Stripes & Stars
In April 2008 I won a “Meet The Composer’s MetLife Creative Connections” grant to participate in the SFCCO project, The Star and Stripes Forever variations. Where 6 composers each write a variations on The Star and Stripes Foreverand it put together into make this new piece. I have many warm memories about hearing The Stars and Stripes Forever during 4th of July outings as a child. It is by far one of the most well known marches in the repertoire. While I have enjoyed listen to it over the years, as a performer, my part was always very boring. Bassoons and saxophone only got the pa-pa part of the um-pa-um-pa accompaniment. So for my variation, Stripes & Stars, I first decided I would give the bassoons a more fun part. Then while working with melodies I inverted them and really liked it. The inversion of a given melody is the melody turned upside-down. For instance, if the original melody has a rising major third, the inverted melody has a falling major third. I then recombined various melodies a little to round out my variation. This piece was performed on June 7th, 2008 by the SFCCO.
