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A reverie is a daydream or dream-like piece. The title is most closely associated with a piano piece by Claude Debussy (1890). Other composers of reveries include Tchaikovsky, Tansman, Miriam Hyde and Einaudi.

Composed November 1998; dedicated to the Puyallup Valley Chapter of the Washington State Music Teachers Association — an award created in memory of the composer's son, Darren, who died unexpectedly in June 1998, aged 23.

Dennis Alexander (born 1947), American composer, pianist and teacher. Born in Kansas; studied at University of Kansas (teacher: Richard Reber). Taught piano and piano pedagogy at University of Montana 1972–1996. President of Montana State Music Teachers Association. Affiliated composer/clinician with Alfred Publishing from 1986; published 400+ works. Received Lifetime Achievement Award from National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, 2015. Lives in Albuquerque.

Other works: 24 character preludes, Concertante in G major, Danse humoresque, El Zapateado, Serenade in E♭ major, Tarantella burleska, Valse romantique, several toccatas.

Contemporaries: David Del Tredici, John Adams (Neo-Romantic); pedagogical composers: William Gillock, Eugénie Rocherolle, Melody Bober, Catherine Rollin.

Written in late 20th C. but in the Neo-Romantic tradition (Chopin, Schumann, Brahms). Similar in texture to Brahms' Intermezzi (Op. 118 No. 2) and Chopin Nocturnes.

Romantic characteristics: lyrical melodies (smooth, songlike); colourful harmonies (7ths, 9ths, extended chords, chromaticism); flowing rhythms with rubato; "two against three" rhythmic independence; widely-spaced accompaniment (extensive pedal needed); fairly wide dynamic range; dense textures at climax; simple ABA form.

Special harmony: Neapolitan chord (♭II7) = chord built on the flattened 2nd degree of the scale. Creates mysterious, expressive colour. Final chord has added 9th — gives an unresolved, dreamy ending.

A hoedown is a lively dance in duple time, usually accompanied by the fiddle. The name refers to a farming tool and also to the social gathering (with a competitive aspect).

Rodeo is a ballet set on an American ranch, first performed October 1942 (choreography: Agnes de Mille). Backdrop: wide rural American landscapes; story: unconventional love story between a feisty cowgirl and the ranch's champion roper. 'Hoedown' is the last of 5 sections: Buckaroo holiday, Corral nocturne, Ranch house party, Saturday night waltz, Hoedown. Uses traditional American and Irish folk tunes.

Aaron Copland (1900–1990), American. Born Brooklyn; decided to become a composer at 15. Studied harmony with Rubin Goldmark. Moved to Paris 1921 — first American composition student of Nadia Boulanger. Returned NY 1924; two Guggenheim Fellowships. Supported by conductors Koussevitzky and Bernstein. Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring (1945); Academy Award for The Heiress (1949); Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964); Congressional Gold Medal (1986). Taught at Berkshire Music Centre most summers 1940–1965. Died NY, age 90.

Piano works: concerto, sonata, The Cat and the Mouse, Three Moods, Four Blues, Piano Variations, Fantasy.

Other major works: Fanfare for the Common Man; ballets Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring; film scores; symphonies.

Copland's 1940s style = "imposed simplicity" — deliberately accessible, evoking authentic American musical identity.

Key characteristics: traditional fiddle tunes (pentatonic/hexatonic scales); drone-style accompaniments; mostly diatonic harmonies; strongly rhythmic with frequent accents; syncopation (off-beat accents, ties across strong beats); bare "rough-hewn" textures (parallel 5ths).

Folk tunes used: 'Bonaparte's Retreat' (Section A — American fiddle) and 'Miss McLeod's Reel' (Section B — Irish). Melody often hexatonic (missing the 7th scale degree).

From the rock musical Rent by Jonathan Larson — a modern retelling of Puccini's opera La Bohème, set in New York's East Village in the 1990s.

Sung by the full cast at the start of Act II. The action takes place over a year. The song asks: how should a year be measured? It considers 525,600 minutes, then daylights, sunsets, cups of coffee, laughter and strife — and concludes: measure in love. The tonic chord is conspicuously avoided at all important moments, reflecting the "open-ended" questioning nature of the song and its position foreshadowing the drama of Act II.

Jonathan Larson (1960–1996), American. Born New York; studied fine arts at Adelphi University. Mentored by Stephen Sondheim. Worked on rock opera Superbia (unproduced), then wrote semi-autobiographical Tick, tick... boom!. Worked as a waiter to support himself.

Rent's off-Broadway previews began January 1996. Larson died of an aneurism on 25 January 1996, aged 35, just after the final dress rehearsal. Posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize and three Tony Awards.

Other musical theatre composers: Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd), Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables), Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera), Stephen Schwartz (Wicked).

A rock ballad from musical theatre.

Characteristics: moderate but steady pulse; tender/thoughtful character (livelier in chorus); syncopation (ties across beats, off-beat accents); flattened 7ths (E♭) and occasional flat 3rd (A♭ — "blue note"); recurring chord progressions and melodic patterns; slightly dissonant harmonies (7ths, 9ths, chords built from 5ths); chordal accompaniment.

Special features: tonic chord systematically avoided throughout — creates harmonic "open-endedness" matching the questioning lyric; "interrupted cadences" (V–vi) keep phrases unresolved; flat 7th (E♭) gives jazzy, contemporary colour; "Fsus4" chord of stacked 5ths (B♭–F–C) is distinctive harmonic fingerprint.