This work is dedicated to Margaret Motter Ward and the Carroll County String Project, an organization she founded to redress the shortage of highly qualified string teachers in rural central Maryland.
I am so glad Margaret Motter "Peggy" Ward persuaded me to compose something substantial for the project's young string players, and I am very grateful to the students, family members and others in the community for their interest and involvement. Peggy specifically asked for certain challenges - asymmetrical meter, hooked bowing, extended techniques - while the general design and themes were naturally left up to me. I chose a conventional symphonic plan as another way to serve pedagogical goals and to give the students a stronger sense of continuity with older music they have listened to and played.
If you work with string players and would like to see a copy of the score, please contact me. -ML
Mark A. Lackey
marklackey.net