Story Behind The Song

I was advised that I could conduct a 6 minute piece of my own choosing with the Coeur d'Alene Symphony Orchestra for their December 2006 concert. I then offered to write an original piece. The 5:20 minute symphonic orchestral piece called Prayer for Peace was written by Gary A. Edwards in the month of June 2006 and premiered 12/2/06. It was so well-received that I was invited to conduct it again the next day on 12/3/2006.

Song Description

Prayer for Peace program notes 12/2/6 The piece starts with a call to war by the war drums played by the timpani, with a rousing fanfare counter-melody follow-up in the brass, then repeated. Then follows a fast triplet rhythm in 9/8 played by strings, with melody B playing contrapuntally in the woodwinds and trumpet. This section slows to a romantic melody, first played by a full lush string sections, with a repeat slight variation by trumpet and brass chorus, accompanied by strings and woodwinds. The last part of this section speeds up to a solo in the snare drum playing a PRAYER FOR PEACE in morse code, inspired by the DaVinci Code. This is the Edwards Code which I leave to the interpreter to translate. This 12 measure snare drum solo is repeated three times, first accompanied by a 12 measure tuba solo counter-melody which is then played as a round by most instruments. The last 8 bars is a fading snare drum solo beating out SOS repeatedly followed by a surprise one measure ending. Gary A. Edwards 208 699-0848 PO Box 3528 Coeur d'Alene ID 83816-2520

Lyrics

N/A Instrumental Only. However, there is a hidden code in the snare drum in the last movement. (Hint - Morse code)