Review

Don Clark
The Spring Cleaning Rag:

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2009
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Canadian trumpeter, arranger and composer Don Clark offers a short, albeit charming original composition in a rag style. Although the publisher’s website lists the length of the work as two minutes, the actual printed length is half that. Its brevity is due to the lack of thematic material that is usually contained in a rag. The rag structure typically utilizes at least three, if not four, sixteen-measure phrases with multiple repetitions. This piece incorporates two brief themes with minimal repetition. Clark does indicate that the entirety of the work can be repeated “ad lib.” Length aside, Clark’s composition impressively captures the essence of the rag style and in a way that is accessible to virtually any brass quintet at or above the high school level.

-Cory Mixdorf
University of Arkansas