Last spring I was approached by a dear friend and former band director of mine, Shane Sprayberry, asking me to write a new wind ensemble piece for the centennial of Hinds Community College. I knew that I wanted the piece to reflect the college's tradition as well as have sort of a flair of Mississippi culture. Beneath the Magnolias uses harmonies and textures that might remind one of Mississippi's wide open fields and other landscapes. Throughout the piece, the listener will hear hints of the blues and snippets of familiar melodies. The work also plays a good bit off of the tune "I Saw the Light" which also happens to be the melody of the college's fight song

   Beneath the Magnolias (2017)