Written around ideas James Hultgren, my youngest son, wrote down on the
20th of August 2000. The sketches and scores of the band and string orchestra settings were completed
mid 2004 with engraving and publication following by late September, early October.
Context For Creation
See program note and comments on the string version.
Premiere
Brolga Music promotional recording session September/October 2004
Subsequent performances:
Various school and community band performances related to inclusion on select repertoire lists
for contest and festival both in Australia and the USA
Publisher
Brolga Music Publishing Company, Brisbane, Australia www.brolgamusic.com
in 2004.
The work is now published and has be placed on festival select
repertoire lists across the country.
Reflections
See notes on the string version for the reflection on the work as
a whole. What was a challenge here, in resetting this, was to transfer the work to a concert
band setting with James' critical ear following my every move. He would challenge instrument
selection and ask why X or Y could not play this or that. Trying to explain pedagogical
decisions to him was difficult because he was basing his desires on what he heard the
instruments play, not on the capacity of the player to execute what was written for them. He
eventually submitted to my position as I linked it with his limited capacity on the violin at
that stage (being in the intermediate string orchestra at school at that time) and showing how
his friends in the band still had skills to build, as did he.