Anna’s Gift was commissioned by the Johnston (IA) Band Parents Association and the Dallas Center-Grimes (IA) Friends of Fine Arts and dedicated to the family of Anna Heeren. The work was premiered on April 13, 2025, by the combined Johnston High School Wind Symphony (Jason Heeren and Craig Crilly, directors) and the Dallas Center-Grimes 11/12 Concert Band (Alec Garringer and Bonnie Ihde, directors), led by Jason Heeren.

In the words of her father: “Ever since Anna was born she was my number one companion. When she was seven days old, she attended her first jazz band competition. As a baby and infant, she attended many pep bands and concerts. All the older kids adored her and from a very young age it was evident she adored them. She grew up in a band room…Band directors lead a different life so any time I could include her in what I was doing I felt like I was being granted extra time. As she continued to grow, she attended more and more events with me...Football games, marching band competitions, pep bands, concerts, rehearsals; I know most of the time she was there to hang out with the band kids and I was ok with that...I just wish I had told her more often how much it meant to me to have her there.

“Anna was a people person. She was a friend to all. Kids in the neighborhood flocked to her like the pied piper. She was always moving and creating. She loved baking, doing crafts, walking the neighbor's dog, playing with neighborhood kids. She was also my little force of nature. When she had a thought or idea, nothing was going to get in her way. She would push through a crowd to get where she wanted to go and faster than she could complete a thought, she was on to the next one. Her carefree personality was a thing of beauty!

“Watching cancer take over her body and not have the ability to do anything about it was the most awful thing. Cancer slowly took away everything that made Anna who she was. It took away her ability to make music, to laugh, smile, speak, run, and communicate.”

The duality of emotions expressed in these words inspired much of the piece. Anna’s Gift is structured in two large sections, with the first in minor keys, exploring the awful nature of Anna’s disease and communicating a sense of anguish, despair, and loss. The second half of the work parallels the first, but now in major keys, and is devoted to the beauty and joy of who Anna was, as well as the sense of release when she was finally free of her illness.

The melodic content from the work grows from two sources. First, the beginning gesture is derived from Anna’s name using a musical cryptogram. Through this method the letter A=musical note A (or A flat) and the letter N=musical note G, thereby creating the gesture AGGA, with the rhythmic outline of that word underlying almost the entire piece. This opening motive expands outward to become A flat, G, B flat, F, and C, a five-note melody that is related to the musical ideas presented in some other pieces of mine that have explored the same concept of duality.

There are some additional references in Anna’s Gift. The clarinet, Anna’s instrument, is featured at several key points in the piece. The central section of the work, following the climax of the darker section, begins with a solo voice, followed by a solo horn. These two passages are references to Anna’s friend Ella, an All-State horn player who stuck by her side throughout her illness. In the words of her father, “As Anna became sicker, she would ask Ella to sing to her. It would bring the biggest smile to Anna’s face. It was truly magical.” The final section then emerges into a celebration of Anna’s life, beauty, and personality, truly the gift that she brought to all who were lucky enough to know her.