"What's your favorite song?”

My reply: "Shenandoah."

I’ve loved the folk song “Shenandoah” since I first heard it when I was 12, in Max Steiner’s stirring film score for “How The West Was Won.” That was the beginning of a long series of associations I’ve had with various entitles named, “Shenandoah."

When I was 23, I undertook my first backpacking adventure in the Shenandoah National Park, one of many subsequent hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

During the next twenty-five years, we often lodged in a cabin near the park and passed our days hiking the park’s trails, taking in waterfalls, waving fields of ferns, rock formations, the mountain laurel in full bloom, inspiring views of the Blue Ridge and, yes, occasionally, bears!

We’d end those glorious days with a meal at Big Meadows or Skyland, the park’s historic lodges, where diners can watch the sun set over the Shenandoah valley and tier upon tier of mountains beyond, each one a little paler shade of blue as they recede into the distance. There are more impressive national parks and we’ve explored many of them; but none has a stronger claim on my affection than the Shenandoah National Park.

When I was 32, my wife and I, mindful of the song and park, named our daughter Shenandoah. Still later, we learned the meaning of this ancient, Native American word: “Clear-eye’d Daughter of the Stars.” That was what they called the river.

When I was 41, I wrote this Fantasia, paying homage to the beautiful valley, park and tune. I scored it for string orchestra but since I couldn't afford to hire a string orchestra to record it, I rescored it for string quartet and recorded that version on my CD, "Music for the Appalachian Trail," a portion of the profits being donated to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

I like the string quartet version but it is thin compared to the richer sound I had in mind, the sound of a full string orchestra.

When I was 60 I heard from an old friend, Tod Addison, now a Major in the US Army, sharing the news that he was soon to become the conductor of the symphony orchestra attached to the US Army Band. He asked if I had any works for string orchestra! Yes!

I sent him my Fantasia on Shenandoah. He loved it. Two years later he conducted the world premiere performance in Washington DC. You may be sure I was there, in the front row, family in tow.

Before the performance, Tod had me give a short speech to the audience, describing how and why I wrote the piece. Of course, I introduced our daughter, Shenandoah, by name, making her stand up and amaze the crowd with her bright smile and dazzling blond curls! You can't miss an opportunity like that! I suspect she’d have preferred to remain seated but she was a good sport about it. After the performance, I took a bow and then ate my share of cookies at the reception. That was a happy day!

So I was 62 when I finally heard the piece played the way I had imagined it, exactly 50 years after hearing the song in the film score for “How The West Was Won.".

In the world of classical music, everything happens very, very slowly. But the compensating factor is that the music itself never grows old. We age, while music remains evergreen, even after hundreds of years, let alone the mere 21 years I had to wait to hear this piece performed.

Fortunately, the concert was recorded and Major Addison kindly sent me an mp3 afterwards. It is not on a CD. It exists only as an mp3. Only you, the friends and fans to whom I'm sending this message, are able to hear it.

To hear my Fantasia on Shenandoah played by the US Army strings, click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the string quartet version of the score for my Fantasia on “Shenandoah,” click on the link above (it’s the same music, only scored for fewer instruments).

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH
May 28, 2017

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

When the Doldrums press me, I push back by forcing myself to recall days when my spirit was lifted, like leaves in a breeze, by gusts of joy, delight, happiness.

I have a mental ritual for this, a spiritual First Aid.

First, I remember the Four Happiest Days of my adult life: the day I got married, the day I left college forever and the two days on which our two children were born healthy and whole and beautiful.

Then I call to mind the National Parks we’ve visited. First I remember the ones we visited when I was a boy and later a young man, with my parents, brothers and wives, in the days before our own kids were born: Zion, Bryce, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone. And two 8-day canoe expeditions with Boy Scouts in Algonquin Provincial Park.

Then come the parks Jo and I visited with our children when they were young: Great Smoky Mountain, Everglades, Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Kauai (a Hawaiian island, 95% of which is a state park).

Then I revisit in my mind’s eye the parks we visited as a couple in our early empty-nester years: Acadia, Theo. Roosevelt, Badlands, Custer (another state park but the equal of our greatest National Parks), Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Olympia, Mt. Rainier, the Canadian Rockies.

Then come the parks we visited later still, with our adult children: Rocky Mountain, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone yet again and Mesa Verde (one of the best).

Next, I dream of the parks we hope to visit yet: Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Voyageurs, Isle Royale, the Maritimes. I say their names out loud and try to envision them.

We haven’t traveled only to parks. We have fond memories of many cities and towns as well -- Manhattan, New Orleans, San Francisco, Québec City, Vancouver, Charleston, Williamsburg, Cape May, the villages of Northwestern CT -- and countries, too -- France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia.

But in this email message I focus on National Parks because my First Aid ritual ends with a visit, in my imagination, to the National Park that has the strongest claim on my affections and that leads to the music I want to share today. It’s not the most spectacular park; it’s the one I’ve returned to most often and remember most fondly: the Shenandoah National Park.

More specifically, the northern third of the park. The park is 104 miles long; we’ve explored only the northern third. But in that section, we’ve hiked nearly every trail, seen every waterfall and overlook, spotted black bears, attended Ranger programs and relished the lodges at Skyland and Big Meadows. We’ve climbed Mary’s Rock a dozen times in the company of various combinations of family and friends, most now long gone.

Once only we were lucky enough to be in the S.N.P. when the Mountain Laurel was in full bloom; we hiked for miles through a gorgeous realm, an almost unbelievable display of Nature at her most ravishing. It was as if the entire region had been readied for a wedding of the gods.

I wrote my “Fantasia on Shenandoah,” one of my best works, partly with that park in mind. An old friend of mine, Tod Addison, conducted the world premiere with the US Army Strings in Washington DC in April, 2013. You may be sure that Jo and I were there, in the front row, family in tow.

Before the performance, Tod invited me to give a short speech to the audience, describing how and why I wrote the piece. I mentioned the park and introduced our daughter, Shenandoah, who is named for the park, asking her to stand up and amaze the crowd with her bright smile and dazzling blond curls! A proud father cannot miss an opportunity like that! I suspect she would have preferred to have remained seated but she was a good sport. After the performance, I took a bow and we ate our fair share of cookies at the reception. That was another happy day!

Fortunately, the concert was recorded though never issued on a CD. Few have heard the performance. You are among a handful who have. Until two weeks ago, it existed only as an mp3.

Tod Addison, now a Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of the U.S. Military Band at West Point, recently started a youtube channel featuring recordings of performances he has directed, among them the Army Strings’ performance of my Fantasia which has garnered 8 views so far! Hey, it’s brand new!

Tod asked me for a photo to display on youtube while the music is playing. I sent him one that Jo took on the overlook atop Hawksbill Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park. That was yet another happy day. Be gone, dull care!

Here is the link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tJsj7y4Yqg&t=13s

To see a PDF of the string quartet version of the score for my Fantasia on “Shenandoah,” click the link above.