JAMES M. DAVID, composer
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The Dandelion

The Dandelion (2019)
​for percussion ensemble (5 players)


Medium Advanced - $45 - ca. 5 minutes
​View Perusal Score (opens new window)


Program Notes

The Dandelion  is a new commission requested by the Colorado State University Percussion Ensemble to feature developing undergraduate students in a rhythmically challenging work.  The piece features a variety of artificial and odd rhythmic groupings assigned to individual players to add adversity and complexity to more simplistic patterns.   Aside from the timpani, the variety of sounds are provided through non-specific pitched instruments primarily in skins and metals, with the addition of vocalizations provided by the performers. Various friction and white-noise effects (such as lion's roar, maracas and shakers) representing the pernicious weed are constantly battling the relentless gardening implements in the form of declamatory timpani and other drums. This piece is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Rouse whose invaluable contributions to percussion repertoire continue to inspire composers.


O DANDELION, rich and haughty,

King of village flowers!
Each day is coronation time,
You have no humble hours.
I like to see you bring a troop
To beat the blue-grass spears,
To scorn the lawn-mower that would be
Like fate's triumphant shears.
Your yellow heads are cut away,
It seems your reign is o'er.
By noon you raise a sea of stars
More golden than before.


Vachel Lindsay, 1913
  • Home
  • about
  • wind ensemble
    • Message from Arecibo
    • Flying Jewels
    • Urban Light
    • Troublesome Fire
    • Symphony no. 1
    • Ghosts of the Old Year
    • Call to Commitment
    • With Soul Serene
    • March Tumbao
    • Lookfar
    • Menlo Park, 1879
    • Zephyrus
    • Flexible Instrumentation
    • Heartland Verses
    • Swing Landscape
    • I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
    • Concerto for Vibraphone
    • The Moorlands
    • Big Four on the River
    • All Dark Is Now No More
    • Temple's Grace
    • From the Shaken Tower
    • Two-Lane Blacktop
    • Sinfonietta no. 3
  • compositions
    • wind ensemble
    • clarinet >
      • all clarinet works
      • clarinet sonata
      • AUTO '66 - Clarinet Concerto
    • saxophone >
      • all saxophone works
      • Saxophone Sonata
      • L'oiseau dans l'espace
      • Saxophone/Percussion Double Quartet
    • trombone >
      • all trombone works
      • Trombone Sonata
      • Five American Dances
      • Song of the Valar
      • Bass Trombone Sonata
      • Partiels 2
      • Garden of the Gods
    • Other Brass Works >
      • Of Unsurpassed Heroes
      • Trumpet Sonata
    • Percussion >
      • The Dandelion
      • NOLA - BELA - SOWEGA
    • large ensemble >
      • Tin Lizzies on Old Fall River
      • LASCAUX
      • KAFKA - Sax Concerto
    • chamber ensemble >
      • Clarinet and Horn Trio
    • solo / electroacoustic
    • choral / vocal >
      • KUBLA KHAN
  • contact
  • Report Performance