Fireflight

String Orchestra – Grade 3

Recording: Scottish Session Orchestra (from the album “Elements”, out now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, and more)

Duration: 4 Minutes

It was 1999 when I first walked the halls of Boltz Junior High School as a 12 year-old with a undecided future. But my time at Boltz turned out to be a pivotal moment where the musical experiences and teachers I was lucky to work with ended up paving the path for my entire future. When Melissa Claeys called me to write a piece for my Alma Mater, it was something I just couldn’t turn down.

Fireflight is my musical vision of the story of the Phoenix, Boltz’s mascot. The introduction evolves from embers slowing burning amongst the ashes, to the remarkable rebirth of this magnificent creature. As the tempo picks up, the bird takes to flight in glorious fashion while the music alternates between 7/8 and 2/2 time signatures. As the Phoenix reaches the middle of its flight, the music recalls a harmonic progression from the introduction, symbolically evoking the struggle to rise from the ashes and take flight once again.

Fireflight very much mirrors my own experiences in music and my struggles to pick myself up from the ashes to ascend against hardship. It is dedicated to the students at Boltz who, I hope, will remember that, even when you are stuck in the ashes, you can light a fire and rise again.