general public that I have been featured on Composers Circle today. The piece featured is the internationally performed Suite for Six Trumpets, originally composed in Fall of 2010 for one of Virginia Commonwealth University's Trumpet Ensembles and performed a year later by the Premier Trumpet Ensemble of the United States Army Band, "The Pershing's Own".

Composers Circle is a website which features one composer and one of his or her pieces each day. If you're not already a fan, you can "like" their page on Facebook here, where you will be able to see and/or share the feature: https://www.facebook.com/ComposersCircle


To go directly to the feature, click on the link below!

http://composerscircle.com/marcus-s-grant/

MSGrantMusic Partnered up with MIXY Photography

MSGrantMusic has officially formed a partnership with MIXY Photography for the enhanced publishing and producing of music.
Melissa Michel, the creator of MIXY Photography, is an up-and-coming young artist based in Virginia who stands strongly as an advocate for the Arts. I personally met her in the Specialty Center for the Arts at Thomas High School as trumpet players, and we both continue to stay in touch being enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University and Longwood University. There's no doubt that I will be working plenty often with MIXY in the future. 

In other news, I have just completed a collaborative drum corps arrangement of Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F, Mvmt II "Song Without Words" with Mathew Campbell of Enlightened Productions: Young Marching Arts Composers. Be sure to check it out in the video above!

A Love Story - Mahler for Marching Band

Fairly recently, (amazing) percussion arranger Jesse Stevens completed the percussion to my first ever full show for marching band. The enchanting production titled "A Love Story" features the music of the indisputably great composer Gustav Mahler. Click here to take a listen for yourself. Anyone who likes the show and would like to purchase it for performance can visit my website or visit my Facebook page to contact me and discuss details such as difficulty level, possible alterations, price, etc.

As the summer approaches, you can expect more music and media from me as I take on a special challenge that will be announced in the near future... but while you wait, you can check out the exciting things happening with the wonderful young composers of Enlightened Productions on Facebook, YouTube, and Soundcloud.

APPLICATIONS FOR ENLIGHTENED PRODUCTIONS: YOUNG MARCHING ARTS COMPOSERS ARE CURRENTLY OPEN!

Have a suggestion for a show theme? Leave it in the comments here or on the Young Marching Arts Composers Facebook Page!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG! First Stop: YMAC Projects

First of all...


Welcome! I have decided to create a new blog! Here, you'll find everything from music projects and advice to my philosophies on life to some fun facts about me that you otherwise may not have known. The likelihood of me having a blog for a long time is very large; I suppose we will find out soon. Exciting blog posts to come soon!

For now...

Applications for membership into Enlightened Productions: Young Marching Arts Composers (YMAC) will be accepted starting on Sunday, February 5th (Super Bowl Night) and lasting 3 weeks until Saturday, February 25th. To find out more about YMAC, visit http://msgrantmusic.webs.com/enlightenedproductions.htm . YMAC continues to grow at a steady and healthy rate as the overall quality of writing continues to improve exponentially. As the founder, I would LOVE to see as much interest for membership as possible, so if you or someone you know would like to become a member, contact us through the email address listed in the above link.

In addition to extending the invitation for membership, YMAC is preparing for a bigger and better installment of its "Are You Ready For DCI?" series, a series of music arranged before the start of the season to spotlight the Drum Corps activity. The series is based off of the concept "if I were to write ____ song for ____ corps, it would sound something like this." We plan to launch this series up at the beginning of March to help stir up excitement about the drum corps activity, but you can subscribe to  http://www.youtube.com/user/EProductionsYMAC now for other awesome videos while you wait.

#growmarchingarts

In addition to a blog, I created a twitter account! Temporary or permanent? Who knows. Look for @MSGrantMusic (that is, after you've already started following @EProductionYMAC).

And again, stay tuned for some exciting blogs to come in the future!