After reading so much of Mr.Copeland’s views on listening to music, it’s a treat to finally listen to his own composition. Unlike the Stavinsky piece, this seems a bit less confusing. Perhaps this sounds more familiar or at least less complicated.

It seems nice and simple until, 2:15 things get more interesting with a pause and odd clapping interspersed with single instruments seeming to pop up in a inquisitive manner asking, like the audience, “what happened”, and then returning to nice and simple at 2:25. This occurs again  and again returning to the nice and gentle melody soon enough, in an ABABAB, with the same little horn signifying the shift, until around 4:45. One of the male figures begins dancing and changes the theme slightly. At 6:00 the man and woman dance together with shifts in major and minor abound.

It changes to an upbeat, more playful tune as the man in black dances with the women in bonnets. The pause at 2:38 of part 2 when the bride enters is followed by a different, grander major tune. The change at 3:40 is interesting as it sounds a bit start and stop but then continues in a bouncy manner, although interspersed with some contrasting sounds such as the deeper horns around 6:40. As the bride’s dance ends we feel a sense of cohesion as the instruments harmonize when the couple comes together for the marriage scene.

After the marriage scene we hear a recognizable tune on the flute, that invokes a sense of innocence. In all the piece at this point makes one feel nostalgic of a simple time, a far off, perhaps untrue, American dream that existed somewhere.

At 3:00 the music gets more serious, turning to minor as the minister dances without his hat in a seemingly wild way. The other woman gets up and changes it back to major but in a slower way. We understand that there is some conflict or trouble from the lower horns that chime in. This conflict or tension seems forgotten as the minister gets up and dances with the girls with the bonnets, but it is brought back with the sudden sharp chord of the violin and the low rumbling as the bride dances. The abrupt shift at 1:30 moves to a faster pace implying maybe a birth, but resolves back down to the simple, more common tune we hear before becoming grander with the accompaniment of more instruments around 3:30. The pace slows down implying a sense of stability in the lives of the couple.

The piece, didn’t seem to have much conflict but rather seemed to guide us through a joyous, blossoming spring. I really enjoyed the piece in how calming, yet engaging it was.