THE JOURNEY TO AEOLIA
By Barry E. Kopetz

The Journey to Aeolia is a musical representation of an adventure by the two Lochrian boys, Vlaskis and Quark,
into the neighboring kingdom of "Aeolia." They have recently witnessed a shooting purple star passing in front
of the full Assidium moon, the first of the two moons that rise over the Lake of Miramoor. As a result of this
experience and their encounters with other mysterious happenings, they have found themselves compelled to
follow a dangerous path hoping to discover the meaning of this rare occurrence over the midnight skies in the
land of the Lochrians.

Troubled by the concurrent appearance of the mysterious hooded figure on the shores of Lake of Miramoor, the
two boys have found it beyond their power to avoid making this journey in search of answers to their many
questions. Trying to keep their recent discovery a secret has proven to be most difficult, as their friend Penelope
has managed to uncover just enough of the facts to have become aware of their planned voyage. She has become
a "self-imposed guest" and has invited both herself and her best friend Illyria along on the journey to the distant
Aeolian land. She has guaranteed her future silence as long as the boys include them. Both Vlaskis and Quark
have become concerned with Penelope's seeming inability to keep her nose out of their business, but feel they
have no choice but to let both of them come along.

The music is written primarily in the Aeolian mode, and the Aeolian scale ("a to a" using only the white keys
on the piano) provides the basis for much of the piece, transposed to make it easier for younger musicians. The
percussion parts have much to do with setting the proper mood for the music and great care should be taken
to achieve clarity from all of the percussion colors. The guiro "scraping" should be fairly crisp, using short
strokes with the wooden scraper. The triangle will need to be suspended so that the closed and open sounds
in measures 11-16 are possible at the appropriate tempo. Bongos should be played with the fingers lightly
throughout, with emphasis upon the accents. In the absence of bongos, two alternating snare drums may be
played lightly with the snares turned to the "off" position. In this instance, light wire brushes may be used to
play the bongo rhythms.

The musical journey reflected in the piece starts softly, implying that the four Loch children are doing their best
to secretly leave town undiscovered, hoping to avoid notice from friends and parents alike. As the journey
progresses into the Aeolian countryside, there are moments of breathtaking adventure, and the music should
be accordingly precise and rhythmic. The music ends as it began, very quietly, as Vlaskis, Quark, Penelope and
Illyria reach their destination, hoping to avoid being discovered in the strange, new land of Aeolia!