i first got the idea for the symphonic composition project in the summer of 2008 whilst taking some graduate classes at doane college. i had this vision of a project where students would write melodies and i would compile those melodies and make a "composition" out of them.

it turned out like this: in the second quarter each student in the high school band was assigned to write four measures of music per week for six weeks. those that completed the assignment turned in very creative entries, with a couple even using the "1.5/4" time signature (also found in percy grainger's Lincolnshire Posy. i then used our winter break and a couple weeks afterward to craft a song that we worked on for a couple weeks. i then had the students submit ideas for a name for the song and after so much democracy it would make sweden jealous, we come out with the title "Mei Zhou Bao," which is the mandarin word for 'panther.'