One Day Wonder #180 (Goodbye to Ray)

For 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone and tuba.

My dad and Ray grew up together in Idaho. During that time, they got into all kinds of trouble. Most of it was Ray’s doing, as he was something a born troublemaker. (At this point, I have to stress that the guy’s trouble was completely innocent; he was by no means a criminal or anything; he just had a penchant for trouble.) It’s only natural that a guy who was always running afoul of the authorities should become an authority figure himself. For many years he was a high school principal. And, true to form, he was quite the disciplinarian; he stared down the tough guys, broke up food fights and made everyone behave. In Ray’s honor, this piece is a fake alma mater of sorts. Back when I was in high school, everybody knew the fight song, but no one had any idea about the alma mater, even though the words were on the gym wall. I think that during my three years in high school, I heard it maybe twice. In my dad and Ray’s day, you knew the school song after your first week. I just wanted to write something evocative of Ray’s life, and this is it. Close to the end of it, I got fed up with all the diatonic, key-centric writing I’ve done over the past few days, so I inserted a little harmonic weirdness. You’ll hear it when it happens. Like #179, this also doesn’t have any words, nor will it ever. School song lyrics are sad and scary. I remember that there’s a part in my former high school’s song about members of the student body laying down their lives for the glory of the hallowed institution. I mean, fer Pete's sake, it's high school! Like I said, sad and scary. Anyhow, I also want to mention that Ray took me on my very first road bike ride. He had a Suzuki 550. We rode around his neighborhood and it totally rocked on so many levels. I’ll miss him very much, too.