Rocky Rising Light 

About:  Rocky Rising Light was commissioned by Dorothy Pino and East High School. Dorothy first spoke with me in the Spring of 2014 about the idea of writing a piece for her students — something that would be meaningful to East High specifically. In Rocky Rising Light, I wanted to invoke the impression of the sun rising in Colorado’s famous mountain range. The piece begins with a calm melody in the clarinets, gently swelling as more instruments enter. The music “wakes” as it becomes more rhythmically active, and changes between various time signatures. A counter melody is interspersed, and tiered bell-like entrances are like new rays light. The piece climaxes — as if we finally see the sun directly —before returning to a calm remembrance of the beginning melody.

Premiere: The East High School Concert Band, conducted by Dorothy Pino, on March 20th, 2015 at East High School, Denver, CO. 

Instrumentation: fl1-3.cl1-2.bcl.bsn / sop sax.alto sax1-2.ten sax.bar sax / tpt1-2.hn.barhn.tbn.tba / timp.perc1-2 / elec bass

Duration:  ca. 6 minutes