Brandon Nelson

Knowing that this piece was going to be performed by young students, I wanted to give
them the opportunity to share in the creative process of writing this piece. I had Mr. Ryan
Addair (the conductor of the group which commissioned the piece) ask each student in his
band class to come up with one word describing the experience of growing up in the 21st
century. I chose several representative examples from the list and depicted those thoughts
in music.

Each of the movements is based on the essential rhythmic gestures of the traditional
Baroque dance suite. I have used contemporary harmonies and other compositional
methods to give fresh perspective to these forms.

It is my hope that this suite will have special meaning to those performing it. I endeavored
to create a salient connection with both past and present while looking towards the future…