Rosa Parks is known as the “Mother of a Movement” for catalyzing the Civil Rights movement of the mid 20th century. Mark Campbell’s “A Movement for Rosa,” pays tribute to Parks’ life’s work, and the struggles minorities, particularly African Americans, face in a world marked by discrimination and hate.

I was fortunate to attend a large and culturally diverse high school with a strong and close knit music program, and was first introduced to “Rosa” in wind ensemble my junior year of high school. Although “Rosa” is divided into three unofficial movements (each representative of Rosa’s life and the fight for civil rights), when I re-listen to this song I am also reminded of the technical difficulties of the piece, and the various stories my band director told us when trying to evoke emotion into our playing. Overall, I attribute this song to making our ensemble stronger musically and closer as a family.

“Rosa” opens with a solo flute playing the piece’s theme. When I hear the flute, I imagine Rosa Parks, a single voice, soft but nonetheless moving. An alto saxophone and bassoon soon take over, countering one another with major and minor lines based off of the flute’s theme. At this part I am reminded of my band director taking the soloists for a small lesson and asking them, a Jewish boy and two Caribbean students “Have you ever been discriminated against? Have you ever been subject to unwarranted hate? That’s what needs to be heard in your playing.” The band slowly builds off of the flute’s original melody, symbolizing more people standing up for equality. At 2:45 the trumpets can be heard playing regally, symbolizing early victories, while the lower woodwinds’ underlying lines at 3:16 denote trouble.

The march at 3:28 is reminiscent of the freedom marches figures such as Parks and Martin Luther King led, which segues into an extremely angry portion of the piece. When I had a particularly difficult day, I remember playing at 5:18 was a perfect way to release my frustrations. When the entire band was focused and intently playing those dissonant chords, you knew that we were all thinking of our own difficulties and expressing them in our playing, and there was something very chilling about that. I imagine this portion is describing the difficulties freedom fighters experienced against the law. At 6:10, the snare drum propels the listeners to keep fighting on. 6:39 is characterized by suspense- There is a certain chaos in the trumpets, but at 7:44 it is clear that freedom fighters have won the battle.

The third portion of the piece is my favorite, as it closes with a french horn playing the hymn “We Shall Overcome” in its entirety. This hymn was a theme during the civil rights movement to remind its participants to carry on despite the hate thrown at them. The band soon joins in to show that more people stand behind their pursuit. The song closes with a tapering of instruments, and ends with a twist- the dissonance symbolizes that no matter what, there will always be work to do, as there will always be discrimination in the world.

Playing this song really taught me to look inward, and reminded me that performing is an emotional experience. I’ll never forget the pride I felt alongside my classmates as our hard work was recognized by New Jersey state adjudicators, and we were invited to play at the Midwest Clinic, an international education event. To get to that point, I more importantly learned more about my classmates as they described their own stories of discrimination. In the end, the most impactful lesson we took from this piece was that “we shall overcome,” because we had each other for support.

This piece may not be for everyone, but if you have an appreciation for wind ensemble I definitely recommend listening to it.