The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was commissioned by the South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association for the 2003 SCIBA Honor Band. Since I was writing the piece specifically for an honor band that I was conducting, I approached this commission differently from most. I knew that I wanted to write a piece that might be easily programmed for other honor ensembles, at the same time filling a void that I perceive in high school level works that utilize contemporary notation and techniques. Because the festival was only one day, I also determined that the piece should be programmatic, allowing the players a greater opportunity to quickly grasp the "why" of some of the unusual technical demands.

Eventually I settled on Washington Irving's famous story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, as the perfect inspiration for the piece. The finished musical work attempts to portray specific events in the story, essentially "telling" the tale from the point at which Ichabod Crane leaves the party at the Van Tassel's ("It was the very witching time of night. .. ") until the headless horseman throws his head at Ichabod ("It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash ... "). The pitch material for the entire work is taken from the hymn tune, How Firm a Foundation, which Washington Irving might have known at the time. The tune is used most prominently when Ichabod whistles at one point in the story and sings at another, attempting to combat his fears through song, and near the end when Ichabod sees the church in the distance.