Time Travels: Caprice for Band (2012) by ItsOnlyBob

"Time Travels: Caprice for Band"
Composed by Robert Thurston
Recorded by The U.S. Air Force Band, Col. Larry H. Lang, Cond.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas, VA

Dedicated to the memory of Dr. James E. Croft

I composed "Time Travels" to highlight the virtuosity of my brilliant musical colleagues in The United States Air Force Band, the premiere band of the U.S. Air Force. The piece has no underlying programmatic idea or structure; it is a caprice, moving freely (almost improvisationally) from one idea to the next — wherever my ear happened to lead me each day over the course of about six weeks.

As I was completing "Time Travels" in early September 2012, I was saddened to learn of the death of Dr. James Croft, one of my teachers and mentors at Florida State University. It was at Dr. Croft's urging that I auditioned as an arranger for the Air Force Band in 1993 — a life-altering decision that still reminds me of Jim Croft as someone who cared about his students long after they graduated, who instinctively understood their gifts, and who never stopped trying to help them find their place in the world.

"Time Travels" is gratefully dedicated to his memory.

"Time Travels" was premiered by The U.S. Air Force Band at The Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, IL, on Dec. 19, 2012, under the baton of Commander and Conductor Col. Larry H. Lang.