The Big Apple Grind
Lily Stargazer
Tell Them Henry Sent You
Dancing and Playing in the Mud Puddles
Racing Against Time
For Lenore
Blue Note Rendezvous
Habanera
Sleepy Time
March Into the Dream
The Engagement Ring
Before Breakfast
Lenore and I decided upon a December 11, 2005 wedding
date, which was 5 months away. Lenore suggested that in the meantime I compose
something elegant and romantic which we could have performed at our wedding.
The #148 mode that I used for this task seemed very strange, a Mixolydian
mode with the 2nd, 4th and 5th all raised.
The composing initially went slowly, but after a few weeks, I had a lengthy,
slow, mysterious intro section made up of ascending and descending scales.
This is followed by a new section consisting of a fast, ominous theme in
jazzy triple meter presented in the manner of a fugue. This theme eventually
abandons its odd modality in favor of bright tonality, suddenly bursting
out in a happy finale section.
Lenore especially liked the finale and chose to have it performed at our
wedding ceremony to accompany the procession down the aisle of the maid
of honor, bridesmaids, ring bearers and flower girls.
As for what to call the piece, I was stumped for a long time before settling
on Before Breakfast, alluding to the early morning hours,
in particular, the magical period of transition from the indistinct and
the shadowy to the hopeful possibilities of a new dawn.
