Hi Folks,

I have also recently published a couple of pieces that brought back fond memories of when my son was just a toddler. “Piano Sonata no. 1” (which was later arranged for concert band as “Three Sketches on Jonathan”), and “String Quartet no. 1“. The 3 movements of the piano sonata are truly character sketches of Jon. The movement titles, “Whirling Dervish“, “Night Sighs“, and “Mischief” are quite accurate in describing the activities I was trying to express in music. I was also inspired by the music of Ravel at that time (and that hasn’t changed!), and a number of his musical idioms found their way into this work. Please listen to “Mirois” by Ravel and you’ll hear the kinship between my music and his.  The string quartet, though not a character sketch, nonetheless has a connection to my son. In preparation for my first doctoral composition recital in 1996, Jon accompanied me to the rehearsals of this piece with a quartet of fantastic student string players. After one of the rehearsals had ended he asked me if he could learn to play the cello. It was a budgetary stretch for me and my wife, but we gladly found him a wonderful cello teacher. His first cello was no bigger that a viola! He continued to play cello in middle and high school, and the cello seemed to grow with him. Though his career path today is in a STEM field, he has a tremendous appreciation for music. This just proves, once again, that good music resonates forever.

Bernie