Shirley Mier is a composer and band director from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Her compositions have won numerous awards, and her theatre piece Madeline’s Christmas has been produced around the country. Maiden Voyage is her first published work for band. The score features the following program note:
Maiden Voyage is an idealized depiction of a sea voyage aboard a sailing vessel. The piece begins with a moment of calm before the initial launch. The clarinets and other woodwinds play a rollicking sea chantey as the journey begins; then the brass and percussion join in, depicting the splash of waves as the wind and the water become rougher. The wind subsides until the boat is completely becalmed, then it gradually picks up again. The piece culminates in the vessel’s triumphant, majestic return home and the successful completion of its maiden voyage. … Maiden Voyage was a finalist in the Frank Ticheli Composition Contest, Category 2 (Young Band), in 2006.
Shirley Mier has her own website. She also has a bio and works list at the American Composers Forum.
Listen to Maiden Voyage at JWPepper.com. Or watch this YouTube video, with the North Texas Wind Symphony playing the piece: