The Road Not Taken was commissioned by the Lincoln High School Orchestra (Sioux Falls, SD) to honor the retirement of their beloved conductor and teacher, Mario Chiarello. The work is based on the well-known poem of the same name by Robert Frost, a poem which explores the choices we make in our lives and the impact those choices can have.

The poem is reflected in the music in numerous ways. First, the nature of the words suggests something of a wistful quality, but one that is also hopeful and thankful. These qualities are portrayed by using the Lydian mode throughout the piece, a mode which raises the fourth degree in the scale and creates a sound that is more uplifting than a traditional major scale. The main melody itself is derived from beginning on this raised fourth degree and then gradually diverging, moving alternately down and then up from that central note until expanding to include the entire scale. Eventually, the words of the original poem provide the realization that this choice has “made all the difference” and those words are expressed musically as the inversion of the expanding scale, now starting at the outside and moving toward the center.

The work begins with a lengthy double bass soli, representing Mr. Chiarello himself by using his instrument; this soli provides most of the melodic material for the entire piece. The choir then presents the first stanza with limited accompaniment from the strings. The winds gradually join the texture as the poem progresses, condensing the musical gestures and moving through the text more quickly as the energy builds toward an initial climax in which the author convinces himself of his choice, saying he will keep “the first for another day.” After this point in the text, the poem shifts to a realization that the author “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Musically, this moment is presented by the unaccompanied choir, followed by a return of the double bass soli (Mr. Chiarello). Now that the author has made his decision, the music begins a slow, long crescendo, walking confidently forward, representing the choice that was made and its eventual growth toward an inevitable conclusion celebrating a life well-lived.

Mr. Chiarello faced a decision that many music educators encounter, the choice to become a performer or an educator, a decision made all the more difficult because he actually had the skills to succeed in either world. This is one of those choices that we all must make at some point, and in fact, a decision that Mr. Chiarello knows his own students must eventually face. Much as Robert Frost before him, Mr. Chiarello is thankful to have chosen the road he did, one which has changed the lives of thousands of students.