Burton Tower Prelude

My Burton Tower Prelude was written in response to renovation done during my office days in the University of Michigan Burton Tower. The Bell Tower is a landmark in Ann Arbor and appears on everything from coffee mugs to websites. My office, once Ross Lee Finney's, was on the seventh floor, just below the bells which would RING four times an hour, announcing our passing through time with clangorous overtones to boot. In addition to this, there were practice pianos, jack-hammers, clicking, metronomic sounds and noises from the city below which echoed into my studio as I tried to compose. So, rather than fight it, I used it all as inspiration and wrote this piece as the prelude to the toccata which follows.