Over Mitch Bender’s more than 45 year career as a band director and composer he wrote and arranged hundreds of pieces for concert band, string orchestra, chorus and soloist. Considering he taught middle school bands, the majority of his music is for Grade’s 1-4. He arranged many pieces from the Messiah and in 1991 while teaching at Fairfax County Schools; he was commissioned to write a piece for Black History Month. On February 21st, 1991, he premiered, “I Have a Dream”, where the text to Martin Luther King’s famous speech has been set to choral arrangement. The music can be purchased for band only or with string orchestra accompaniment.
In November 2007, the Dartmouth College Band performed “I Have a Dream”.