Description
Lion-Hearted
Unaccompanied Trumpet Solo
by Eddie Lewis
Lion-Hearted is an unaccompanied trumpet solo named after my good friend in South Africa, Leonard Brandt. Leonard is a trumpet player who lives in East London, which is on the coast in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The name Leonard means “Lion-Hearted”. I wrote this miniature for him and I was delighted to learn what his name meant.
When I wrote this for Leonard he was going through some hardship.
Leonard and I share a bond as brothers in Christ Jesus. I won’t tell his story here, but to hear from him as his story unfolded was a powerful testimony of God’s loving kindness, grace and willingness to work in our lives.
Leonard has performed Lion-Hearted a few times that I know of. His niece also performs it. Friends have recorded it in Germany. And people all around the world have been buying it.
Fisher Tull Influence
Out of all my unaccompanied trumpet pieces, Lion-Hearted is the one which sounds most like Fisher Tull’s Eight Profiles. Tull’s work has always been an influence in my writing, from the earliest stages, because I enjoyed his book very much. But this was my first time actually writing in that style.
The Composition
Like Fisher Tull’s Profiles, Lion-Hearted begins with a slow half. It is in the mixolydian mode throughout. It’s mixolydian, but not in a Renaissance sense. The five chord remains minor in this style. This is a style that was popular in the 70’s. It may have been popular before that, but I know it from music from the 70’s.
The second half of the piece is in alternating odd meters. five-eight, seven-eight and some nonstandard nine-eight time signatures. It really does sound like one of Fisher Tull’s Profile compositions.
(Photos in the video are from one of our trips to South Africa.)
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