Daylight Passing by Brett Abigaña

By Brett Abigaña

This piece, in short, is about fathers and their children. This is a topic very near to me, as we expect our first child this year. Upon receiving the happy news, I was immediately struck by the many thoughts and worries of impending fatherhood, and I remembered certain distinct childhood memories which, while insignificant at the time, seem now to hold new importance. The first memory that came to me was of standing next to the railroad tracks in Dixon, CA with a penny, waiting for the Southern Pacific 4449 to come thundering by on its way back to its home in Portland, OR…

…The piece opens with a melody in the baritone saxophone highly reminiscent of the aforementioned Irish reel, which is then developed in a fugue comprising fragments of those many memories. Momentum builds until the train whistle is heard in the trombones, changing pitch as the locomotive passes, the energetic momentum reaching its zenith as a child's excitement becomes uncontrollable. With one final scream of the whistle, the moment is over, and all too soon.

Duration: 6 minutes
Grade Level: 4.5