When Joan Dyer asked me to write a piece in honor and memory of Tim Vernon, a dear friend who has also commissioned music from me in the past, I tried to think of an appropriate form to express the wide range of feelings his sudden departure inspired: from grief and deep sadness to the humor from memories of fun times together, as well as, finally, joy, at simply having known this talented, ebullient and deeply caring man. The form didn't occur to me at first, so I just started writing...and a "variations" emerged. The "Celtic" theme is not pre-existing, I simply made it up and love it for its simplicity and for the somewhat melancholy sense of "going home" that this music seems to convey to me. The movement titles, or rather "suggestions" as I like to call them – they appear in parentheses in the score – are fairly self explanatory and help guide the listener through this emotional, psychological journey. Variations 1, 3, 5 and 6 are rhythmically more free in nature and represent the wildly shifting moods and thoughts that came up when I tried to grasp the magnitude of the fact that this person was really gone. Variation 2, "Bach-a-nal," is a kind of musical joke in a post-Bachian counterpoint and is a tribute to a composer and style that Tim loved and performed often. Variation 4, "Love," is the heart of the work and represents my deepest feelings about Tim as well as the love he often expressed for the wonderful people, various cultures and beautiful music that made up his world. Variation 7, "Up to Heaven," is really a recap of the theme but now, at last, it rises and ends quietly and perfectly.