Each year on Veterans Day, the William G. Enloe High School Band (a music magnet school in Raleigh, NC) does an outdoor performance on the steps of the state capitol of North Carolina. For the 2006 performance, Robert Hunter, band director at Enloe, asked me to write a piece - something patriotic and nationalistic, evocative of America. I searched for a time to discover a subject and settled on the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

This takes me back to a school field trip I took in high school. We went to Washington D.C. Somehow, in just a day's time, we managed to see everything and nothing at the same time (I think you probably know exactly what I mean). One thing on that trip, however, has stayed with me to this day and will affect me for the rest of my life; and that is my first sight of Arlington National Cemetery. I was very sad and extremely proud at the same time. To know that many of the people interred there died young is a sobering thought. But to understand that those interred there so selflessly stood side-by-side with their brothers in arms to preserve the idea of America (not to mention protecting all of us who are so lucky to live here) makes me so proud. It makes me proud of America, but also hopeful for humanity that these young people were so altruistic.

I tried to integrate the two feelings I mentioned above (sadness and pride) into the piece. There are passages reminiscent of "taps" and drumming which evokes military images. Sometimes phrases are truncated - snare drum rudiments which end without completion, reminding us of lives cut short by war. Still, as the piece progresses, the melody lengthens each time; this I mean to represent the hope that these fallen soldiers will live on through the flourishing of the nation.

To date, this may be the simplest of the pieces I have composed, but for me it is also the most poignant.

• Arlington Anthem is published by Drew Fennell Publishing.
  Available for Wind Band and Brass Band.

• View the full conductor's score of Arlington Anthem [wind band version]*.

• View the full conductor's score of Arlington Anthem [brass band version]*.

• Hear Arlington Anthem in a live performance (complete) by the Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Wind Ensemble, Drew Fennell, Conductor [wind band version]*.

• Hear Arlington Anthem in a live performance (complete) by the Slippery Rock University Brass Ensemble, Brian Meixner, Conductor [brass band version]*.

• Hear Arlington Anthem in a live performance (complete) by the River City Youth Brass Band, Drew Fennell, Conductor [brass band version]*.