NaOH Airplanes
composed in 2006 - for wind ensemble
NaOH Airplanes was composed as a part of the inaugural Kids Compose! program at Indiana University. The premise of Kids Compose! is to take melodies written by students from local elementary schools, give them to composers, and have new works created from those melodies. A concert is presented for the students and their peers, and along the way the composers and students get to interact and talk about the piece.
I had the pleasure of writing a piece using melodies by two young men from area schools. One was titled “The Little Airplane,” a cheerful tune heard throughout the piece. The other, titled “Sodium Hydroxide,” presented wonderful contrast, with a strong rhythmic profile and minimal pitch material - just two notes, which the student said represented the sodium and hydroxide ions. The two are woven together in this short piece, which pushes them into mixed meters, varied timbres, and tosses in a variety of percussion for good measure.
NaOH Airplanes was premiered at Indiana University on 4.18.07 by the Indiana University Symphonic Band with Scott Weiss conducting.
