Instrumentation: concert band (grade 1.5)
Duration: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
Order Reign of the Hawks at the links below:
About Reign of the Hawks:
Premiered on April 19, 2023, Reign of the Hawks commemorates the twentieth anniversary of Heritage Intermediate School’s grand opening in Fontana, California. Shortly after I was commissioned to write a piece for this occasion, I decided that the hawk—their mascot—would be a fruitful source of inspiration for weaving Heritage pride into the fabric of the piece.
Dedicated to the many students whose achievements allow them to “soar to greater heights,”[1] the motifs in Reign of the Hawks are inspired by the slurred, cascading, two-note call of the red-shouldered hawk—a species local to Southern California—as well as this majestic creature’s wing beats, which alternate between rapid pulses and a steady glide.[2]
– Sakari Dixon Vanderveer
[1] “Mission and Vision.” Heritage Intermediate School. Accessed October 26, 2023. https://his.etiwanda.org/o/his/page/mission-and-vision.
[2] “Red-Shouldered Hawk.” North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Accessed October 26, 2023. https://www.ncwildlife.org/Learning/Species/Birds/red-shouldered-hawk
Sakari Dixon 