Pride of Peachtree, now in its 18th season, has always had an interesting approach to music.

Our shows have ranged from strictly classical symphony compositions to abbreviated rock albums and everywhere in between. For season 57, the corps takes on the challenge of translating some of the greatest grunge tracks ever created into horn music on the move. This process all starts with the designers and instructional staff.

“People often think arranging something that’s already written is easy, but really, I find that arranging certain pieces can be more challenging than composing an original work,” says Jordan Crawford, our winds arranger. “Especially with something like Seattle rock, where a lot of the atmosphere comes from distortion. But then you also have the slower, melodic lines like there is in ‘About A Girl’ where the chord structure can really affect the mood. The reconstructing of the grunge chords into a brass ensemble, but keeping the same balance, really can be a struggle,” Crawford added.

After the arrangement is compiled, the ensemble still has to play the music like the greats who created it did. That’s where it gets even more tricky.

“Basically, the noise that comes out of my bell has to sound exactly like Eddie Vedder,” Ashley Crafton laughs. Ashley plays parts of Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter” as a baritone soloist in the show’s ballad. “It isn’t technically challenging, for the most part, but it has to sound like Vedder’s voice, and that isn’t easy to replicate with a horn. Eddie loves to work his way to the top of the baritone range, and that’s where the fun is!”

On the opposite end of “technically challenging”, Jason Chafin and Wells England have some comments about the show’s final movement.

“Spoonman is the hardest thing I’ve ever conducted in my life,” Chafin says. Jason is the head drum major this season, and also has conducted for the group in the last two seasons. “Soundgarden performed it in 7/4, with some segments in 4/4. Jordan [Crawford, brass arranger] and Trey [Gonzalez, percussion arranger] kept it true to the song. A lot of time changes. A lot of cues. I end every runthrough exhausted.”

“Spoonman is hell to march and play,” England says. Wells is the second-year center snare. “It’s exciting and challenging, especially the ‘spoon’ feature, but man, it’s a hard time keeping up with the time changes. A lot of the time, you’re stepping ‘one’ with your right foot, and it doesn’t feel right. I thought I marched Peachtree, not Cadets.”

“Dirty In Seattle” is shaping up to be a great show for Pride of Peachtree. The corps is coming off a group-high 5th place last season, and there are high hopes that a clean, hard show like “Dirty In Seattle” is enough to make them medalist contenders.