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(2005)
Lewis J. Buckley, composer
Lewis J. Buckley served as conductor and music director of the United
States Coast Guard Band (New London, CT) for 29 years, and now continues his
Boston musical activities as Music Director of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony.
When auditions were held to choose Captain Buckley’s successor as
Conductor, U. S. Coast Guard Band, part of the conducting audition was a
sight-reading session.
As most of the candidates were members of the Coast Guard Band, it was
virtually impossible to find anything in the Band Library that was unknown to
all of them; so Captain Buckley wrote a short, original piece for the audition,
then titled Conducting Exercise.
Into this piece, Captain Buckley put many of the knotty little conducting
problems he had had to learn to deal with over the years, including mixed
meter, tempo changes, instrumental cadenzas and fermatas in difficult places.
Though written as an exercise, the Band members liked the piece, so Captain
Buckley expanded it into a concert work.
Thus was born Con Sabor Español (With a Spanish Flavor).
It has since been performed widely, to the delight of audiences and players
alike.
Lewis J. Buckley
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