Honor
October 26th, 2025
Miniature Overture
Miniature Overture was commissioned by Ernest Mills and the Kearsage Regional High School Band in North Sutton, New Hampshire. The request was for a short work that would be playable by a large number of high school bands throughout the country.The piece is based upon three ideas: a unifying polychordal harmonic figure (heard in the first measure), a melody based on the interval of a fourth, and a folk-like, slow melody. The melodic material is put through several processes including stretto, anon, inversion, and simultaneous recapitulation. It was my hope to make a significant teaching piece in this short, three-minute setting.
The work is dedicated to my high school band director, Donald К. Smith. He was the band director at High Point High School in Beltsville, Maryland. As I enter my 31st year of teaching, I look back on my experience in his band and realize how it molded me as a musician/teacher. He taught us the pursuit of excellence, had the highest of standards for both the band and himself, and taught us self-discipline and self-motivation. He also provided quality musical experiences for us. Little did I know that other high school bands were not playing Persichetti’s Symphony for Band, Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, Nixon’s Fiesta del Pacifico, and Vaughan Williams’s Toccata Marziale, just to name a few.
Most recently I have been reunited with Mr. Smith and I thought it appropriate to dedicate one of my compositions to a person who was so influential in my musical life.
– Jack Stamp
A Song For Tomorrow
A Song for Tomorrow is a composition that is very near and dear to my heart. The piece was composed in memory of my friend Jonathan Foreman, who tragically died in September of 2018. Jonathan, his older brother David, and their family and I were close when we were in high school, and so his death hit me very hard; as well as the family, and the students and faculty of Arlington High School. For his funeral, the room was packed with Arlington High School teachers, students and alumni who knew Jonathan. Arlington High School was always a family and it was amazing to see how many people came out to support and say their goodbyes. After the funeral, service, I felt a deep pulling on my heart that I need to write something for Jonathan and the Foreman family, as a tribute to Jonathan. I pondered what to do for months until I was able to come up with a title and an idea for the piece. The title of the composition, A Song for Tomorrow, is inspired by a Latin phrase that was printed on Jonathan’s funeral program. The phrase read “Cras alius dies est,” which means “tomorrow is another day.”
The song is mean to embody who Jonathan was, and provide hope and comfort to the family and friends who knew him for the days to come. The song features a chorale that I came up with that comes back in different forms throughout the piece. Jonathan was a trumpet player, and so I wrote an off-stage trumpet solo that is played (which represents him), as well as a trumpet section feature that builds the climax of the piece. The piece explores different conflictions and dissonances, until coming to a peaceful resolution. This was incredibly hard for me to write, and so I wanted to make sure that I put everything in my heart into this work. I hope that this piece can be comforting and provide peace to all who have lost someone close to them. I hope it gives them the strength to carry on through the days ahead, for every tomorrow that comes.
– Kevin Day
Amazonia (Mvmts 3-5)
3rd movement: Mekaron. Mekaron is a [Native] word meaning “picture”, “soul”, “essence”. The [natives] are the original inhabitants of the Amazon region. They either live in one place as a group or move around a large region. They all have their own political system, their own language and an intense social life. At the same time they are master of music and medicine.
“Everywhere the white man goes, he leaves a wilderness behind him”, wrote the North American [Native] leader Seatl in 1885. As a result of these contacts, the disruption of most [Native] societies began. (In this century alone, 80 tribes have vanished completely).
4th movement: Kêêtuajê. This is the name of the initiating ceremony of the Krahô tribe in the Brazilian state of Goias, in which young boys and girls enter adult life. They are cleansed with water, painted with red paint and covered with feathers, after which the ritual dance holds the entire tribe spell-bound.
5th movement: Paulino Faiakan. In 1988 the [Native] chiefs Faiakan and Raoni Kaiapo came to Europe to protest against the building of the Altamira dam in Brazil. As a result of the dam the [Natives] would be driven from their traditional land and enormous artificial [lakes] would be created. The project was supported financially by, amongst others, the European Community. In February 1989 the [Native] tribes around Altamira held a protest march for the first time in their history together. Amongst other things they paid tribute to Chico Mendez, who, murdered in 1988, was the leader of the rubber syndicate and a fierce opponent of the destruction of the Brazilian rain forest. Brazilian and world opinion was awakened. The building of the dam was — albeit temporarily — stopped.
Blueprints For Hope
Blueprints for Hope is written in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The first Earth Day was a grassroots effort organized by Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970, as a way for the American people to speak out against environmental degradation.
The Earth Day movement is attributed to sparking the development of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which formed later that year, and led to numerous environmental successes in subsequent years, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Paris Climate Accord. Earth Day events have spread to take place each year all over the globe, spurring community engagement and raising public awareness for environmental issues worldwide.
Fifty years after the first Earth Day protest march, we are still faced with immense and urgent environmental challenges. While there is much work to be done, there is also much work to be celebrated. Activist victories are easily forgotten, but their stories can be looked upon as blueprints for the next wave of change and the next generation of activists.”
The Thunderer
The Thunderer was Mrs. John Phillip Sousa’s favorite march. Their daughter Helen revealed this, who had surmised that The Thunderer might have been her father’s salute to the London Times, which was known as the “thunderer.” It was since then determined that Sousa probably had no association with the newspaper at that time, however. The “thunderer” might have been one of the ones in charge of making arrangements for the 1889 conclave — in particular Myron M. Parker, who worked tirelessly to make the event the spectacular success that it was.
In the second section of the march, Sousa included an adaptation of earlier trumpet and drum piece, Here’s to Your Health, Sir!
Amazing Grace
This setting of Amazing Grace is dedicated to Sean Miller and his family. Sean, a successful band director and emerging composer passed away January 7th, 2015; leaving behind a wife and two children. Sean is a constant reminder of goodness and inspiration. It is my hope that this setting will bring a little more of that goodness into this world. All royalties made from this piece will go to Sean’s two children and his wife Sherri.
Amazing Grace has become synonymous with both celebrations of life and of death, it has been sung at births and at funerals, both in joy and sorrow. This setting is meant to celebrate the life of a fellow musician and composer, a husband, and a father. Sean Miller was an accomplished French Horn player, so it seemed only fitting to begin and end the melody with a horn solo.
– Tyler Atcari
Salute To The Armed Forces
Guest Conducted by Becky Sharrett (1SG, Retired), with narration and vocals by John Sharrett (MAJ, Retired), both are retired members of the military and current members of Harbor Winds.
This is an upbeat arrangement of all the service songs of the United States Military. It is arranged in the Department of Defense protocol order of Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard. The Army Goes Rolling Along, The Marines’ Hymn, Anchors Aweigh, The US Air Force, Semper Supra, and Semper Paratus are included in this arrangement.