Soundings - Fisher Tull

The American composer Fisher Tull (1934–1994) was also an arranger, teacher, and trumpet player. Upon graduating from high school in Waco, Texas, Tull played for a while in a dance band prior to enrolling at the University of North Texas and earning a bachelor’s degree in Music Education. He stayed at the University of North Texas to pursue additional studies and earned a master’s degree in Music Theory and Trumpet Performance. At the tender age of twenty-three, Tull began teaching at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas in 1957. He would later earn a PhD in Music Composition (also at the University of North Texas) and serve as chair of the music department at Sam Houston State University from 1965 until 1982.

Fisher Tull

Tull earned numerous awards for his compositions from ASCAP, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the National Flute Association. His piece for wind band, Toccata, earned him the 1970 American Bandmaster’s Ostwald Award. Tull is perhaps best known today for his wind band composition Sketches on a Tudor Psalm. His roots however were writing for brass ensembles and he has numerous trumpet solos to his credit: sonatas and concerti for trumpet.



The specific Fisher Tull piece I would like to share is titled Soundings. I was unable to find any videos on YouTube or recordings on Naxos so I uploaded a recent performance by the University of Iowa Chamber Winds to YouTube (below). The conductor of that performance, Joseph Cernuto, writes:

Tull composed in many diverse genres, but he was particularly suited for wind writing; especially brass, given his background as a trumpet performer. His earliest compositions were for brass and percussion ensembles. These include the often-performed Liturgical Symphony and Soundings. Tull composed Soundings in 1965 for the Sam Houston State Brass Choir and he conducted its premiere. Tull states that Soundings “…is designed to exploit the coloristic possibilities of brass and percussion instruments.” The two sections of the piece show these different coloristic possibilities in unique ways. There are multiple diverse effects used in the piece, including multiple mutes, special effects for the valved instruments, and percussion effects.”


The above performance of Soundings is by the Chamber Winds of the University of Iowa, Joseph Cernuto, conductor on May 3rd, 2017. The instrumentation is 6 trumpets, 6 horns, 4 trombones, 2 euphoniums, 2 tubas, timpani, and 3 percussionists. The work is roughly five minutes long.


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