Par 3 was commissioned by the Mehlville High School Wind Ensemble for Tony, Jennifer, and Eva Brown and their performance at the 2025 Missouri Music Educators Association Conference. This close-knit family has been at the heart of Mehlville’s music program for over 30 years (Tony graduated from the school in 1987!) and the piece is intended to honor all three of them by asking them to serve as soloists with the band, Jennifer on flute, Tony on clarinet, and Eva on horn.

The inspiration for the piece comes from the additional talents of Tony and Jennifer’s daughter, Eva, who is not only a terrific horn player, but one of the best golfers in the state. She was honored in 2023 as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro Girl’s Golfer of the Year and finished as the Class 3 state runner-up for the second consecutive season. The family’s passion for golf has led them on some amazing journeys, as Eva was accepted into Stephen Curry's Underrated Golf Tour, a program in which Curry helps middle class elite golfers from around the country by providing access to elite golf courses to help with their development.

The piece attempts to reflect this love of golf and is structured in three sections: Tee Shot, Chip Shot, and Putt. Each section begins with the golfer’s swing through a short snare drum roll, followed by the energy of the initial strike of the ball. This is followed by soaring, melodic music as the ball travels forward before bouncing and finally coming to rest. Each “shot” features one of the soloists in turn: flute, then clarinet, then finally horn.

The musical materials for the work are all inspired by the number three. There are three sections to the piece, three soloists, and the meter is three beats to a bar. Par 3’s melodic construction is all based on the interval of a third, ascending during flight and descending as the ball comes back to earth. Many of the harmonies move in parallel thirds as well. As a final nod to the subject matter for the piece, Stephen Curry’s initials (altered through a musical cryptogram to become E and C, another melodic third) are played prominently by orchestra bells and vibes at measure 30 (Curry’s jersey number).