Writing ‘classical’ music never did much for my cash flow. Compensation arrived in other ways, shapes and forms.

To wit, nine days in San Diego! In 2014, an enthusiastic group of amateur musicians invited us to San Diego. They even paid for our flights. Clarinetist Jim Reed loaned us a car and cellist Ed Annavedder, put us up in the guest quarters of his home. All so that I could be on hand to attend a couple of rehearsals and take a bow after a free, public library performance of “Daweswood,” one of my best chamber works.

What a time we had! Two days at fabulous Balboa park, where the famous San Diego zoo is located. Ed, a member of board, gave us free passes.

We hiked in Anza-Borrego and Torrey Pines State Parks, toured the mission where the ‘50’s TV series “Zorro” (which I loved as a kid) was filmed, checked out La Jolla, Mt. Palomar, the Lagoons of San Diego County and much else.

When our return flight lifted off, we saw the gray shapes of whales browsing the pale green kelp forests in the blue bay below.

How can a composer say ‘thank you’ for such a gift? With music!

Our host, Ed, though a cellist, had recently taken up the trumpet as a side-interest. When he mentioned that he was looking for duos he could play with his ‘cute’ trumpet instructor, I started writing a piece for him. I had my computer along and popped out one short movement early each morning while Jo was still asleep.

Not entirely from scratch, mind you. I’m good but I’m not that good. Most were rescorings and expansions of short vocal pieces I had already written. It was fun to reconceive the tunes, rendering them suitable for instruments.

Ed’s observations about music guided my energy.

“Why does so much new ‘classical’ music have to be so difficult?” he asked, not unreasonably. “How about a fun piece in good old C major -- with no pesky accidentals or annoying meter changes?”

A juicy challenge! My response was the canonic movement I titled, for obvious reasons, “Echoes.” No accidentals, no meter changes.

Six movements in all, the suite needed a title. Ed suggested, “Trumpet Talk.” I liked the title and Ed liked the music. Win-win.

My friends Chris Miller and Ken Rahn recorded the suite in the resonant social hall at Mt. Auburn Presby. Then Gordon DeVinney, who has an enviable knack for video art, fashioned an eye-popping video with “Echoes” as the score. To hear (and see) it, copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.sowash.com/recordings/mp3/Trumpet_Duet_Rick_Sowash_Miller_and_Rahn.mov

To see a PDF of the score, click on the link above.

Musician friends: feel free to print “Echoes” and play it. This suite would work well for any two treble clef instruments: two clarinets, a flute and an oboe, two violins, two recorders.

If you want a free PDF and MIDI files of the entire suite, just ask. All of my scores are available for free to anyone who wants to discover them.