for Wind Orchestra, Commissioned by Wilfrid Laurier University (Dr. McGray, director), level 4

6 min duration, premiered April 2025 by WLU Wind Orchestra, Waterloo

Program Note:

Riverbend is a work inspired on the notions of noticing, of looking, and of listening. The composition is about finding beauty in the banal and the mundane; the seeking something remarkable in the perhaps, unremarkable. Riverbend is further rooted in inspirations of the hyperlocal: cartographic, geographic, and cite specific influences that then ripple into larger connections and conversations about place, and our collective and shared coexistence with it, and to each other.

Riverbend takes its title from a winding service road in Kitchener, Ontario. The road is located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources and not to engage in conflict. Riverbend Drive mirrors the path of the Grand River on one side, and a major highway on the other. Driving on Riverbend Drive forces those who travel it to confront humans impact on the land as the road is dotted with waste disposal yards, parking lots, commercial, and residential buildings, and to put in our gaze the relationship between the natural and constructed environment.

The tension of the above influences is woven into the musical material through the inclusion of many added note sonorities which obfuscate the harmony, depending on the music is balanced and brought to life, the music can shift as if it were sunlight poking through to the forest floor, or how the clouds change shape and hue as we look up to them through the forest foliage. Further embedded into the musical material is a cite-specific influence of the Kitchener pedestrian crossing auditory signals, the tones: so-mi-re-do which signify the correct time to cross a street; as a newly settled resident to the area, I am shaped by the sights and sounds that I am confronted with daily. The topography of the land directly inspired musical shapes, phrase lengths, melodic contours, and the sometimes fragmented gestures which dot the musical landscape. Cadential gestures act like sign posts which point towards where we expect to go, only to surprise us in the final phrase which meanders in a new harmonic area as we notice the beauty which is often right in front of our eyes; the cadential gestures and title is a cartographic influence.

Instrumentation list:

2 Flute (1 double piccolo)

2 Oboe

3 Clarinet in B flat

2 Bassoon

2 Alto Saxophone in E flat

1 Tenor Saxophone in B flat

1 Baritone Saxophone in E flat

3 Trumpet in B flat

4 Horn in F

2 Tenor Trombone

1 Bass Trombone

1 Euphonium

1 Tuba

Timpani

3 Percussion

Percuccion 1 : Marimba, Glockenspiel

Percussion 2: Bass Drum, Vibraphone (with bow)

Percussion 3: Suspended Cymbal, Tubular Bells

Transposing Score

Duration: 6 min (aprx)

n.b. Riverbend may be performed without Oboes or Tenor Saxophone

midi mock up, premiere recording forthcoming