Finalist for the 2022 USNA Band Call for Scores.

 

Blue Ridge is inspired by the natural beauty of America's forests and mountains. During the pandemic in 2020, I found myself taking more road trips than I had taken in a long time. During my long drives, I found solace in the quiet beauty of the scenery that passed by. It was a transformative experience for me, one that has had a lasting impact on my creative practice. Many of my compositions are directly inspired by the sprawling vistas I saw on my travels, and Blue Ridge is no exception. This piece in particular is inspired by the Great Smoky Mountains area of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. It depicts a sunrise over the peaks, rays of sunshine streaming through the trees and mist. The music is relaxed and serene, loosely based on the American folk tune "Oh Shenandoah" which comes in and out of focus throughout the piece, as if being viewed through the mist in the morning along the slopes of those mountains. There are also small nods to Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring dotted throughout.