From Idea to Inspiration

The idea for pedAL to the metAL grew from two intersecting thoughts. The first was practical. A few years ago, Alex Teater found himself with an unusually large and talented middle school percussion section that was 14 students strong. When two were selected for the ILMEA District Band, he began searching for a piece that would showcase them.

What he found was…very little.

“There really isn’t much out there for middle school percussion features,” he said. “That stuck with me.”

The second thought was historical: the deep connection between Payson and the Emerson community.

When Payson passed away in the summer of 2024, those two ideas converged into a single purpose: to create something meaningful, lasting, and worthy of his legacy.

Thanks to the Band Orchestra Parents Association (BOPA) for helping to fund the commission. Teater reached out to composer Danielle Fisher, and what followed was a creative partnership marked by “countless hours on the phone…making edits, pitching ideas, and just having a lot of fun creating music together.”