“Margaret’s Theme” – A dear friend from the POSI Music Fest, Sandy Hemenway, taught me how to turn a person’s name into a melody by matching alphabetical letters to the keys of a piano. Letters “A – G” match perfectly with the seven notes of a scale. Beyond that, the letter “H” plays as an octave of “a” on the piano, beginning a second scale. (“I” becomes the note “b”, “J” becomes the note “c“, etc.).

M-a-r-g-a-r-e-t is my middle name and its eight-note recurring melody can be heard throughout this piece. I only made a one-note adjustment for a more pleasing melody, chose a satisfactory key, and orchestrated it.