Waves Toward the Pebbled Shore

From Wind Repertory Project
Peter Meechan

Peter Meechan


General Info

Year: 2018
Duration: c. 6:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Meechan Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $120.00; (digital) - $80.00   |   Score Only (print) - $40.00; (digital) - $40.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon (optional)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet (optional)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Glockenspiel
  • Marimba
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before
in sequent toil all forwards do contend.

I began writing this piece in the days after saying goodbye to a sick friend, and the truth was that I left not knowing if I would ever see them again. The five-hour journey home provided me with lots of time to think, and my mind kept being drawn back to the opening lines of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60 (which I had previously read when searching for texts for a four-movement choral work commissioned to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death).

This Sonnet as a whole deals with time (and perhaps the cruelty of the limits that time places on us), and in the opening four lines in particular, I found it to be meditative, reflective, tranquil, philosophical, instructional and visual.

It is these opening lines that I found the music for Waves Toward the Pebbled Shore.

The work was commissioned by Ray Cramer, Terry Austin, and the Musashino Wind Ensemble, and is dedicated to Terry and Tracia Austin.

- Program Note by composer


Awards

  • National Band Association/William D. Revelli Award, 2019, finalist


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Manitoba (Winnepeg, Can.) Wind Ensemble (Michelle Styles, conductor) - 14 October 2023
  • Unionville (Ont., Can.) High School Chamber Winds (Jeff Wrigglesworth, conductor) – 9 March 2023
  • Brooklyn (N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Jeff W. Ball, conductor) - 26 March 2022
  • Arizona State University (Tempe) Wind Ensemble (Jason Caslor, conductor) – 10 October 2019
  • Marshall University (Huntington, W.V.) Wind Symphony Orchestra (Adam Dalton, conductor) – 3 October 2019
  • Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble (Tokyo, Japan) (Terry Austin, conductor) - 20 December 2018 (2018 Midwest Clinic)


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources