Taking Flight is a show about the oldest human dream: to leave the ground behind. It captures the whole arc of the impulse, the anticipation before the launch, the breathless rush of the climb, the sudden weightless beauty of the world falling away beneath you. It reaches for the exhilaration and the wonder of being airborne, the pure freedom of the open sky, and the awe of seeing everything you know from somewhere far above it. This is a soaring, uplifting production built around the thrill of the ascent. This show was designed for small bands to be successful. The score includes parts for all instruments, but there is significant doubling across those parts, so any combination of instruments, including less-than-ideal instrumentation, can carry the show in performance. The music matches the ambition, sweeping and cinematic, with real lift under it, from the wide-open lyricism of the heights to the driving energy of the climb. It gives an ensemble a soaring vehicle, expansive and emotional and full of momentum, the kind of show that opens up over a stadium and lifts a crowd right along with it. The music: Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell) Interstellar Suite (Amin Bhatia) To Tame the Perilous Skies (David Holsinger) Reverberations (Brian Balmages) This show is rated Medium-Easy, which lines up with a concert grade of roughly 2 to 3. That's an approximation. A featured soloist or small ensemble moment can sit toward the top of that range, while full ensemble sections built around visual impact stay lighter on the musical demand. The rating leans almost entirely on rhythmic and technical difficulty. Keys and meters are chosen to stay band-friendly and to line up with the phrasing the drill needs, and instrument ranges sit inside the grade window rather than pushing its edges. Permissions to arrange are required for all four selections.
