One Day Wonder #176

For 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba.

I had this weird idea to write something somewhere in the neighborhood of reggaeton today. I haven’t heard much of it, but I knew that it involved a lot of harmonic minor goings-on. OK, so maybe it sounds pretty Middle Eastern, but that wasn’t my intent. Still, I think it works out pretty well, what with the lack of percussion, cheesy-sounding electronics and generally terrible and amateurish vocals. It isn’t authentic by any stretch, but my goal was just to get it done, because about two-thirds the way through I got the devastating news that not only had my uncle passed away, but so had my dad’s best friend from his school days. My uncle had been ill for a while, but his last prognosis had been very optimistic. I saw him on the Fourth of July and he'd been very chipper in his stoic Norwegian way. My dad’s friend had been a real shocker. I had also known him my entire life. He had actually introduced my dad and mom and had been close to my dad for decades. This was all very bad. Writing something so spirited seemed like bad form, but I finished it anyway. Or rather, I got it to the point where I could abandon it without shame. I immediately felt that I needed to pay tribute to these two in a series of pieces. I’ll do that over the next few days. As for this piece, it's inextricably linked to bad news, so I'm not even going to think of it as good or bad.