Trip the Light Fantastic!

Trip the Light Fantastic!, op. 247
Tipton High School Band
Tipton, Indiana
2023 – grade 3.5 – 5:00

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When commissioning this piece, the Tipton High School's Band Director, Matthew Skiba indicated that the premiere performance was to be played at an event where it would be most appropriate for the music to be joyful and uplifting. Those are the feelings I hope to convey in this tuneful and light-hearted piece that features syncopation and a touch of Lydian modality to enhance its playfulness.

The title is obviously borrowed from John Milton and his poem, L'Allegro written in 1645.  Generally speaking, to "trip the light fantastic" is to dance nimbly (trip), with fancy (fantastic) footwork (light, as in to "light" or land on something after jumping).  This unusual turn of phrase has amazingly  survived and continues to be used nearly four hundred years later!  And it somehow seems to be just the right title for this composition as the tunes seem to dance nimbly and land lightly on the listener's ear.