Sundays at Shackleford Banks (2006)
10 minutes

 (*3-*3-2-2) (4-3-3-1) (timp.+3) Stgs.

This work was commissioned by the Triangle Youth Philharmonic of Raleigh and their conductor Hugh Partridge. I decided to compose a tone poem about the North Carolina coast, the outer banks specifically.

I also decided that I would write it without regard for difficulty, since I wanted a piece that any professional orchestra would be happy to perform. As it turned out, the TYP was top notch and did a wonderful performance of the piece.

Shackleford Banks is one of a string of barrier islands called the Outer Banks that protects the mainland of North Carolina from the Atlantic Ocean. Located across from Beaufort, it is accessible only by boat and is among the last pristine parts of the coast, untouched by the ravages of development. It is also home to a herd of wild horses, possibly left there by Spanish invaders during the early 18th century. I grew up in Morehead City, 2 miles West of Beaufort, and this piece is a romanticized reminiscence of my first visit there as a 9 year old boy. A friend of my father had a small flat bottom skiff, fitted with an outboard motor and he took me, my Dad, and my brother to Shackleford one summer Sunday, leaving from the Morehead waterfront, sputtering through Bogue Sound, cutting across the inlet to the Back Sound and finally to the sound side of Shackleford.

The memories of that day are still with me: the songs of sea birds; the smell and taste of the salt water and sea breeze from the South that morning; the darker color of the day water in the inlet; running up and down the dunes with my brother as we played pirates; gazing upon several of the wild horses with their unkempt coats and nervous canter as we intruders watched. Finally, a view of the beach and ocean as nature had intended--no beach homes, no condominiums, no souvenir stores--just sand, wild brush, the sea and the sky. Growing up doesn't get better than this!

Premiere performance: April 29, 2006, Raleigh NC with Triangle Youth Philharmonic, Hugh Partridge conducting. First performance by a professional orchestra, May 17th, 2006, Morehead City for their Sesquicentennial Celebration. North Carolina Symphony with William Henry Curry conducting.