In 2004 I was having composition lessons from a wonderful man and mentor called Frank Hughes. Frank had a successful career in radio and TV and also in Brass bands.

As part of my training, Frank came up with a 4-note motif which we both worked with to produce quite different pieces of music.

Totus Tuus (It's all yours) has four movements, each using a Latin pun. The movements all start with the same motif or a close relative of it and develp the idea in different ways.

1. Marcia: A march-like movement which has the usua sections of a brass band concert march, but with slight differences from the standard, including a coda and it is all based on the four-note motif.

2. Pax Minimus (The smallest peace) : This is the shortest movement, in terms of the number of bars, but the longest in tie (because it's slow). It uses the same four-note motif as the first movement, but in a minor mode and in a much more fragmented way. The peace is constantly being disturbed by dissonance and the scoring is very thin and exposed.

3. Rex Via (King of the Road): This jazzy and quite funky movement moves into the realms of complex time signatures. The basic pulse is 7/8 with forays into plain 6/8 between times, mainly as links. The motif gets a good airing here, forming bluesy tunes, seemingly at random to give the loose, improvised feel.

4. Totus Finis (It's all over) : As you might expect, this is a dramatic ending to the work. In 12/8 with rolling quavers in the basses to start. This roiling sea gives way to the trumpet fanfares that appear as apocalyptic warnings of The End!