Allegro in A Mixolydian

Allegro in A Mixolydian was commissioned by the Ithaca High School String Orchestra and Samantha Hecht as its director as part of the 2014 Composing in the Schools program at Ithaca College. It is designed to be an introductory piece for high school musicians into the realm of modes. A Mixolydian is greatly related to D major, having only the lowered seventh scale degree to contend with, so while there will be some familiarity with A major already, students will be able to hear the difference between A Major outright and A Mixolydian. From there, the director should be able to branch out into other modal music. In the middle of the form, there is also a remnant of an older version of this piece, a minuet in C major, for an embedded string quartet to give something for the first chair players to enjoy as well as greatly change the sound of the massed string orchestra.