For the Past

Three years and twenty-two days ago (as of May 20, 2022), the George School Orchestra brought forth on this campus, a new music genre, conceived in futurism, and dedicated to the proposition that all music interpretations are created equal. This conductor concerto, “For the Past,” is dedicated to the George School Class of 2022, but it is also dedicated to these ideals brought to this school on April 28, 2019, the belief that music of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth.
“For the Past” is dedicated to the George School Class of 2022 because it contains many memories that we are the last class that ever experienced it. Through the Legacy Edition, the Legends Edition, and through “For the Past,” I aim to pass on these memories to the next generation of George School students, as memories like these should be remembered and celebrated.

Explanation of all the parts:
I: The introduction of “For the Past” is based on the new music genre conceived on 4/28/2019. This part is inspired directly from “GS Star Wars” by the 2018-2019 George School Orchestra, which is inspired by “Star Wars – Main Title” by John Williams. It also takes inspiration from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
A: This part introduces the main motif of the piece. The story comes from lab safety. Please remember to use good lab practice to avoid injuries.
B: This part is a canon. The story comes from my first two years of soccer at GS, including “CLAP BACK!!!” and alien anatomy.
C: This part takes the main motif from part A and changes it to start on a D. It also features a prominent bass part, which was played beautifully by our great Associate Director of Music, Shree Kumar. The story comes from AP World History and the location of Africa. This is one of the angriest parts of the piece.
D: This is one of the two hardest parts in the piece and features a very difficult tremolo part in the second violins. Luckily, Andrew Wetherill ‘25 and Andrew Luisi ‘24 led this part to success. This part is called “The Seven Stories Part 1” and goes along with the ending of the piece. The story here is about how I decided to [the rest of the story has been removed]. The inspirations for this part are “Travelling the Galaxy” by Jesse Valentine and “Libertango” by Astor Piazzola.
E: This part is inspired by the great George School song, “Platonic Love Song” by the great George School songwriters Ben O’Neill, Harry Bohra, Bill Becker, and Ryan Mitchell, all seniors. Then, it goes into more Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
F: This third of the piece is the calm part. This part only uses the pentatonic scale, but it is probably one of the most beautiful parts of any George School song. It starts with a viola melody, but eventually gets to all of the parts, eventually ending in a beautiful pentatonic harmony. This is called “More Stories,” and it is similar to the Seven Stories because it is about a series of events during my time at George School, just that this time, they were better. For example, [the rest of the story has been removed]. You know, all the good times before the COVID-19 pandemic. The GS Star Wars motif also shows up here.
G: This part brings us back to the angry part. It is called “The Explorer” because back in my sophomore year, there was a guy who [the rest of the story has been removed]. This part starts with the first violins having the melody, but then it goes into a duet between the cellos and violas. The main motif of the piece returns, before going into a part that was supposed to use secondary dominants, though I think I did it wrong.
H: This part brings us back to the GS Star Wars motif from the beginning of the piece, though in F major instead of D minor.
I: This part is called “The Friend,” and it talks about a musician friend who helped me after the events of the Seven Stories. It starts in pentatonic, but then it transitions into a baroque era style piece. This part is about as difficult as part D, but luckily, we were able to learn it extremely quickly. This part is also why the dynamics are written in English, as the friend said the dynamics in English.
J: This is the second part of “The Seven Stories” included in “For the Past,” but it is the sixth of the seven. This is about [yeah, I have to remove this as well]. In an actual performance, I have made it tradition that at the end, the conductor should point to each section of the orchestra, and they will play a prescribed short melody. In the two performances at George School, this prescribed melody was the lick. In future performances, Absento, the Oriental Riff, and other melodies that can end on a D could be used.

“Full” list of “inspirations”:
“GS Star Wars” by the 2018-2019 George School Orchestra
“Star Wars – Main Title” by John Williams (inspired “GS Star Wars”)
“Fifth Symphony” by Ludwig Van Beethoven
“Travelling the Galaxy” by Jesse Valentine
“Libertango” by Astor Piazzola
“Platonic Love Song” by Ben O’Neill, Harry Bohra, Bill Becker, and Ryan Mitchell

Forest Ho-Chen, Executive Conductor, Executive Composer, and Secretary of Music Culture of the 2021-2022 George School String Ensemble

(Note: I chose this performance over the other one because this was the ideal scenario for the song, being on Friday the 13th, having a great audience, and having the stage background.)