Knells for Bonnie

From Wind Repertory Project
Joel Puckett

Joel Puckett


Subtitle: (August 3, 2015): For Flute and Chamber Winds


General Info

Year: 2016
Duration: c. 7:45
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $175.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Flute
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II
Bass Trombone
String Bass
Piano
Percussion I-II, including:

  • Crotale
  • Marimba
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

“Just to know that the war is officially over is good news to our ears because on the back of this is the thought of having world wide peace again. Let us hope and pray that in case of another war, it will be a long way off.”

My grandfather wrote those words from Tokyo Bay, Japan on September 2, 1945.

Before he entered shipped out in 1944, he had been a baseball player with an eye for fast cars and fun. Following his discharge from the U. S. Navy, he spent the next seventy years preaching love and forgiveness all across the American South.

He and I never talked politics, we never talked religion, and certainly never talked about WWII. But we often talked about living a life of service to others using whatever gifts we have in the service of something greater than ourselves.

As with so many of his generation, I never heard a word about his life in 1944-45 and what, if anything, specifically happened to shape his post-war vision of a well-lived life. But upon rereading his letter from seventy years ago, I can’t help but reflect upon the sadness he must have felt watching each one of those years pass only to realize that the world wide peace he hoped he had helped earn is still somehow beyond our collective selves.

Rest In Peace, Granddaddy
Bonnie Neal Puckett (March 5, 1926-August 3, 2015)

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Duke (Durham, N.C.) Wind Symphony (Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, conductor; DeShaun Gordon-King, flute) – 24 February 2018
  • Michigan State University (East Lansing) Symphony Band (John T. Madden, conductor) - 21 March 2017
  • University of Kansas (Lawrence) Wind Ensemble (Paul Popiel, conductor) – 15 March 2017 (CBDNA 2017 National Conference, Kansas City, Mo.)
  • Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) Symphonic Band (Shawn Vondran, conductor) – 10 March 2017
  • University of Kansas (Lawrence) Wind Ensemble (Paul Popiel, conductor) – 18 April 2016 *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Joel Puckett website Accessed 8 March 2017
  • Puckett, J. (2016). Knells for Bonnie: (August 3, 2015): For Flute and Chamber Winds [score]. Bill Holab Music: [Brooklyn, N.Y.]