Welcome to the website of Composer & Educator...
Scott Watson
Considering Dr. Watson for a COMMISSION or to GUEST CONDUCT? Read below to see what others are saying!
The Music of Scott Watson
on Alfred's Score & Sound YouTube Channel
On This Day Earth Shall Ring
NEW for 2022! On This Day Earth Shall Ring (Alfred, Gr. 3), a festive processional on the 14th-century melody, “Personent hodie,” is both mysterious and powerful. Beginning quietly, the modal tune emerges over a chant drone with rustic, medieval percussion. Before long, the piece takes on the joyous character alluded to in the tune’s most familiar English text setting, “On This Day Earth Shall Ring” (written by composer, Jane Joseph, a student of Gustav Holst). As the work draws to an ebullient close, all the stops are pulled with resounding brass and ringing metallic percussion! A 2022 J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice, available in SmartMusic.
Awesome Sauce
NEW for 2022! You’re cool, likable and confident. You don’t walk, you strut. When you enter a party, a hush falls over the room and heads turn because you have a certain je ne c’est quoi! People say you’re “the Bee’s Knees” and “the Cat’s Meow.” You’re “Awesome Sauce” and this piece is the soundtrack of your life! With its fun, bluesy melody and cool rock beat, Awesome Sauce (Alfred, Gr. 1) is sure to be a player favorite. The limited chromaticism, accessible-yet-jazzy rhythms and style-important articulations, however, offer important teaching moments for the director.
Driving Force
NEW for 2022! Driving Force (Alfred, Gr. 1.5) Opening with an energetic eighth note melody driven by an insistent woodblock, this uptempo composition unfolds playfully, gracefully, and relentlessly. From first note to last, this exciting piece for young band captures the driving force that gets people out of bed and moving through their work, play, or adventure. Themes are developed and passed between all instruments, building to an exuberant climax and musically satisfying conclusion.! This Perfomance+ Series piece only available in SmartMusic.
Gift of Hope
NEW for 2021! Gift of Hope (Alfred, Gr. 3.5) captures musically two aspects of hope. Opening dramatically, the piece soon settles into an upbeat, joyful main theme. Slower contrasting material follows, building from a tender, transparently scored opening to a climax full of resolve. The optimistic main theme returns, leading to a dramatic, heroic conclusion. View the Alfred Reading Session review! A 2021 Stanton's Music Five Star Feature!
For more information or to purchase, go to https://bit.ly/3eHPslx.
Stand Tall, Stand Strong
NEW for 2021! Stand Tall, Stand Strong (Alfred, Gr. 1.5) by Scott Watson instills a musically resolute, optimistic statement appropriate for our time. No matter how soundly we are thrown down or how big the obstacles before us, we can rise again, press on, rebuild, and overcome. With grit and tenacity, we will emerge even stronger from the trials that beset us. A 2021 J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice!
For more information or to purchase, go to https://bit.ly/2PyWccP.
NEW for 2021! Camelot refers to an idyllic time and place, lost to lore and legend, but which continues on in the hearts, minds, and stories of so many. The exciting Return to Camelot (Alfred, Gr. 2) ---with its driving tempo, insistent rhythms, modal harmonies, and glimpses of beauty---musically transports the listener back to King Arthur's chivalrous and magical Camelot! A 2021 J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice and Stanton's Music Five Star Feature! View the Alfred Reading Session review!
For more information or to purchase, go to https://youtu.be/wA-bUNYAMbw.
NEW for 2020! Exciting and colorful!
Also check out Aesop's Fables, Aquatica, A Golden Legacy, Balkan Seven, Extraordinary Machines of Clockwork and Steam, Fantasy On An Old English Air, Lion of Ireland, Magic Valley, Night Journey, and Terracotta Warriors.
NEW for 2020, a J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice and Stanton's Music Five Star Feature! Also available for FLEX band.
Also check out Capturing the Blue Riband, Der Erlkonig, Dorian Haiku, Dragonship, El Cid, Galliard, Hercules vs. the Hydra, Movin' On, Secret Agent Sugar Plum, See Amid the Winter's Snow, Thrills and Trills! and Tu Ungane.
NEW for 2020, a J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice and Stanton's Music Five Star Feature! Also available for FLEX Band.
Also check out Awake the Iron, At the Feast of Stephen, Appalachian Hoedown, Celebratory Fanfare, Ghosts in the Graveyard, Hanukkah Is Here, Heavy Metal, Joyful Rock, Super Hero and Walkin' Cool.
Social Distancing Blues
Available as FREE content in SmartMusic (visit smartmusic.com) for any band instrument or voice and piano. Performed here by the Dolcetto Trio (dolcettotrio.com).
Composer Name That Tune Challenge!
A silly, little game show where I attempt to guess my own compositions after hearing only 5 seconds of each. See how I did!
Featured Composition
EXTRAORDINARY MACHINES OF CLOCKWORK AND STEAM (Alfred, Grade 3)
Enter the steampunk world of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and others whose fascinating, limitless view of the future presented all sorts of fanciful Victorian-era contraptions and conveyances. Two themes alternate, one depicts the wonder of these futuristic marvels (and the mysterious laboratoriums where they are hatched). A second raucous, energetic theme portrays the steam, gears, sprockets, and pulleys mechanically powering them. The piece’s unique sonic palette includes evocative toy percussion (i.e. ratchet, brake drum, siren whistle, etc.) and vocal “steam” sounds from wind players. Commissioned by the Clayton High School (NJ) Concert Band, David Dashefsky, Director, this Young Symphonic Series piece is a 2019 J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice; performed at the 2019 Midwest Clinic, was named a Bandworld Top 100 piece for 2019 by the American Band College, and is available in MakeMusic Cloud.
Follow composer, Scott Watson, in this virtual guest conducting video as you perform Escape from Thunder Mountain!
VIRTUAL GUEST CONDUCTOR!
I've created this resource for band directors and students performing my ESCAPE FROM THUNDER MOUNTAIN (concert band or FLEX band versions!).
In the video I guest conduct (virtually) musicians through the composition. A COMPOSER'S NOTES SHEET sheet can be downloaded (free) with my suggestions for practicing and rehearsing.
Directors and their students can use these resources to prepare their students - in-person or virtually - to perform Escape from Thunder Mountain with input from me...the composer!
This new product yields a musically viable/attractive outcome with virtually ANY combination of 4 instruments
Includes play-along PERCUSSION TRACK for each selection!
PERFECT for face-to-face, remote/online, and hybrid teaching scenarios.
By Scott Watson: Escape from Thunder Mountain (Gr. 1.5) FLEX, Rock Solid (Gr. 2) FLEX and
At the Feast of Stephen (featuring "Good King Wenceslas") FLEX (Gr. 1) !
A NEW collection of flexible instrumentation and instrument-specific solos, with piano accompaniment, written by some of your favorite composers in the band world. Available in SmartMusic and at Totalsheetmusic.com. Each solo comes with SI Soloist Exercises which help prepare the player, and Sound Advice program notes and rehearsal tips.
by Scott Watson:
Monarch (Solo Flute and Piano, Grade 3).
Mustang Spirit (any Band Instrument and Piano, Grade 2)
Sur la Glace (Solo Oboe and Piano, Grade 2)
Dance of the Night (and Band Instrument and Piano, Grade 2)
Interested in scheduling a "Virtual" Rehearsal with composer, Scott Watson?
Soli Deo Gloria!
MakeMusic interview at the 2022 Midwest Clinic in Chicago.