BandQuest is a series of band music for middle-level band commissioned and published by the American Composers Forum

American Composers Forum

The American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composers and their music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States...

, a national non-profit composer service organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

. The series is exclusively distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

.
The idea for BandQuest began in 1995 after a national survey of music educators conducted by the American Composers Forum

American Composers Forum

The American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composers and their music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States...

 revealed a need for fresh music for young bands. Many young performers lack the technical ability to play pieces by more established composers. To fill this need, American Composers Forum initially commissioned ten composers to write new works, and created accompanying CD-ROM curricula to support five of those ten works. The CD-ROMs provide an interdisciplinary approach to learning music and teaches students (and their teachers) about the great composers who are living today, including:

Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...

's "Hambone,"

Thomas C. Duffy

Thomas C. Duffy

Thomas C. Duffy is Professor of Music and the Director of Bands at Yale University.- Biography :From July 2005 through June 2006, he was the Acting Dean of the School of Music, and was Deputy Dean from 1997 to 2005...

's "A+: A 'Precise' Prelude and an 'Excellent' March,"

Chen Yi

Chen Yi (composer)

Chen Yi is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. She was the first Chinese woman to receive a Master of Arts in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is also a violinist....

's "Spring Festival"

Brent Michael Davids

Brent Michael Davids

Brent Michael Davids is an American composer and flautist. He is a member of the Stockbridge Mohican nation of American Indians. He has composed for Zeitgeist, the Kronos Quartet, Joffrey Ballet, the National Symphony Orchestra, and Chanticleer.He holds a B.M...

' "Grandmother Song,"

Alvin Singleton

Alvin Singleton

Alvin Singleton is a composer from the United States. Born and raised in New York, he received his music education from New York University and the Yale School of Music . From 1971 to 1985 he lived overseas, and then he returned to the United States after being appointed as the Atlanta Symphony...

's "Ridgeview Centrum,"

Adolphus Hailstork

Adolphus Hailstork

Adolphus Hailstork is an American composer and educator. He grew up in Albany, New York, where he studied violin, piano, organ, and voice....

's "New Wade 'n Water,"

Tania Leon

Tania Leon

Tania León is a Cuban composer and conductor who has been recognized as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.-León's Music:...

's "Alegre,"

Judith Lang Zaimont

Judith Lang Zaimont

Judith Lang Zaimont is an American music educator, music writer and composer.-Life:Judith Ann Lang was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Bellerose, Queens, New York. She began studying piano at age five, and performed on The Lawrence Welk Show at age eleven...

's "City Rain,"

Robert Xavier Rodriguez

Robert Xavier Rodriguez

Robert Xavier Rodríguez is an American classical composer, best known for his eight operas and his works for children.- Life and career :...

' "Smash the Windows,"

Michael Colgrass

Michael Colgrass

Michael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician . He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival...

's "Old Churches,"

Michael Daugherty

Michael Daugherty

Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...

's "Alligator Alley,"

Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon is an American composer of classical music. Higdon has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto.-Biography:Higdon was born in Brooklyn,...

's "Rhythm Stand,"

Stephen Paulus

Stephen Paulus

Stephen Paulus is an American composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His best-known piece is his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, one of several operas he has written for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which prompted The New York Times to call him "a young man on the road...

' "Mosaic,"

and the latest edition in the series, Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...

's "Nature's Way."


Current efforts on the BandQuest series involve identifying additional support for additional commissions and enhancing the website to provide more curriculum, tools for teachers, and games for students.

BandQuest History

BandQuest formally began in March 1997, developed by the American Composers Forum through a two-year research process, in consultation with dozens of artists and educators.

Since that time the Forum has established National and Regional Advisory Committees for the project, contracted 14 composers for commissions, and retained key personnel for the positions of Music Editor and Curriculum Editor, as well as additional curriculum writers.

New Band Horizons vs. New Horizons Band

BandQuest originally began as New Band Horizons, but this title was too close to the national band group for senior performers titled New Horizons Band. Shortly before publication the title of the series was changed to BandQuest. Note that the historical documents in this entry refer to the program as New Band Horizons instead of its current name.

BandQuest Advanced

BandQuest Advanced launched in fall 2006 as a way to showcase the pieces in the series for more experienced bands. The pieces included in the subseries of BandQuest Advanced include Gunther Schuller's "Nature's Way," Robert Xavier Rodriguez' "Smash the Windows," and Judith Lang Zaimont's "City Rain."