A story: I recently sat, on the West Vancouver Sea Wall, with a friend who had just commissioned a musical memorial. I had written about two minutes of music and wanted his reaction to see if, indeed, I was on the right track. As we listened to the music being played on my small walkman, I looked at him sideways and noticed his lower lip trembling - then tears on his cheeks. I was having a hard time myself. We hardly dared look at each other so strong was the emotion.

Throughout my career as a composer I have written music which has evoked almost painful emotional reactions in the listener. This sort of writing often appears in, what I characterize as, Musical Memorials. There is little doubt that music of this nature is capable of evoking the strongest of emotions. No doubt this accounts for the fact that, at least in my case, this music gets more than its share of performances and broadcasts.

Because music lives on, especially music which touches the heart, musical memorials are unique entities which are capable of lasting far beyond the span of most types of memorials. This is music of the heart and spirit and, as such, has found a special place in our musical landscape.

The length of these memorials varies according to the wishes of the person commissioning the music. Some are a few minutes long and usually particularize one emotion. ( An example of this is my Elegy for Flute and Organ, an excerpt of which is playing as you read this.) Longer Musical Memorials characterize more than one emotional state. These compositions are, by necessity, longer in duration because our lives are made up of a myriad of emotions: Happiness, sadness, tranquility, contentment, euphoria, despair, triumph, etc. Musical Memorials are, to me, emotional metaphors. For this reason many of the longer works follow a sort of "program" which runs as follows: Sadness for our loss; Life's journey; times of unhappiness and/or despair; affirmation that our lives have had meaning; and finally arriving at a place of peace.

Whatever the length and size of the memorial, be it a short Elegy or a full length choir and orchestra piece, the musical memorial has the capability of standing as a unique tribute to the lives of those we love, or have loved and, ultimately, to ourselves. If you would like to find out how to commission your very own Musical Memorial, please contact : mconwayb@shaw.ca.

The short memorial example heard on this page is from my Elegy for Flute & Organ.