Comments on the Music

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"Dear Stephen, it was a huge honor to get to share "The River" with the students, staff, and audience at Wildwood Institute of Music and Arts (2019) Your kind support of our efforts to provide all of those students with the best possible music education and music making experiences was sincerely appreciated by all concerned. Thank you so much for gracing us all with your time, talent, and camaraderie, good sir."

Leonard Narumi (Wildwood Institute of Music and Arts, Retired Band and Orchestra Director Schurr HS)

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"Saxes in the beginning remind me of the horns in the opening of "Caccia" by McBeth. In fact, the whole presentation of the theme does! Lovely seeing the whole development of it all. Nicely done!." 

Ethan Blackburn (Composer /Former student at California HS)

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Program Notes

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About the Dedication…

The River was composed in the summer of 2018 as a gift to my nephew, Tim Avery. A talented Band Director and musician. Tim is a Texas native and graduate of Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Ark. Tim is currently in the early years of his Band Directing Career. I wish him all the best as he navigates the twists and turns of the River of teaching with the successes and challenges that will come along his way. May God richly bless his steps as he pours his life into his students.

 

About the Work…

Fly fishing is a great joy for me. I find it relaxing standing or wading in a river or stream casting about in the current with my fly rod. 

 

Like a river, life has many twists and turns. If you never venture out into the current, you will never know the value of learning to deal with success and failure. I don’t always catch fish, but the patient wading through both swift and gently flowing water allows for moments of thoughtful reflection on life and its challenges.  

 

The music is reflective of the powerful and calm, swift and gentle, deep and shallow, twists and turns of a River. The musical material comes from only five pitches, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and hopefully affords every section of the band a musical challenge.