Thundersnow

Difficulty: Medium-Easy
Duration: 3:30

It’s rather ironic that I wrote Thundersnow for a commission that originated in Hawaii, but as I reflected on the youthful exuberance and determination of the young man organizing the project, I was reminded of my son and the first time him and I experienced thundersnow (a thunderstorm with snow instead of rainfall) here in Pennsylvania (yes; the furthest thing from Hawaii). I vividly remember him and I looking at one another with a sense of wonder, then turning down the TV and sitting in front of the window watching the storm until it stopped. His post-storm curiosity lead us to searching the internet about the phenomenon: especially watching videos of other thundersnow. This spirit of inquiry in today’s youth is infectious, and I wanted to celebrate it in some way with this work.

Scored for percussion quintet with optional offstage percussionist(s), Thundersnow is mysterious, mesmerizing, bold, but also extremely delicate at times: much like the storms themselves.

Thundersnow was commissioned by the Hawaii Youth Percussion Ensemble, Caden Hong, Commissioning Projector Director, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2019.