Boston Mountain Overture

"Boston Mountain Overture" was composed in September and October 2002 and is dedicated to Leighnora Buchanan and Julia Reynolds for their lifetime of work as Band Directors in the state of Arkansas. Leighnora "Prissy" Buchanan is a past president of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association, and currently, Administrative Advisor to the Arkansas Bandmasters Association. Julia Reynolds is also a past president of ASBOA and is its current Executive Secretary-Treasurer. The piece was premiered in January 2003 by the Region I - Second Band, Ms. Reynolds conducting.

Boston Mountain is the mountain that separates the Arkansas River Valley from the northwestern part of Arkansas. The music chosen for the overture are the familiar folk themes "Buffalo Gals" and "She'll Be Comin' Around the Mountain". The middle section features an old Ozark ballad, "The Basket-Maker's Child," found in "The Treasury of Song for the Home Circle" published in 1882.

The verses read:

Where the green willows swayed by the brook, and the sweet waters danced and smiled, in a cottage nestled in a quiet nook dwelt the basket-maker's child. The green willows waved by the brook, the wind's low moan, the dry leaves shook, on that stilly night, by that murmuring brook, when they told me she must die. Twas the holy Sabbath eve, the stars twinkled bright in the sky, the hills re-echoed the night bird's song when they told me she must die.

"Oh, weep not for me," she said, "though death has dimmed my eye, my Savior's hand is beneath my head and I do not fear to die.

I go to my happy home, my work on earth is done, I hear my blessed Savior's words, Let little children come.

Let me rest by the side of the brook, where the sweet waters flow so mild, and carve on the tree where we used to play, the basket-maker's child."

Where the green willows wave by the brook, and the sweet waters played and smiled, we laid her to rest, and we carved on the oak, the basket-maker's child.