This dynamic, driving piece will keep the audience (and the players) on the edges of their seats. Because of the shifting meters and sudden transitions, the listener never knows what’s coming next.

It moves through several sections with different styles, rhythms, and keys, but the driving tempo never lets up. The intense intro leads into the unsettling A section in G minor. It starts small but grows until it explodes into the glorious B section in G major, which suddenly shifts into the rhythmically erratic C section in D major, but before that can reach its conclusion it falls back into more of B, which modulates into D major and gradually cools down. Then comes my favorite part: a restatement of C, except this time it’s peaceful and flowing, although still full of unexpected rhythms. It’s not slower, but it is rhythmically stretched in a way that is only possible with shifting meters, and this time it does reach its conclusion. After that, an abrupt outburst leads into the D section in G minor, gradually developing a simple motif over a percussion ostinato. After it reaches its climax, we find ourselves alternating between fragments of the subdued A and the joyous B. A continually modulating transitional section leads back into B in all its glory, followed by the original upbeat version of C, which finally reaches its conclusion just in time for the bombastic coda which mirrors the intro.

This is a tricky piece; it would probably be rated grade 5. The keys, rhythms, and range would be a challenge for an advanced high school band. A university band should be OK.

The first incarnation of “Inspiration” was a two-minute piano solo. I borrowed part of its B section in my choral work “Come, Holy Spirit.” Later, when I expanded “Inspiration” into a work for band double its original length, I in turn borrowed the transition at m199 from “Come, Holy Spirit.”