A Wind Ensemble Wishlist

All the Things I'm Not

Pale Blue On Deep - Aaron Perrine

Tears Of St. Lawrence

Primal

This work was commissioned by Bruce Perkins in memory of his father, Douglas Davies Perkins (1931–2023), and he shared the following thoughts:

The original concept for UNDYING came from an old College song, Dartmouth Undying, which expresses the love of the ethos of a place frozen in time, where the love of learning and exploring is eternal. This always seemed at the core of my father’s belief system. He was a strong believer in a liberal arts education and the undying love of humanity that resulted from it. It is also a way of eternally remembering a man who spent his life in the service of others.

The work UNDYING is an affirmation of the belief that leading a principled life is paramount, and that a well-rounded liberal arts education is a direct and effective way to accomplish this.

The work opens with sighs – a response to the challenges of life, the loss of a father, the state of the world…  What follows is a journey through moments of glorious accomplishment interrupted by periods of frustration and impediment   the former grounded in learning from our collective histories and cultures; the latter caring not for timing, coming suddenly with great disruption or overwhelming slowly with an alarming power.

Ending with an optimistic sense of hope for a better future, there still remains a presence of this eternal back and forth as the music fades from perception. 

This work is also a meditation on how loved ones who have passed on still remain vibrant in our thinking, our dreams, our souls.

UNDYING (midi version)- Timothy Mahr

"Fields of Grain as Seen from a Train" is a work for concert band by Timothy Mahr based on the painting of the same title by early American abstract painter Arthur Dove.  It was commissioned by Tom Davis and his fine ensemble in Canandaigua, NY, which is where Arthur Dove was born.  The image for this page is the Dove painting.

This fine recording was produced in Japan by the Atsugi High School Wind Symphony, under the baton of Tetsuya Nakayama, one of the few true champions of my music.  They sound fantastic!!

I have always been intrigued by the different senses of speed one experiences visually when looking out at a landscape from a moving vehicle (say a band tour bus...).  Mountains on the horizon seem stationary, while the mid-distance structures and features move moderately across one's field of vision.  The gravel and plants at the shoulder of the road or train tracks is just a blur.  I carried this idea of multiple senses of time and speed into the composition of the work.

TIMOTHY MAHR:  Fields of Grain as Seen from a Train

Resilience
A fanfare for our times


When I was commissioned to create a brief concert-opening fanfare, I was impelled to write music that spoke to our times in the early months of 2025.  We are challenged by disruptions to the normal order of things and we all find ourselves needing to make personal decisions about how to move forward.  It is a time when we must remain strong.

Might one minute of music allow listeners to experience resiliency in the face of challenge?  This work begins in an almost carefree manner, only to be confronted by dissonant and aggressive materials that nearly overwhelm the piece.  The power of a unified response to this challenge, building across the performers first as a single pitch, eventually strengthened by octaves, overcomes the threat, and there is a return to a welcome and hopeful consonance.  

Resilience was commissioned by the Southeast Polk Wind Ensemble (IA), and their conductor Jacquelyn Meunier, who provided a dedicatory statement for the score that well describes Resilience: A fanfare for our times:

A celebration of perseverance, strength, and hope in the face of adversity. 
This piece honors the unwavering spirit of those who push forward, embrace challenges, and continue striving for a brighter future.

Recording by the Southeast Polk Wind Ensemble, Jacquelyn Meunier, conductor.

Cover Painting:  “Resilience” Acrylic on 9X12 canvas paper.  Timothy Mahr, created during the composing of this piece.


Timothy Mahr - RESILIENCE

ART SHOW
1. Celebrate Art!
2. Drawing: The Power of the Line
3. Ceramics: The Power of Shape and Heat
4. Animal Mashups: The Power of the Imagination 
5. Painting: The World of Color

When I was approached by Phillip Meyer to consider a commission from the 6th Grade Concert Band at Lisle Junior High School in Lisle, IL, we explored how we might make a very special project out of the experience. I had just retired and was exploring a long-time goal of painting, and this increased interest in art led to the idea of trying to musically depict an art show, with the hopes of collaborating with the visual arts students and community at the school.

As I began searching for materials, the idea of beginning with celebratory music to announce the opening of the ART SHOW made sense. I then worked at finding music derived from the process and product of drawing, working with clay, creating animal mashups, and the use of color, all units of study within the Lisle 6th grade curriculum. This was a very engaging, really fun composition to create!

ART SHOW is dedicated to the 6th Grade Concert Band and the 6th grade art students at Lisle Junior High School.
/s/ Timothy Mahr

Cover art: “The Runner” Timothy Mahr. Acrylics on paper, painted during the composition process of ART SHOW. Phillip Meyer was not only a valued member of the St. Olaf Band under my baton, he was also the captain of the St. Olaf College cross-country team that was the 2013 Division III National Champions.

MAHR - ART SHOW - FINALE AUDIO FILE

In This Moment

Score and more: http://www.stevenbryant.com/music/catalog/nothing-gold-can-stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay was commissioned as a surprise gift for Kevin Sedatole in honor of his first ten years at Michigan State University. His conducting students spanning that decade, led by Jamal Duncan and Armand Hall, banded together and approached me at the 2015 College Band Directors National Convention in Nashville about writing the work, and I knew immediately that I couldn’t refuse this special project, made all the more appropriate because my wife, Verena, was one of Kevin’s very first students at MSU.

The music is my deliberate attempt to write a chorale – something simple, beautiful, and familiar. The deceptive surface simplicity of Robert Frost’s poem seems to coincide with this music, particularly the paradoxical descending of dawn to day, all embodying the concept of felix culpa, or “lucky fall” – the idea that loss can bring greater good, and is in fact necessary.

Nothing Gold Can Stay (MSU World Premiere)

A Glimpse of the Eternal

A Glimpse Of The Eternal - University of Kansas live 2017 CBDNA Performance

Spring Concert 2017

Temperance

For Large or Medium Wind Ensemble Fixed Media, Horn Solo and Melodica (or Accordion), and guided improvisation

Dedicated to all those who have lost a loved one without a chance to say goodbye.

Death’s thin melody too…is a set of variations that began with the sound of a squeaky
escalator in Arezzo, Italy. The sound itself seemed to be reminiscing about the days when a lone monk wandered the hillside dreaming of a way to help people remember melodies. There is a hidden simple chord progression in this squeak, and yet, there are tones that rise beyond that simple progression into a harmonious other world: they belong, even if they do not fit. Death’s thin melody too…returns to Arezzo, in the footsteps of Guido of Monaco, and invites musicians to let go of notation and return to using their ears as a primary instrument for music-making. This work asks something different of the musicians: that they make music in community using all of the skills they have developed on their instruments, but guided by their unique sensitivities of each person as a listener.

Death’s thin melody first appeared as “Up/Down” in a Kansas City multi-media dance production called WE! (Jane Gotch and Mark Southerland, Spring, 2012), and as part of my epic series called 2012 Stories in live performance and appearing in forthcoming CD No. 7, Chanes. This version invites other instrumentalists to perform along with the haunting, simple tune that I originally improvised along with Arezzo’s escalators. Death’s thin melody too… was commissioned by Joseph Parisi for the UMKC Wind Ensemble.

Death's thin melody too...

Graduate Conducting Fellow at the University of Miami, Frost School of Music

Tears Of St. Lawrence

Aaron Perrine

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