SKU: CF.FPS154F

ISBN 9781491152829. UPC: 680160910328.

Aztec Gold is an excellent concert opener for a developing band. Composer Joseph Compello, drawing on his many years of experience as a teacher, is known for writing very intriguing music for younger students. This piece would be a great opportunity for cross-curricular instruction with a school's history department. Aztec Gold is also a perfect selection to highlight a band's strengths in contest or festival performance.
Aztec Gold is an excellent concert opener for a moderately advanced band. Measures 1–73 are to be performed in a marcato style with an underlying feel of rhythmic unrest. Beginning at m. 19, the triangle player must be able to execute a damping effect on the second eighth note of beat 2. Young players will require instruction in this technique. The accented sixteenth notes in the timpani part, which first appear in mm. 17-18, should be prominent. They also appear at mm. 89 and 91, and mm. 124 and 126. The contrasting middle section at m. 73 should have the same unsettled rhythmic feel beneath the more flowing lines in the woodwinds. The syncopated accents which appear beginning m. 121 will easily fall into place once young players understand that the accents occur three eighth notes apart.