Shortly following the composition of my first real piece of music The Light, I set out to write another concert band work with the potential goal of having it performed by the Booneville Advanced Band, the band I was in at the time (2017). This piece is the result upon listening to the work, you will immediately notice that my compositional arsenal was far less diverse than it is today - the melody repeats several times without much development, the tonality is very clear and does not deviate from the tonal center, and the piece is without a form; that is, through-composed. The grade level of the work comes from the expanded ranges of the instruments, the maturity of maintaining an expressive and lyrical style, and some fast woodwind passages toward the end. While this work is vastly different from my compositional output today, I recognize it as a very early part of my long journey as a composer.
PERFORMANCE NOTE: This work comes with an electronic backing track to be played at the very beginning. This backing track is OPTIONAL, however highly suggested as it does enhance the performance. If you'd like to use the backing track, please contact me at
[email protected] and I will happily send it to you free of charge.
- Trenton Rhodes, 2025