The first movement of this suite, Zui Zui, based upon a Japanese traditional song, was commissioned by the Florida Bandmasters Association and completed in 2008. Later, Kagome Kagome and Ocharaka were added to form a suite of Japanese children's folk songs. Despite the contrasting tone colors, frequent use of semitones, and numerous musical expressions in canonic form, this suite is written for younger players (ranges are limited to about an octave, clarinets don't cross the break, no snare drum rolls) to focus on "fun" for grade school and beginning secondary bands. It doesn't require large instrumentation and can be adjusted for use by various sizes of bands.
