Always In The Music was commissioned as a way of saying goodbye for the retirement of Ms. Kathryn Spula, my music teacher at Placerita Junior High School. Ms. Spula will always hold a place in my heart as the woman that gave me my very first experience of having one of my own pieces played by a group of live musicians (funnily enough, it was an arrangement of music from The Legend of Zelda), and for giving me my first conductor’s baton. This piece has two distinct themes - the opening piano solo melody that comes back multiple times throughout the piece, and the Hart High School alma mater, in tribute to the next step in the junior high schoolers’ lives. Also present are a few references to the above- mentioned Legend of Zelda medley I had written for the Placerita ensemble all those years ago. There are two versions of this piece: one for junior high-level bands and one for high school-grade groups. The two pieces are meant to be compatible and can be played simultaneously for maximum effect. The piano part is meant to be very loose and non-linear, treated like a fake book for pop music, which was a heavy inspiration for this piece’s emphasis on vocal soloist. The vocal part can also be transposed by octaves based on the vocal range of the singer.