Spinning Yarns

Spinning Yarns, Ryan Lindveit (2015) 10'30"
for wind ensemble

Grade 5-6

Awards
Winner, 2016 BMI Student Composer Award
Special Distinction, 2016 ASCAP/CBDNA Fennell Prize
Finalist, 2016 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards
Honorable Mention, 2016 SCI/ASCAP Student Commission Competition
Selected Composition, 2015 National Band Association Young Composer Mentor Project
Winner, 2015 USC New Music for Wind Ensemble Competition

I am fascinated by multi-layered storytelling, and Spinning Yarns is a result of that fascination. Margaret Atwood's novel The Blind Assassin was a particularly rich source of inspiration. In this novel, each chapter is part of a different sub-novel. A crime novel is right next to a memoir which is right next to a science fiction story which is right next to a romance novel. The interaction between each of these layers creates a large and hugely dramatic narrative. 

Spinning Yarns is a collection of diverse narrative threads stitched together into a dramatic musical tapestry. Like an Atwoodian multi-layered novel, the music oscillates between dreamlike uncertainty, chaotic heroism, sarcastic dancing, pensive sleepwalking, airy lyricism, and climactic hubris. As the drama unfolds, these disparate elements emerge, re-emerge, and inform and interact with each other. 

Instrumentation: Piccolo, flute 1-2, oboe 1-2, bassoon 1-2, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet 1-3, bass clarinet, alto saxophone 1-2, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, trumpet 1-3, horn 1-2, trombone 1-3, bass trombone, euphonium, tuba, timpani, percussion 1-4, piano, contrabass