What's Kitsune?

Though Brian Balmages didn't necessarily water his composition down to a middle-school level, he did cater to the ages of the musicians with the subject matter, not by choosing a simplified topic but by finding something that appealed to younger kids.

"If they can't identify with the subject matter, they can't connect with it and will never play it musically," he said.

So Balmages researched Japanese mythology and eventually settled on a rather involved story line. Incorporating various Japanese folk songs, the piece is based on Japanese mythological creatures called kitsune, outlining the interplay between the two types: zenko, benevolent spiritual foxes associated with one of the gods, and yako, the trickster.

"When you're writing for kids at this level, it's very easy to just kind of crank something out and not put a lot of thought into it," Balmages said. "I'm a firm believer in having very substantive material for younger players."