I began my teaching career at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. When I first began teaching there, the entire band program consisted of 35 students. For the first several years, the high school band was very small and finding good music for our instrumentation was challenging. One of my favorite pieces we played from this period in our program's development was Canticle by Douglas Wagner. In Canticle, Wagner managed to craft an absolutely beautiful piece of music that had many musical challenges, but was written so that each instrument's part was unified; there was only one trumpet part, one clarinet part, etc. As both a director and a composer, I admired this feat of compositional skill.
In Quiet Hours... is written in the same style. Each instrument's part is written as one part (with one or two divisi in octaves, to provide some range for more advanced ensembles). In writing it, I hope to provide another piece of worthwhile literature for schools with reduced instrumentation, many young players, or both. The title describes the hours in which music educators make the decisions that will bring success, joy, and passion to their students.
Randall Standridge