| Image |
Show Name |
Difficulty |
Grade |
 | Pearl Harbor
| Difficult | 5- |
 | Amazonian Rainforest
Amazonian Rainforest is a show that transports us to one of the most exotic, dangerous, thrilling, mesmerizing and beautiful places on earth. The descriptive sounds permeating the production help the audience create an image in their minds of the Amazon River and the deep, tangled forest that offers a surprise around every tree.
| Medium | 3 |
 | Chronometry
You have no doubt heard the sayings: “Time is of the essence.” “Time flies.” “Time is money.” We are a society obsessed with time, yet we are unable to slow it, stop it, or make it rewind…unless we explore Einstein’s theories…but that is another show!
Our fascination with time has led to the development of varying methods of keeping track of its passage. We have gone from monumental clocks on watchtowers to small watches on our wrists. We have created clocks to wake us in the morning, program our microwave ovens and record television programs while we are away.
Chronometry is a musical journey about three of the most visual methods of time keeping.
| Medium | 3 |
 | Heartbeat
There is no organ more valuable to human life than the heart. In classic literature, it’s considered the place where our sense of love originates. In medicine, it’s recognized as the one thing that keeps us alive. Heartbeat is designed around the various ways we think of the human heart. The heartbeat is heard throughout the show through the percussion and sometimes the winds, pounding incessantly, keeping the vital “thumpa-thumpa” chugging along.
| Medium | 3 |
 | Heroes Fallen, Not Forgotten
Heroes Fallen, Not Forgotten is a salute to those in the military who have given their lives in service to their country, and to those who got caught up in the midst of tragedy due to the actions of others, such as assassinated presidents and civil rights legends.
| Medium | 3 |
 | Seven (7 Deadly Sins)
| Medium | 3 |
 | X!
| Medium | 3 |
 | Rise and Fall of Rome, The (Grade 2+)
Get the same intensity of the original with this version reworked for reduced instrumentation, limited range and slightly easier technique. This is not your typical Roman-themed show. The Rise and Fall of Rome isn’t about the political or military reasons why the Roman Empire fell, but rather explores the wonders of Roman architecture and the influence that religion had on the ancient civilization.
| Medium | 2+ |
 | Classic Schizophrenia
| Medium | 3+ |
 | Zodiac
| Medium | 3 |
 | Another Place, Another Time
While reading a good book might generally be thought of as a passive activity, in Another Place, Another Time, reading becomes an adventure to places that exist gloriously in the crevices of one’s fertile imagination. The show is in essence a book that comes to life, providing a figurative door into which one wanders while reading, leading us into the fantasy world of one’s colorful thoughts.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Atlantis
We are all familiar with the legend of Atlantis. The mythical (or was it?) island of ancient lore that supposedly disappeared under the waves of an unforgiving sea. The show Atlantis captures the drama of daily life of this place we can only imagine in our minds and brings it to the field full of exciting spectacle, imploding energy and ultimate doom.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Bay City Experience
The San Francisco Bay area has long been noted as one of the most beautiful regions anywhere, but since civilization has moved in, it has also become an important hub of commerce, hi tech development and transportation. Each of the three movements of Bay City Experience highlights sites in one of the area cities that is known and connected to one of those qualities.
As the pace of life in each city is uniquely different, so is the aura that each movement creates through the musical palette and colors that enrich and convey the sense of personality that each city has to offer.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Canon: Deconstruction / Reconstruction
One of the most popular pieces of music ever written, one that has withstood the test of centuries and seems to become even more popular as centuries pass, is Johann Pachelbel’s timeless “Canon”. Taking this immortal classic, Key Poulan has created Canon: Deconstruction/Reconstruction, a show that lifts up the work, explores it from many angles, tears it apart, puts it back together in unexpected ways and turns it every-which-way as it blazes towards a triumphal ending. Although the ending is out of character with the original tranquility of the piece, it fits the work in a manner than one wonders why Pachelbel himself did not turn on the afterburners.
Individual lines of the original are manipulated, employing many different instrumental colors. One possible visual theme is to treat the piece as a blueprint, constructing a “stage” to spotlight the various musicians who deliver the theme throughout the show. The commissioning band started the pit all over the field and rolled the instruments onto the blueprint diagram at points draftsmen would have indicated. A cello soloist was employed by the original band to play this work, but you may use any of your star students in the solo role.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Circuitry
Circuits are all around us in places we’re not even aware. It might be said we live in an age that circuits made possible. From microwave ovens to digital watches, from cell phones to all around our automobiles, we cannot live without the benefits of circuits.
Circuitry explores this “connection” that circuits have to our daily lives. It is a modernistic essay ripe with spectacular visual potential. The journey from the acoustic environment to the electronic opens many possibilities that a creative staff can spend hours wrapping their heads around. Some groups have already performed this show with electronic sampling of vocal and electronic sound effects and have geared the show towards data and/or computers. Truly, the potential of creative originality is limitless.
| Medium Difficult | 4-5 |
 | Cityscapes
Cityscapes is a four movement work that captures the daily grind, excitement, colors, moods and fun of being in a big city. The music and sound effects are especially geared towards providing limitless possibilities for a visual staff that wishes to use props. Though you do not need props to convey the meaning of the show.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Colors of the Sky
If your visual staff is chomping at the bit to perform a show based on the evolution and interaction of different colors, or perhaps a show about the seasons, check out Colors of the Sky. Throughout this stimulating piece are suggestions of rich visual palette of shifting colors to support the emotional imagery of the storyline. The possibility of flags, scrims, props and sets that highlight the travelogue through the seasons is limitless.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Conspiracy Theory
You can not get away from them. Even though we may think something is as clear as it could be, there are always those who will offer a conspiracy theory as to why you only think you know what you think you know. Someone will always be there to offer some new bit of information about the grassy knoll, faked moon landings, Area 51 or the demise of some famous Hollywood star that somehow “knew too much”.
Conspiracy Theory is inspired by these musings, jostling the listener with the sounds of mass hysteria, intrigue and revelation.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Four Winds
In its original incarnation, Four Winds was performed in the four different quadrants of the field, one quadrant per movement. Inspired by the winds of the world, there are many different ways you can visually approach this show, focusing on gusts coming from each direction to carry the band to wherever each new movement is staged.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | DaVinci's Dream
Leonardo DaVinci is not only one of history’s greatest artists, but also one of civilization’s greatest inventors and idealists. DaVinci's Dream is about his fascination with design, specifically that of human flight.
The show musically spans the centuries from the breathtaking concepts of human flight through its development and ultimately to the breaking of the sound barrier by a pilot who had, "The Right Stuff".
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Dimensions of Existence
If you are looking for a show that is thought-provoking, on the edge of the dark side, yet stimulating, consider Dimensions of Existence, The entire history of the universe in a tidy package that would make Steven Hawking, author of "A Brief History of Time", jealous. From the Big Bang to the final whimper following its eventual collapse, this show screams out for some awesome visual effects to accent the descriptive music.
And if you’ve ever asked why composers do not write palindromes anymore, (such as J. S. Bach’s famed “Crab Canon—and who hasn’t asked that question?), a neat factoid is that the introduction and finale are written as a musical palindrome, playing off the fact that the theory about the collapse of the universe is essentially a reversal of the Big Bang theory.
But don’t worry…this is not a show that will leave the spectators depressed. It will, however, leave the judges more than just a little bit intrigued.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Dreams
Throughout history, people have tried to understand the meaning of dreams. Sigmund Freud made much of his fame doing so and changed the way we understand who we are. Everyone at some point in their life has awoken up from a strange and wondered to himself what it meant. Do dreams mean anything? Why are dreams so strange? Are our dreams trying to tell us something?
Dreams takes the listener through a series of dreams, some pleasant and some frightening. The dreams are accompanied by supplied narration, though you are welcome to add your own to make the experience more personal. Perhaps ask the members of the band to contribute their own thoughts on their dreams and even take turns narrating those thoughts during the production.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Dream of Flight
Throughout recorded history, humanity has been fascinated with the notion of human flight. Once thought impossible, flight is now viewed with indifference instead of as the miracle it truly is. Dream of Flight captures the vivacity of the wonder of flight, reminding us that the ability to fly is anything but mundane, no matter how commonplace it appears to have become.
Starting with man's captivation with watching and studying birds in flight, through that wondrous 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk and Neil Armstrong’s first footprints on the Moon, this show sweeps the audience along in the whirlwind of frenzy that inspired poets as well as inventors to dream of flight and make it a reality, looking well beyond the moon and towards the vast depths of the furthest reaches of the solar system.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Earth: Construction in Four Movements
Earth: Construction in Four Movements pays homage to the four classical elements as they were perceived by the ancients, conceived with the idea of using different colors to portray each of the four sections. The band that commissioned this show created a framework for a 16-foot tall globe and marched through it during the show, utilizing the set as a major visual focus.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Echoes of Camelot
There are few stories in legend and lore that are as endearing as that of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Echoes of Camelot portrays our captivation with the legend in a literal sense, bringing that era to life on the field.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Eternal Cyrano de Bergerac
The story of 17th Century unrequited love fills the Eternal Cyrano de Bergerac, based on the title character of a play—a Parisian poet of phenomenal verse and an equally large nose—that has endured the ages. In this version, the musical storyline is lifted to a modern city, with an urban funkiness permeating the show.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Hieroglyphics
The world of ancient Egypt was one of wonder from the great pyramids to the tombs at the Valley of the Kings across the river from the Egyptian capital Thebes. Hieroglyphics takes us back in time to when pharaohs ruled the land of the Nile. This ancient method of documentation and story-telling became our link to the past which allows us to unlock the doors to an exotic and ancient world.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | House of Cards
House of Cards is a four-movement show that creates moods based on the four main images found in a deck of cards.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Icarus
Icarus is based on one of the central characters in Greek mythology. Son of Daedalus, he and his father tried to escape from the prison of King Minos by wearing wings made of feathers and wax. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun nor too close to the sea, but his son didn’t pay heed and flew too close to the sun, which melted his wings. With no wings left, he fell into what is now known as the Icarian Sea.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Imagine
Imagine asks us to visualize a world where all beings join together on a lifelong journey to preserve the most delicate aspects of human life through joy, love, hope and peace. All nations are united as one in thought, spirit and intent and focusing on the good of all humanity, realizing that unity is strength, knowledge is power and attitude is everything.
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | In the Beginning
In the Beginning interprets The Creation as portrayed in the Book of
Genesis. The oldest story in the history of humanity comes to life in full Cecille B. DeMille extravaganza, full of poetic imagery and sounds that paint a picture of each of the three movements. This opens up the visual possibilities for sets portraying pictures such as a re-creation of Michelangelo’s painting of God touching Adam that is found on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, as well as visions of the seas and plains and the animals that inhabit below the waves and above on land.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | In the Shadow of Dragons
In the Shadow of Dragons is the timeless story about a brave knight of yesteryear and his quest to slay the giant dragon. The subject matter has long the subject of children’s books, fairy tales and movies. This show captures the imagination of young boys and girls who grew up with tales of incredible and fantastic events that were played out in the back recesses of their brains, as they imagined themselves either being saved by handsome nobility or were the knight rescuing the damsel in distress.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Jules Verne Journeys
Based on several works of one of history’s greatest authors and imaginers of the possible, Jules Verne Journeys brings to life the remarkable voyages that Verne set to paper that captured the imaginations of millions throughout the world. The 19th Century French author is credited with inventing the genre of science fiction, writing about travel into the heavens, under the sea and around the world long before any such voyages were possible. This show starts at the core of the earth and gradually emanates outwards to the heavens.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Labyrinth
In ancient mythology, the Labyrinth was a complex maze designed by Daedalus and built by King Minos of Crete to contain the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature that was killed by the Athenian Theseus. Utilizing a metaphoric interpretation of the Labyrinth, the journey into through and the emergence symbolizes personal reflection of one's life.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Latin Suite
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Locomotion
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Lords of the Sea (A Viking Tale)
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Matter
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Midnight in Transylvania
Few stories have been as persistent and haunting through the ages as those of vampires in the forbidding far reaches of what is now Romania. Midnight in Transylvania captures the aura of these stories as if told over a campfire to wide-eyed youngsters quaking at the slightest rustle of leaves.
Set between the hours of 9:00 P.M. to Midnight, the bewitching hours are each introduced by the tolling of a bell (chime), announcing the next phase of whatever is about to happen next when one lets down their guard.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Medusa
Medusa explores the personality and life of the mythical underworld goddess who could turn to stone those who dared look at her and her bizarre head of live venomous snakes. The edgy music slithers through the lush harmonies and pulsating rhythms of ancient times, striking out—when least expected—like a coiled serpent to emphasize the menacing anxiety of Medusa’s distorted view of the world.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Moto Perpetuo
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Murder in Manhattan
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Music of the Day
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Need for Speed, The
The Need for Speed can be performed as a tribute to NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt, or simply for what it is, an exciting and nail biting auto race to the finish!
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Old Man and the Sea
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Origami
Based on the ancient Oriental art form, Origami is flavored throughout with Asian influences, including featured Taiko drums. Generally accepted among scholars and artists, origami began approximately in the first century AD in China where people discovered the simple thrill of folding paper into various shapes and forms. Many of these primitive methods survived to this day as basic origami shapes and moves. As the skill of making paper moved across the Eastern world the art became quite popular in Japan where it melded with the culture and religion at the time. Soon the Shinto religion integrated various origami shapes and creations in their ceremonies where they remain until this day. In fact, origami is a Japanese name itself meaning "ori" or folding and "gami" which means paper.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Pamplona! - The Running of the Bulls
Nestled in the mountains of Spain is a town that has become world famous for its once-a-year pitting of careening bulls and sprinting commoners in its streets. Pamplona! The Running of the Bulls takes us to this town during the festivity that has made it famous, as people from all walks of life travel there and hope they travel home in one piece, with no “souvenirs” in the form of nasty bullhorn wounds.
This well-known July festival, made famous by Ernest Hemingway in “The Sun Also Rises,” is so much more than just bulls and people running through the streets. There is a full week of fireworks, folklore events, singing, religious festivities and celebrations. But it’s the encierro, the running of the bulls that culminates the festival and is the climax of this show.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Pandora's Box
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth. After Zeus ordered the god of craftsmanship to create her out of water and earth, she was endowed by the gods with many talents, making her all-gifted. Pandora's Box follows Pandora’s story with many musical references to the story line and reflects on the curiosity of the title character. In the famous Greek myth, Pandora was instructed not to open a box that was sent with her to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Zeus was punishing Prometheus for stealing fire from heaven and giving it to the mortals, and by sending his brother the prized jewel - Pandora, Zeus would extract revenge on Prometheus. But Pandora opened the box she was to leave alone under all circumstances. Before she could close the lid, all sorts of things had escaped to cover Earth…all except Hope, which lay on the bottom.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Passage to the Pyramid
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Pit and the Pendulum, The
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Pompeii
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Red
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Rio!
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
| Rise and Fall of Rome, The (Grade 4+)
This is not your typical Roman-themed show. The Rise and Fall of Rome isn’t about the political or military reasons why the Roman Empire fell, but rather explores the wonders of Roman architecture and the influence that religion had on the ancient civilization.
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | Something Wicked This Way Comes
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Tell-Tale Heart
| Medium Difficult | 4 -5 |
 | Toro!
The thrill of Mexican bull fighting comes alive in Toro! Experience the flash of the matador, the cheering of the crowds and the spirit of the bull.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Transfiguration: A New Beginning
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Transparency
Glass has long inspired and captivated artists and the public alike. It has the ability to be plain and functional or extravagant and artistic. From the artistry of old-time glass blowers to the colorful assemblages of Dale Chihuly, glass has served as a poetic muse for artists who have created some of the most beautiful works of art ever witnessed.
Transparency explores the various degrees of clarity of glass. The music is thick and impenetrable, then light and open, and finally invisible and airy.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Treasure Island
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Tutankhamen (Grade 4+)
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Vanishing Point
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Vizier (The All Seeing Eye)
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Voyage of the Seven Seas
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | World of M. C. Escher, The
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Windosphere
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Luminosity
Luminosity is about how Thomas Alva Edison never gave up his search for a workable incandescent light bulb, an invention that made so much of modern life possible. You’ll hear him tinker in this workshop through the sounds of the percussion and you’ll feel his pride and accomplishments through the bravado of the brass and the flourishes of the woodwinds.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | Vertigo
Fans of classic cinema will remember the unsettling sense of disorientation and fear that Jimmy Stewart’s character felt when climbing the stairs of the bell tower in the Hitchcock masterpiece, Vertigo. Although the production Vertigo isn’t based on the Hitchcock film, the sensation of each movement reflects upon the elements of fear and trepidation one experiences when suffering from the dizziness associated with the balance disorder symptom. The world seems to be spinning out of control as the music plunges us deeper and deeper towards a point of no return, one that forces us to hold on for our lives as the music assaults our senses and disrupts our equilibrium.
| Medium Difficult | 4 - 5 |
 | 1492: Mundus Novus
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | Battle of Dunnichen
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | Serengeti!
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | Tarot: Mystical & Magical
| Medium Difficult | 4+ |
 | Things That Go Pop!
| Medium Difficult | 4 |
| Tutankhamen (Grade 2+)
| Medium Easy | 2+ |
