Patriotic Tribute

For Band
Duration: 8:00 minutes

This work was written for the 40th anniversary of Parkview Art/Science Magnet High School in Little Rock, AR. Parkview High School, whose mascot is the Patriot, is Arkansas first and only interdistrict school and was completed in 1967, opening in 1968. A major hallmark of Parkview’s history was furthering the agenda to integrate schools in Little Rock a decade after the tumultuous events surrounding the opening of Little Rock Central High School with the Little Rock Nine one decade earlier.

The work takes many themes relevant to Parkview as source material, namely references to the school alma mater (written by jazz pianist and former Parkview choral director Art Porter), the school fight song (the trio section of Karl L. King’s Night Flight), as well as references to other American patriotic themes such as John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and the “African American National Anthem” – Lift Every Voice and Sing. Patriotic Tribute was commissioned by the Parkview Symphonic Band, J. T. Scott Director.