Journey to the Prairie was written in one night – I couldn’t turn off the sounds. As Quincy says transitional tasks can be very helpful to develop material, and my wife couldn’t be happier that evening as I continued mopping, sweeping, and cleaning the house. I finished the piece at 3 a.m. that December morning, printed parts and had the wind ensemble at my school perform the first and only draft. I was excited to see this piece come to life, but discouraged as it was passed over by 3 other publishers. With nothing to lose, I entered it in the 2nd Annual Ticheli Competition.

Now some 5 years later the piece is available. My thanks to Dr. Arnold at Grove City College who provided the recording for the contest (it is also posted on my compositions page). I hope this piece might be useful to your ensemble in the coming months.

Be sure to bump on over to Travis J. Weller on myspace to hear the PMEA District 5 Band recording of “Moravian Dance”.  Jack Anderson did a great job with the band, and I am so proud of the students for what they did with the music.  The piece will be available from FJH this summer.

I was delighted to find another performance on Youtube given by the Hopkins West Junior High Band under the direction of Mrs. Kay Hawley. Bravo students and thank you Kay!

My latest new find has been Bela Bartok and Stravinsky (My sincere apologies to Dr. Carter for not applying myself in music history during undergrad at GCC). I have found a number of Bartok’s piano pieces to be really interesting, and I am enjoying his percussive use of the instrument. I am new to his Concerto for Orchestra, but my first hearings reveal to me a great deal of color. Stravinsky’s Pertruska, Tango (for Piano) and Symphony of Psalms have my ear right now as well. Everyone knows Firebird and Rite of Spring, but he is definitely so much more!

I email Dr. Camphouse once a year to talk about new old pieces. I also check pieces out with Dr. Arnold, Dr. Greig, Gary Taylor, and Uncle Lou Collela. It is worth your time to talk with a colleague about the hidden gems that unfortunately collect too much dust and not enough audience applause and student appreciation.

“Journey to the Prairie” was recorded by Dr. Edwin P. Arnold and the Grove City College Wind Ensemble. The programmatic piece depicts the Westward Expansion in our country. It is written with an advanced elementary band or middle school band in mind. It offers a number of opportunities for soloists or small chamber-like groups. They also performed “Fanfare on Themes of Davenport”. The recording is from their performance at the PMEA State Conference last year.

“Beginnings of Flight” has recently been entered in a composition contest. It is dedicated to the men and women of our armed services that protect our skies, and seeks to convey the excitement a young pilot feels on the first flight. It is written with a high school band in mind. A number of pecussion parts are written, and there are a number of very exciting and dramatic parts for the entire ensemble. I am very grateful to Dr. Willis Rapp and the Kutztown University Wind Ensemble for providing this recording.

I hope to make a full version of “Pirates!” available soon. The performance is by Dr. R. Tad Greig and the Westminster College Wind Ensemble.

Thanks for your support and feedback!