Go West!

Go West!. is a medley which includes three theme songs from iconic American Western films of the 1960s. The arrangement was written by Ralph Ford (see below) in 2004.

The first song comes from 1960’s “The Magnificent Seven”. The screenplay is a remake – in an Old West-style, of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai (itself initially released in the United States as The Magnificent Seven). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits led by Eli Wallach.

The film's score is by Elmer Bernstein (1922 – 2004). Along with the readily recognized main theme and effective support of the story line, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, such as the reference to Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, second movement, in the tense quiet scene just before the final shootout.

The second song in the medley comes from the 1968 classic Western film “Hang ‘Em High”. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching; Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him; Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched Cooper; and Pat Hingle as the federal judge who hires him as a Deputy U.S. Marshal.

Composer Dominic Frontiere (1931 – 2017) was given just eight days to compose an Ennio Morricone type score for the film. His iconic theme has since appeared in a large number of cover versions, ranging from Hugo Montenegro to Booker T and the M.G.s.

The third song from the medley is from another Clint Eastwood film, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone.

The score was composed by frequent Leone collaborator Ennio Morricone (1928 – 2020). For this film, Leone and Morricone departed from their previous working method by developing the principal themes before filming began. This approach allowed the music to shape the film's rhythm and atmosphere, with Leone often playing the compositions on set and staging camera movements and editing patterns to match the score.

Morricone employed an unconventional orchestral palette that blended traditional instrumentation with distinctive sound effects, including gunfire, whistling, and vocalizations. The main theme is built around a two-note motif designed to evoke the howl of a coyote, which is heard over the film's opening images. The motif functions as a leitmotif for the three protagonists, each represented by a different timbre: flute for “The Good”, ocarina for “The Bad”, and human voices for “The Ugly”.

Arranger Ralph Ford (b.1963) is active as a composer, arranger, conductor, and clinician. In addition to his twenty nine years of university teaching experience, Ralph has enjoyed a wide variety of professional experiences in the music, media, and broadcast industries. He is an exclusive composer and arranger for the Belwin division of Alfred Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California, with over 250 titles available worldwide for orchestra, concert band, jazz ensemble, and marching band. A frequently commissioned composer, his music has been premiered and performed by university, military, professional, community, and school ensembles around the world.

Ford has received international and regional advertising awards for his jingles and 3-D animation. His work in media includes live radio broadcasts, host, voice-over for television, commercials, and video productions, conducting live musical productions, recording sessions, produced recordings for release on traditional discs and other types of new media, compose and record news music packages for national network affiliates, and producing programs for television, radio, and the internet.

His work as a professional arranger began at age fifteen as a student in Panama City, Florida. While attending Troy State University, he was appointed as Director of Jazz Ensemble I during his sophomore undergraduate year, a position he held for fifteen years. During his senior undergraduate year, he began his tenure as the staff arranger for the university band program. Upon completing his undergraduate degree in 1986, he was appointed to the music faculty as staff arranger and assistant director by his collegiate director and mentor, Dr. John Long, where he also taught courses in orchestration, arranging, theory, technology, jazz studies, and applied brass for the next fifteen years. He earned his Master of Science degree in 1988 from Troy while serving on the faculty as fulltime instructor. In 1999, he began his career as an exclusive composer/arranger from Warner Brothers Publications, a relationship that he proudly continues today with Alfred Publications.

Ralph retired from Troy University in June 2011 following a ten year appointment as the Director of Bands, Coordinator of Winds and Percussion, and Professor of Music.

In addition to his usual production schedule, Ralph is also in demand as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and guest lecturer throughout the United States and abroad. He has received local, state, regional, and national recognition and proclamations for his artistic achievements from academic, artistic, and government organizations. With a wide variety of professional and educational experiences, he brings a unique personality to his work with colleagues and students alike.

In March 2009, he was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. Ralph resides in Troy, Alabama with his wife, Amanda, daughters Melanie and Abby, Basset Hound Angel, Jack Russell terrier Gizmo, and the fabulous Miss Kitty.

The music for Go West! was provided for the band

by Peggy Jacobsen and Katelyn Wagener.