In February of 2001, Dr. James Klages, trumpet faculty member of the University of Central Oklahoma at Edmond, put together the Chiefly Canfield Festival, a three-day event featuring faculty and students of the University in more than a dozen of my works. One of the student groups formed for this festival in order to play Canfield's Bug 'n' Bear Suite was a brass quintet that named itself the Canfield Quintet in my honor. Appreciative of this gesture, i promised to write this group a work, which I was able to accomplish the following Fall. Composed in just 10 hours on November 23, 2001, this work required the least amount of time to write of almost any of the works in my official catalog. Despite this, the work was not completed before some of the members of the quintet had graduated, resulting in the disbanding of the ensemble before they even had a chance to see the piece. The title means "A Little Brass Music," and is obviously inspired by Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. There are three short movements, and the work is one of the easier works that I have composed, given that it was intended for performance by a student ensemble. The first movement is characterized by austere sonorities and frequent changes of meter, whereas the second is a somber movement that suggests the wind-swept steppes of Central Asia. The score even requires the blowing of air through the instruments in several places. The work ends with a perky finale that forms a significant contrast to the mood of the other two movements.
