The Six Seasons of Kakadu

Kakadu Australia's ancient wilderness comprises 8000 square miles of the Northern Territory and boasts the longest continuous surviving human cultures in the world. Aborigines have been living in this region for at least 40000 years. The region also contains abundant wild life. It is a land of varied extremes that creates a constant cycle of destruction and renewal. The climate varies so much that the aboriginal inhabitants have divided the year into six distinct seasons: Gunumelung (October November December) Pre-monsoon hot and humid Gudjewg (January February) Monsoon rains and flooding Banggereng (March) Receding waters and caring of the young Yegge (April May) Morning mists and early season wild fires. Wurrgeng (JuneJuly) Cold weather and drying out of the flood plain Gurrung (August September) Windless and hot. The land appears to lie dormant.The composition is loosely programmatic. It does not depict the six seasons sequentially nor does it depict the six seasons with specific thematic material. The composition does attempt to capture both the primitiveness and beauty of this ancient wilderness and the cycles of its seasons each with its own uniqueness and its challenge for the sustaining of life.This composition was awarded first prize in Franklin and Marshalll College's Wind Ensemble Composition Contest in 2001.