For Patrick, 2013/2022 (Grade 3.5, 5:30)

For Patrick was composed in memory of Patrick Tucker. This piece was my first exploration into making music meaningful. Below is a program note from Dan Tucker, Patrick’s father. Dan is one of my best colleagues, friends, and mentors.

Program note from Dan:

One of the really fun days of becoming a parent is the day you get the ultrasound.  You get to see your baby for the first time and maybe find out if you are having a boy or a girl. Sadly, it was on this day my wife and I were told that our son Patrick had an anomaly which would make him "incompatible with life.”  Even if he survived the birthing process, doctors informed us that he would only survive for a few minutes. What a horrible thing for a parent to hear.

Our son, however, was perfectly fine in utero, so we decided that we would make Patrick's entire life full of love and joy.  He could hear, kick, and even play little games that parents like to play with their unborn babies, and we determined that we would talk and play music for Patrick, read stories to him, and fill each of his days with love.  We knew that his birthday would be a day of great joy and inevitable sadness.

On April 9th, Patrick came into our world.  He was simply beautiful, and he gave our family four hours and four minutes of love.  I like to think that no person has ever experienced as much love from the beginning of life to the end as did Patrick.

Late one night I found myself trying to explain all of these feelings to my good friend, Michael Krueger.  I asked him if he might consider writing a piece of music for Patrick.  I needed someone who knew my family and could take our raw emotions and turn them into music.  Someone who understood. I knew that composing such a piece would be a challenge, and it might even be impossible to create.  It couldn't be sad, yet sadness needed to exist. It couldn't be happy, yet happiness needed to exist. The emotions were too complex to say so how could I tell someone how the music should sound?  

Michael Krueger has put into music something that I couldn’t articulate. I like to think of this composition as an expression of Patrick's story as told from Patrick’s perspective. I love playing it with my band, and I hope you will as well. It gives me great satisfaction to know you will be playing For Patrick.

Score Sample: HERE

Cost: FREE. PDF parts/score delivered for free. In early 2027, this piece will be sold for $120.