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.