Welcome to my blog

I have created this site in order to provide performers, listeners and composers with a description of a composer's experiences with the creative process. The posts will provide discussions of the inspirations, challenges, and successes of a composer from the inception of the piece to the culmination in performance. I will provide a link to where you can see and hear the works in progress. Comments and questions are always welcomed. They will not posted unless you grant me permission.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

High Desert Apparitions for Soprano Sax and Piano 3rd Movement

This is the third movement of a composition for soprano saxophone and piano,called High Desert Apparitions, being written as a result of a commissioning consortium. It is in three movements at a graduate or professional level. The first movement is called Shapeshifters (Skinwalkers or yee naaldlooshii). These are evil creatures that appear as humans or as animals. This movement would have the piano representing the human form and the saxophone representing various animals. The second movement is Mirages. This movement is ethereal with an interplay of soft sustained notes between instruments. The last movement is Ancestral Spirits. This movement uses Native American sounding melodic lines and would be uplifting in character. The composition would be 8-10 minutes in length. For more information about the consortium, please visit http://cooppress.net

Ancient Spirits is in two sections. The slower opening is atmospheric, evoking images of Native
American flutes calling to the ancient spirits. The second section is chant-like and is influenced by
recordings of Navajo Yeibichai songs. A Yeibichai is a supernatural represented by a masked dancer in an initiation or curative ceremony. The piano chords are dissonant and steady imitating the sound of drums. While the music is repetitive, there are subtle changes to the melodic material as well as the accompanying chords.

Your comments are always appreciated.

Dr. B

Thursday, February 4, 2016

High Desert Apparitions for Soprano Sax and Piano 2nd Movement

This is the second movement of a composition for soprano saxophone and piano, called High Desert Apparitions, being written as a result of a commissioning consortium. It is in three movements at a graduate or professional level. The first movement is called Shapeshifters (Skinwalkers or yee naaldlooshii). These are evil creatures that appear as humans or as animals. This movement has the piano representing the human form and the saxophone representing various animals. The second movement is Mirages. This movement is ethereal with an interplay of soft sustained notes between instruments. The last movement will be Ancestral Spirits. This movement would use Native American sounding melodic lines and would be uplifting in character. The composition would be 8-10 minutes in length. For more information about the consortium, please visit http://cooppress.net

This movement is very free in form. Mirages in the desert appear as a steady mirage or as a wavy mirage. The saxophone sustained notes begin and end with no vibrato and have subtle vibrato or timbre trill added in the middle of the note. The piano clusters represent the vagueness of the mirage. The fast note patterns represent the fleetingness of a mirage. The dynamics are soft throughout.

Your comments are always appreciated.

Dr. B


High Desert Apparitions for Soprano Sax and Piano 1st Movement

After working on the Thor Johnson Memorial Commission and several contest entries that I couldn't reveal here, I am now working on Commissioning Consortium composition. This composition, for soprano saxophone and piano, is called High Desert Apparitions and would be in three movements at a graduate or professional level. The first would be called Shapeshifters (Skinwalkers or yee naaldlooshii). These are evil creatures that appear as humans or as animals. This movement would have the piano representing the human form and the saxophone representing various animals. The second movement would be Mirages. This movement would be ethereal with an interplay of soft sustained notes between instruments. The last movement would be Ancestral Spirits. This movement would use Native American sounding melodic lines and would be uplifting in character. The composition would be 8-10 minutes in length. For more information about the consortium, please visit http://cooppress.net

The four animal shapes I chose to represent in the first movement are coyote, owl, fox, and crow. I listened to recordings of these animals and did my best to imitate them using the saxophone. Many of the sounds contain multiple pitches and multiphonics were used for these. Grace notes, pitch bends, and rapid passages are other techniques utilized.

The movement is in a rondo form without the final A. The piano represents a normal Navajo person. An undulating sixteenth note figure that goes from loud to soft serves as the transition to animal forms and back. By the end of the movement, the normal Navajo persona is consumed by the crow as the piano becomes part of crow sounds.

Your comments are always appreciated.

Dr. B