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To Live In Hearts We Leave Behind - by Jim Colonna  

Grade 4 (Medium-Advanced)  8 minutes

The musical foundation of this Jim Colonna concert work is the Welsh tune All Through The Night. It also incorporates the posthorn solo from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony #3 and Personent Hodie, a 16th century Finnish carol. From its sensitive opening it takes us through a host of rich development and musical moments and culminates in a haunting yet extremely musical finale.
Composers Notes
This work is written in memory of a close friend. As I composed the work, I felt his presence urging me to continue each with this extremely difficult task. His spirit assured me that I was writing music that would help him live forever in the hearts and minds he left behind. It was Mother’s Day 2014 when I awoke to a facebook post that informed that my friend John Wacker, was killed in a vehicle accident on his way to a Mahler festival in Colorado.  John and I met in 1998 while he was a graduate student of Jack Stamp’s at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  When I began my studies at the University of North Texas, John took the reigns of the instrumental music program at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  After I completed my MM in wind conducting, John encouraged me to apply for his job since he was headed to UNT to pursue his degree in trumpet performance with Keith Johnson.  John gave me his job at LCCC and the start of my college teaching career. John completed his degree at North Texas and began teaching at Western Colorado University in Gunnison.  Each year he conducted a composition of mine with the band at Western Colorado. His performances would appear on youtube and for this I was grateful. 
John was a fantastic musician on his trumpet and inspired many students with his teaching on the podium as well.  He was father of two talented children, Brian and Elizabeth and husband to his wife Nancy.  John is the son of Mainard and Sarah Wacker and brother to Jeff and Jay Wacker. He touched everyone deeply and was one of the nicest men I ever knew. This work is constructed subliminally around the number 3 represented by these elements:
The posthorn solo from Mahler’s Symphony No. 3
The three trumpet parts to the Personent “Hodie” which I played with John and our brother in music, Scott Meredith.
The three chimes signify his wife Nancy, son, Brian, and daughter, Elizabeth

​Printed Score and Parts (includes both scores)  (B160114)                   $90.00

Printed Full Score - Letter Size  (B160114PFS)                                          $20.00
Printed Full Score - Ledger Size  (B160114PLGFS)                                   $35.00
Score and Parts Download (includes both scores)  (B160114DL)            $70.00

Full Score - Letter Size (only) Download  (B160114FS)                             $16.00

Full Score - Ledger Size (only) Download  (B160114LGFS)                  $20.00

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