1. (3.) Courante
2. (4.) Minuet
3. (5.) Air

When Ronald Barnes was beginning his distinguished career at the University of Kansas, he not only encouraged several brilliant composers (colleagues and students) to write for carillon, he also wrote two pieces of his own, Prelude and Minuet. Originally, he intended those pieces to be the start of a longer suite, but by the time he resumed composing, especially from 1978 onward, his style had changed considerably, and he never returned to that project. He decided that the title Sarabande the fit the second piece better than Minuet. It was published first. The Prelude, considerably more difficult, was published later. Since I had ventured into composing music in the style of other composers occasionally (while striking out on my own in other works), I got interested in the idea of taking stylistic elements, and musical motifs, from the Prelude and Sarabande, and "finishing" the suite. While I wouldn't be so bold as to say that I wrote what Ronald Barnes surely would have written it's certainly not for me to say that! – I am pleased with the way the pieces fit together. I have played this Suite in conjunction with the Barnes pieces, this suite then being the third, fourth, and fifth movements. It's perfectly fine to play this suite apart from the Barnes pieces, in which case it should be titled Suite No. 2, and the movements numbered 1–3. Performers no doubt will freely play these pieces individually as well, and I approve of the practice – in fact, I have done that as well. The overall suite is dedicated to my friend and colleague Wendell Westcott, whose friendship and musical ideas have greatly enriched my professional activity.

—John Gouwens