As a young musician growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I was always keenly aware of the storied tradition of the Mason City band program. The opportunity to now compose a piece for such a wonderful ensemble was a real honor for me, made even more appealing by the opportunity to write a piece for my good friend, Russ Kramer.

When Russ suggested the idea of a folk song suite, I was both intrigued and nervous. I had never written a folk song suite before and felt like it might be a great deal of fun. On the other hand, many of the most important works in the band repertoire are folk song suites (Holst’s Second Suite in F, Vaughan Williams’s English Folk Song Suite, Milhaud’s Suite Francaise, to name a few), therefore creating a certain amount of pressure to write a work that was worthy of that tradition.

I began work on the piece by choosing a sweet, beautiful song that I had been wanting to set for several years, All the Pretty Little Horses. Then, in an attempt to unify the piece as a whole, I found two other folk songs that begin with the same opening motive, a rising perfect fifth followed by a descending major second. This pitch set is the foundation for the entire piece, used melodically and harmonically throughout each of the three movements. The opening movement, Poor Wayfaring Stranger, is a dramatic and dark presentation of the well known song, All the Pretty Little Horses forms a quiet interlude and the work concludes with a rousing setting of Scarborough Fair, including references to the previous movements. I hope that the end result is a piece worthy of the folk song suite tradition, the Mason City High School Symphonic Band, and its wonderful conductor!

Three Folk Song Settings for Band was commissioned by Russ Kramer and the Mason City High School Symphonic Band and premiered in 2007.