​Fire & Ice was an idea I started formulating around 2004. My desire was to write a piece of music for the trombone, based around a superhero story. I have always been drawn to the idea of superheroes and the ideal of doing what is right in the face of adversity. My concept for this project was to be an ongoing series of compositions set up like a comic book. This is why each individual piece is set up as a chapter and not a movement. My intent is for each chapter to stand alone as well as be part of the larger whole.

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The hero of the story possesses the abilities of some of my favorite superheroes. The hero has no definite name, as yet. He is simply referred to as “our hero.” He is a military experiment gone wrong, or right, depending on how one looks at it. The first chapter is titled “The Beginning.” In this movement the storyline explains how the main character comes into being. The hero was a military prototype, a super soldier that was affixed with a pair of bionic legs, giving him the abilities of speed and flight. The soldier was killed in battle so the military decided to cryogenically freeze its investment to re-animate at a later time. During the freezing process, the human parts of the body turned entirely into ice. The story begins with our hero awakening from the freezing process not knowing who he is or what has happened. He soon begins to realize he is able to manipulate the ice portion of his body. There is a musical motive in this chapter that represents the hero, which returns at the conclusion of Chapter V.
 

The second chapter, titled “On the Run,” continues with our hero managing to make his way out of the facility and escape from the Laboratory for Advanced Research. Recorded evidence from the surveillance cameras has been documented and studied to try to replicate the experimental accident. Since the military has had no success in creating more soldiers like our hero, other prototypes are sent out to hunt him down and bring him in for dissection and analysis. In Chapter III, titled “Identity,” the music begins with a dark, somber march depicting the inner conflict of our hero. As memories formulate in his brain, he is startled by the realization that everyone he once knew is now dead and gone, leaving him alone with nothing.

The music then takes a turn towards an upbeat style in Eb major, depicting that our hero realizes he has been created for a purpose. As the story progresses, our hero realizes he is able to manipulate more than just his physical body.
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​In Chapter IV, “Aquarium,” our hero’s abilities are put to the test. Some of the other military prototypes have found our hero, so he makes his way to the local aquarium to hide. He gets trapped in an underwater tunnel – along with civilians –and has to defend himself as well as protect the innocent bystanders. In the music towards the end of this chapter, the music makes good use of bucket mutes for the trombones for added effect.

In “Nemesis,” Chapter V, the villain of the story is introduced along with the larger plot of the story. The underlining story, which continues throughout, is that the military will not rest until they have captured our hero so he will always be on the run. The villain in this story is referred to as “the demon.” He is a tall-statured, crimson, demon-like man with wings hidden under his garments. The demon also has the ability to use telekinesis. He is a being of power and craves more power. He is on a mission to gain ultimate power by searching for Moses’ staff, the “Rod of God,” to gain ultimate control. Thus our hero comes to the realization that he is the only one who can stop the demon, and so begins the epic battle of good versus evil as depicted by the music at the end of the chapter.
 

When I was composing the music, I knew I wanted more than just trombones so I decided to incorporate percussion. With the aid of my colleague and long-time friend Bryan Mitchell, I sat down and composed a percussion accompaniment for the trombone parts, adding a totally other dimension to the work. Mitchell helped me notate the sounds and rhythms I heard in my head and also helped compose certain passages whenever my mind suffered a mild case of writer’s block. Mitchell composed the majority of the timpani part in the epic battle that takes place in Chapter V where there is a duel between the timpani and the bass trombone. There was one overall stipulation for the percussion part: it had to be performed by only one musician. This posed a major challenge of trying to contain the variety of percussion instruments and music to one pair of hands, but we were successful.
 

Each chapter has a visual page depicting some of the moments from the story. The artwork for Fire & Ice was done by Alan J. Boyer, who was an art major at Northeast Mississippi Community College. When I finished the music for Volume I (Chapters I and II), I held a contest in our art department. The contestants were given the story lines, along with the music, and asked to draw an original art concept for the project. Boyer’s work was exactly what I was looking for so we consulted on the artwork to develop the visual aspect for the music.  When it came to finishing Volume II (Chapters III, IV, and V), I consulted Boyer again to create the art for the new chapters.
 

Gordon Cherry of Cherry Classics Music stated, “The combination of the instrumentation and the tonality gives this work an enticing and earthy sound for the senses.”
 

The world premiere of Fire & Ice was held on April 14, 2012, at the Slidin’ in the Delta Trombone Day at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Chapters I – V were performed by the Mississippi Trombone Authority (MTA) with Josh Armstrong as the percussionist. Members of the MTA include Jason Beghtol, Richard Human, Douglas Mark, and Clifton Taylor. Dr. John Marcellus, professor of trombone at the Eastman School of Music, was in attendance for the premiere and described the piece as “a dynamic, exciting new piece for people to hear and I hope a lot of people will be able to listen to this. It’s got a great combination of colors between trombone and percussion together.”
 

In the future, I plan to compose more chapters, introducing new characters and storylines. If you wish to purchase a copy of the music, you may purchase copies of Fire & Ice, Volume I from Cherry Classics Music. Volume I consists of the first two chapters. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 can be purchased only from me. You may contact me via email at jwbeghtol@yahoo.com or facebook.com/jwbeghtol.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

A man awakens in a lab to find that he has been cryogenically frozen for approximately 80 years.  Prior to his freezing, he was an experimental prototype for use in combat.  He was fixed with a pair of bionic legs that gave him the abilities of speed and flight.  The idea for the bionic leg system was for the soldiers to be able to fly on their own through the use of jet propulsion.  The legs were also designed for speed on the ground and would allow soldiers to run at an incredible speed-close to the speed of light.  During the freezing process, the parts of the body that were human were completely consumed by the ice that was to preserve him.

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In this movement our character awakens to find himself with a new identity.  He discovers his body has changed into a solid block of ice in which he can manipulate.  He also comes to realize that he can manipulate more than just his body.  Thus, a new hero is born with a body of ice bound to a pair of bionic legs.  This movement is the discovery and the exploration of his new body with his new abilities.

Realize this…………This is only the beginning!