Thule Ultima for Wind Quintet (Headjoint and Mouthpieces only) (1999)

Stephen Montague always manages to write music that grabs the attention in some way or other and this piece is no exception. Here all the performers are required to play on just the head joint, reed or mouthpiece until the last note. The notation could be described as conventional with bars and time signatures as normal. There are detailed performance notes stipulating for example that passages can be modified to suit abilities and giving directions on how to shuffle the feet. As it lasts only 4 minutes I can see a great use in educational concerts as an unusual form of instrument demonstration. Definitely not for the faint-hearted!