"Teta, do you remember the dance at Uncle Samir's wedding? The one where the women clapped and stomped?"

On concert night, the wind ensemble played Arabian Dances . When the final, thunderous chord faded, Dr. Emerson nodded at Mira from the back of the hall.

Balmages, an American composer, had never claimed to write authentic folk music. He had written a Western impression of a journey through a dream of Arabia. And that was okay. Because Mira now understood her job: she wasn't to play authentic Arab music. She was to play the memory of the music, filtered through a young conductor’s own heart.

Afterward, a young trumpet player approached her. "Maestra," he said, holding his part. "Why did you write 'stomp with joy' above measure 47? The original marking is 'heavy and aggressive.'"