Aviators
Composed 2025 | Published at Randall Standridge Music, LLC
Duration: 4 minutes | Grade 3.5 Concert Band
The most common dream mankind has had is the dream to fly. We see the clouds and the sun and wonder what it’s like to be up there; to look down at the Earth from above. That’s why we are so fascinated with birds, and how they fly in the sky, and we invent ways to do the same. Leonardo Da Vinci created machines that help us see the world from the heavens, and we’re inspired to drive these sky machines in the pursuit of touching what we once thought was untouchable.
In the U.S. Navy and Air Force, mankind learns to do so. But with the aim of precision in this art, and with the selfless duty to protect us on the ground, some are pushed to perfection at one of the top fighter-pilot schools in the world, the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, commonly known as Top Gun. This piece is inspired by the real men and women of this fighter academy and the true stories of their training and skill in combat. The music embodies the aerodynamic character. Bold fanfare and rhythms push the music through the composition like the roars and soars of the fighters. Fast woodwind runs envision the quickness of maneuvers and dogfighting. And these restless melodies agitate listeners with the feeling of intense combat and drive. The piece ends with a steady but impatient division of meter, driving us and the music towards an edgy end, as the final soar of the pilot flies through us. In Aviators, we feel the power of these machines as we draw closer to the dream that all of mankind craves, to fly.