Ascending the Snowcapped Peaks

Ascending the Snowcapped Peaks, op. 274
All Japan Band Association
2025 – grade 3 – 3;30

COMING SOON!

When considering the inspiration behind Ascending the Snowcapped Peaks, I fondly remembered my first conducting experience in Japan many years ago. I was fascinated by the Japanese culture, the warmth and friendly disposition of everyone I met, and the amazing musicianship I encountered with every ensemble I conducted. I was also intrigued by the written language, both the Hiragana phonetic text as well as the Kanji characters with their additional meaning. Prior to a concert, I was admiring the beautiful program and asked my translator about the characters under the English spelling of my name, curious if they had any special meaning other than the phonetics. I was told that my name didn't have a specific translation but the Kanji meaning vaguely referred to "snow on the mountaintop." Although that was over 30 years ago, I still remember that conversation, and those memories led me to writing a piece that just had to be about snow covered mountains.

The opening sounds depict the awe of looking up at the grandeur of a majestic snow covered mountain as we prepare to climb to the summit. The tempo and style then changes to reflect the joyful and energetic ascent while reflecting on the changing vistas while we climb. As we near the top of the mountain, the music almost begins to float as we see how high we have climbed. The final ascent is depicted in an ever-rising chord progression before arriving at the summit. The piece ends as it began, with the dramatic opening sounds representing our majestic mountain.

It was such an honor to have been asked to write a piece for the All Japan Band Association's Concert Band Competition. I hope the bands that perform this as part of the competition enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed writing it!