Harper’s West

For Band
Duration: 5:30 minutes

The namesake for this work is my daughter, Harper. She has a playful spirit. For all of her shyness, she has an incredibly warm personality for a toddler. When she was four months old, she was diagnosed with a rare seizure disorder called Infantile Spasms, or also known as “West Syndrome.” When she first began to have seizures, it was as if the light left her eyes and all of her joy with it. As she grappled with the seizures, she would endure clusters of episodes where she would briefly come out of the haze in a panic – knowing that something was terribly wrong – before being consumed by the seizure again. 

These were difficult to watch and endure, but what has been inspirational is watching the way in which she has learned to cope and even thrive intellectually despite these challenges. This work represents my best effort to recreate what she appeared to experience, going from playing to descending into these frightening episodes.

Premiere performance on March 1, 2022 at Libby Gardner Concert Hall at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT with the University of Utah Wind Ensemble, Dr. Rebekah Daniel conductor.