Swashbuckler

Grade 4
by Julie Giroux

    It is an American pastime to compare sports figures like Babe Ruth versus Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson and Mark Spitz versus Michael Phelps. What if they could compete right now, who would win? Who is really the best? I do the same thing, but with composers, inventors and yes, even motion picture characters.

    Swashbuckler is a programmatic work which is scored for Concert Band in the style of a motion picture where Captain Blood, played by Errol Flynn and Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp share the silver screen. The piece opens with seafaring gusto which quickly introduces Captain Blood. We hear him sailing, drinking, fighting and, of course, falling in love with a beautiful woman. The entrance of The Black Pearl, captained by Jack Sparrow, quickly sparks a confrontation between the two, leaving Sparrow marooned on a deserted island. He escapes and is eventually reunited with his ship. The piece ends with them sharing the seven seas, as the world is a much more interesting place with both of them in it.

     The music is scored in a film score style with the main exception being that the “mood” cuts are not as abrupt. Even the individual player parts are given “cue notes” so they know where they are in this imaginary pirate film fest. Exciting and vivid, this seafaring shanty should please the “Salty Dog” in everyone.    -J.G.