If I Should Go: 2nd B-flat Clarinet

If I Should Go was written to honor the memory of Bill Haynes, a musician, music educator, and conductor whose life tragically and senselessly ended in a car-jacking in 2016. Brant Karrick and Bill Haynes were very close friends beginning with their days in school together. The composer uses a musical warmth and vitality to reflect Bill's happy, kind, and generous spirit, while dissonances portray the sadness and depression felt by losing a loved one. "Danny Boy" is quoted as it was a favorite tune of Haynes. Further inspiration for If I Should Go came from the poem of the same name, written by Joyce Grenfell, that helps us all to carry on with life after losing someone we love. (5:25)