Fortunately, there are a few things in which I remain content, most especially because when living out the Story of One’s Life, you can’t go back and change events the way you might in a fiction. As you know, some attempt to rewrite History, but you cannot change the “Music,” and the reasons that gave it birth at that particular moment in the Timestorm.

You Can’t Fake Real.

I’m glad indeed that the first piece I wrote for band was motivated by a desire to Give. That seems consistent with our combined experience with the legacy of Music, with the mission of Teaching... with the desire to compose and to share. And so... yes, I’m glad that an unplanned urge to offer something I had not yet done, namely the making of a work for band, overtook logic.

Interestingly enough, when I began STORMWORKS, the result of being rejected by publishers for 11 years, I used the phrase, “Sometimes you must Give to the World by Storm.” And for those of you who followed the evolution of STORMWORKS from its humble beginnings, you might recall this excerpt from the early, pre-website newsletters:

“Sometimes you must GIVE to the world by Storm.” Boston 1978. Still unpacked, I was practicing the clarinet and watching television. A commercial requesting help for the Special Olympics aired. Filled with boyish enthusiasm and unparalleled naivete, I decided to send the ultimate Gift. I would compose a piece of Music! Yes! A Theme for the Special Olympics! With adventure, I descended to the Boston Conservatory Dorm Room Basement, there to find in the 88 keys of the un-tuned piano, a Theme worthy of the Special Olympic athletes! This would be my first piece.

Needing to test my orchestration, I asked Chester Roberts, principal Tuba with the Boston Symphony, and our brass ensemble conductor, if he would read down a 12-measure fanfare. My little tape recorder engaged. Encouraged by the results, I proceeded to create my first work for Wind Ensemble... a Gift. In 3 days, I ventured to the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble rehearsal. “Mr. Corley? Would you please read this piece for me?”

He did. I taped it on an old Panasonic recorder. I packaged the cassette with a nice letter and sent it... and never heard anything more about it.

Here is that piece, piece #1, even now, a Gift. It is a reminder that rejection has nothing to do with Music. We make it because we must... and accepted or not, it remains the honest expression of one of our greatest traits... the desire to Give. (See Giving in Chapter 1.)

That is why, after all these years, it has been resurrected. Formally accepted or not, this Music is a Gift to the athletes of the Special Olympics and to all those who face the inward struggle with the Heart of a Hero. To such Souls, I remain a simple documentarian... encapsulating their great Living in Song.

ADDENDUM:

Here is THEME for the SPECIAL OLYMPICS, recorded by Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr, Christoph Scheibling, Conducting. After 41 years, it was accepted by the Virginia Special Olympic Committee as their Theme!

Enjoy & Godspeed! S

THEME for the SPECIAL OLYMPICS on Youtube https://youtu.be/UzGqmxjLJLU