AD ASTRA PER ASPERA (2025)

for concert band

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The title of this piece, Ad Astra Per Aspera, translates to “through hardships to the stars” and is the motto for the Challenger K-8 School of Mathematics and Science. 

 

When Michelle McCarthy commissioned me to write this work commemorating the school’s 20th anniversary, I found that motto particularly inspiring. The phrase not only paints a metaphorical picture, but it also painted a musical one in my mind – made evident by the rising perfect fifth motives in the opening and the ascending melodies first heard at measure 13. The Andante section beginning at measure 40 turns this melody upside down, signaling some of the hardships that we might encounter on our journey to the stars. 

 

The aforementioned Andante section at measure 40 highlights the clarinets and the percussion break that follows at measure 58 feature the primary instruments of the two Challenger K-8 Band Directors over its 20-year history: Kathy Thompson (clarinet) and Michelle McCarthy (percussion). 

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