This composition, which was the first published piece of John Barnes Chance, has become one of his most popular works. He wrote it while serving in the North Carolina public schools under a grant from the Ford Foundation's Young Composers Project. It consists of two contrasting sections. The Incantation is a short, mournful melody, full of mystery, which gradually builds to a ferocious conclusion. The Dance also begins quietly, moving to a complex rhythmic pattern in the percussion, and culminating in a frenzied dance. A native of Texas, Chance played timpani with the Austin Symphony and taught at the University of Kentucky before his untimely accidental death in 1972. --James Huff 08:09, 14 November 2008 (UTC) (from the program notes of The Claremont Winds, submitted with permission)