To listen while following along with the score, click here: (2) Road Trip, by Dr. Daniel Thrower, for Brass Quintet - YouTube

Some of my fondest memories as a child were made during long, uncomfortable road trips. As a father, similar memories with my children are among my warmest. This three-and-a-half-minute piece of music aptly tells the title’s story. The excitement leading up to the anticipated day of departure is electric! The opening fanfare-ish intro reflects this buzz well. It is followed by a quirky rhythmic section as “helpful” kids load their poorly packed bags full of unnecessary items awkwardly into the vehicle. The fanfare returns as the family hits the road at last. As the rest of the music unfolds, imagine the alphabet game, off-key songs sung at the top of everyone’s lungs, rest stops (emergency or otherwise), spilled food, car problems, drowsiness, souvenirs, car sickness, and of course ultimate arrival at planned destinations.

This soundtrack to a fun part of life can be anyone’s road trip! Work on this composition began on September 19, 2021 as a thoroughly sketched out fanfare in my manuscript notebook during a church youth activity in a park. It remained in that state until I contracted Covid-19 in July 2022 and was confined to a hotel room for a week. There, I entered this sketch into the computer, along with a dozen others. Throughout the summer, all of these works received some attention, but this one more than the rest. Much of the final work on “Road Trip” took place during a trip to Philadelphia.