You can enjoy a video of Nolens Volens on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPIs5BxGoMk

From the conductor of the

Central Iowa Wind Ensemble

following the March 2019 performance:

“Thank you for your infectious energy and zeal for life. Your humor and wit are ever present in all that you do and write. You are one in 7.7 billion. I appreciate your attention to detail through the rehearsal and performance process.

Please know that you have many new friends in CIWE, and I'm certain that we are open to exploring new works you just might be writing for the wind band medium......just saying.”

Mark A. Doerffel

Assistant Professor of Music

Director of Instrumental Activities

Grand View University

Des Moines, Iowa

Program Notes

Nolens Volens

Nolens Volens is meant to be a goofy and fun antidote to all the serious, important, and profound fanfares in the repertoire. The title, Latin for “willy-nilly,” means haphazard, every which way, here and there, and all over the place. Beginning with flourishes in “Grandioso Ridiculouso” style, it morphs into something evocative of cartoons, circus calliope music, clowns in tuxedos, jugglers, and carnivals. Coleman writes, “In my mind’s eye, I also envisioned a wind-up toy band that runs down half way through and must be wound up again. At the end, everyone sounds a big “BLAT” as the toy falls in a heap on the floor.

Nolens Volens was originally part of a larger (narrated) orchestra work, The Music Lover, that was commissioned by the Wartburg Symphony, premiered in 1996, and performed numerous times throughout the state. Just for fun, and to reach a wider audience, I adapted it for wind ensemble for a March 2019 performance by the Central Iowa Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mark Doerffel. On April 26, 2020, the Aquinas College Concert Band (Michigan) performed it under the direction of Thomas Polett.

Enjoy!

Instrumentation

Nolens Volens

A Fanfare for Wind Ensemble

Piccolo

2 Flutes

2 Oboes

3 Clarinets in B flat

Bass Clarinet in B flat

2 Bassoons

2 Alto Saxophones in E Flat

1 Tenor Sax in B flat

1 Baritone Sax in E flat

3 Trumpets in B flat (straight and cup mutes)

4 Horns in F

3 Trombones

1 Euphonium

Tuba

Timpani

Percussion:

           Cowbell

     Cymbals

          Crash Cymbals   

          Splash Cymbals      

          Suspended Cymbals                        

    Ratchet

          Snare Drum

    Triangle

     Xylophone

Duration:  3 minutes, 30 seconds

Photo: Linda and conductor Mark Doerffel

at the dress rehearsal of the Central Iowa Wind Ensemble.

Below: Linda before she conducts a rehearsal of Nolens Volens with the CIWE.