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.
This is the first movement of a multi-movement composition for tuba and piano that I am writing for Jeremy Crawford. It is based on selections from The Alabama Songbook compiled by Byron Arnold. This movement is Jack the Sailor.
I was attracted to this song because of its rhythmic variety and the way it has measures with two beats and measures with three beats. After stating the song as is, I begin to create variations of it as follows:
11-20 - ornamented version of the melody in the tuba
21-34 - 5/8 (2+3) variation - inspired by the measures of 2 and measures of 3, this diminution of the rhythm creates an interesting metrical variation
35 - 46 - Still in 5/8, tonality change, tuba melody from the previous variation is stated in cannon in the piano
47-61 - A free variation using motifs from the tune, back to 2/4 and 3/4 meter
62-74 - Sudden shift of tonality, meter is now 7/8 (2+2+3), canon between tuba and right hand of the piano
75-end - Sudden shift of tonality. A free variation using motifs from the tune, back to 2/4 and 3/4 meter, coda added
Below is a video of the score that uses sampled sounds. You comments are always appreciated.
Hi everyone,
I have not posted about my more recent compositions because they have been written as individual commissions and to honor premiere aspect, I decided not to unveil the compositions here. I will tell you that I composed compositions for Saxophone Quartet and Piano, Saxophone Quartet and Organ, and Saxophone Quartet with Middle School Band. These compositions will be made available to the public after they are premiered in the Fall.
At the request of the commissioner, I plan to make several versions of the Saxophone Quartet with Middle School Band composition. This piece is called "The Tortoise and the Hare" and the story fits the idea of the band having easy parts and the soloists more technically demanding parts. A narrator reads sections of the story and the band and soloists illustrate those sections. I will create a version that has a clarinet quartet (3 Bb clarinets and bass clarinet), woodwind quintet, and brass quintet playing the solo parts in order to give the piece wider appeal.
I am also honored to have had my composition "Portrait of Don Quixote" selected as the winning composition in the Hillcrest Wind Ensemble's 2016 Composition Contest. The piece will be premiered on October 8 in San Diego and if you are in the area, I hope you will come to the concert and say "hello." Here is a link to information about the concert http://hillcrestwindensemble.com/index.html
If you are in New York City on September 11, you can hear my composition "Rescue" performed by the West Point Band as part of Vox Novus Fifteen Minutes of Fame. My composition was one of 15 one-minute compositions specifically written for this concert out of 100 entries. Here is a link to more information about this concert http://www.voxnovus.com/15_Minutes_of_Fame//featuring/West_Point_Band/
I have also recently completed a number of arrangements of show music for various small ensembles. Here is a list with links:
This the fourth movement of four of a composition for SATB Saxophone
Quartet and Piano. It is commissioned by Louis Sinoff. I am calling the
composition Lexicon No. 1 because each movement will be a musical
definition of an interesting word. I envision that there will be many
more "Lexicon" compositions in my future.
The word for
the fourth movement is Fortitude. Its definition is "strength and determination." A passacaglia, with its repeating bass line, came to mind as being the perfect form to express the word fortitude.
The movement begins with an Allegro introduction of rising and falling non-triadic arpeggios and a rising syncopated motif before settling into the passacaglia theme. The passacaglia theme in the piano left hand is four measures long that suggests both g minor and Bb major simultaneously. Each variation adds intensity through dynamics, texture, harmony, rhythmic activity and articulation. The variations are as follows:
15-18 - one beat canon between the piano left hand and tenor sax
19-22 - countermelody in the piano right hand that suggests Eb major before ending in Bb major
23-26 - similar countermelody in Soprano and Alto Saxes
27-30 - new countermelody in piano right hand; Bari Sax joins in on the passacaglia theme
31-34 - more countermelody in the piano right hand; triplets becoming more dominant
35-38 - Saxes only; intense harmony with dissonance and resolution
39-42 - Harmony in the piano; saxes increase triplet activity
43-46 - Slower tempo and sixteenths take over in importance
47-50 - Similar to before; contrast in articulation between saxes and passacaglia theme; piano right hand up 8va
51-54 - Unison FF restatement of passacaglia theme
The movement ends with two measures of Brilliante in G major.
After composing this movement, I decided to create a poem to go along with it. Here it is:
Strength rises from within
Chakras of energy emanating
From my soul to my halo
And back down again
Forces of motivation
Recede into quiet determination
A guiding principle forms
Soon echoed
In the silences of my mind
A four-measure mantra
Steadfast to outside influences
Complimentary countermelodies
Tease with temptation
Blending in and out
Of my unfaltering fortitude
Triplets intensify their efforts
Persuading elaboration
Of my basic stand
To emphasize our similarities
And not our differences
Desperate rapid utterances
Scream over my firm voice
To no avail
Finally
A unison proclamation
Emerges from the chaos
To celebrate the unwavering power of
A lone voice in tune with the universe
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
This the third movement of four of a composition for SATB Saxophone
Quartet and Piano. It is commissioned by Louis Sinoff. I am calling the
composition Lexicon No. 1 because each movement will be a musical
definition of an interesting word. I envision that there will be many
more "Lexicon" compositions in my future.
The word for
the third movement is Hyperbole. Its definition is "exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally."The first thing that came to mind in this election year is a political debate. In the composition I tried to exaggerate dynamics, articulation, instrumentation, and motifs. I think of this movement as having free form as the musical ideas are used throughout. There is a slight shift of mood measure 13 and again at measure 36, but in my mind, the contrast is not sufficient for me to call these a B section.
Here is a list of the motifs that are used and what they represent in my mind:
Accented dotted quarter and eighth note - When FF - hammering when P - exhaustion
Slurred 16th notes - issues being glossed over
Triplet chords - the moderator trying to bring the debate under control
Syncopated staccato eighths - scare tactics
Even eighth note melody - Hopeful audience
After composing this movement, I decided to create a poem to go along with it. Here it is:
Raised Voices spout rhetoric
While fists pound the podium
Volume and theatrics
Obscure the issues
Quiet responses of denial
Go unheard
Slurring meanings with
Distorted facts
Staccato utterances cut
Like faraway gunshots
Inciting fear
Instead of reason
A melodic theme resonates
Striking a chord with
An audience of voters
Grasping at straws for optimism
Hyperbole shields voters
From the democratic process
And antiquated laws insulate
Citizens from making a direct choice
Politicians play
With those who pay while
Bickering and inaction is
The rule in Washington
A cloudy future hovers
Over a divided nation
Will a leader emerge with healing powers
From the debris of hyperbole
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
This the second movement of four of a composition for SATB Saxophone
Quartet and Piano. It is commissioned by Louis Sinoff. I am calling the
composition Lexicon No. 1 because each movement will be a musical
definition of an interesting word. I envision that there will be many
more "Lexicon" compositions in my future.
The word for
the second movement is Oxymoron. Its definition is "opposite ideas that don't fit; incongruous." My inspiration is the phrase "melancholy gladness," To represent this oxymoron musically, I use two contrasting sections, the first in an Andante tempo (A) and the second in an Allegro tempo (B). The form is ABA'B'A''B''.
The oxymoron goes beyond the contrasting sections. There are incongruous elements within the sections as well. The A section is in 3/4 and the melody follows that pattern. The accompaniment however uses triplets against the duplets of the melody and the harmonic rhythm, exemplified by the right hand of the piano, is in a hemiola pattern of 2/4.
The Allegro "Gladness" section has a melody and bass line that suggest one set of chords and the inner voices doing another set of chords. The harmony doesn't quite fit the melody and bass line. In the second B section, modulation is used to add to the gladness.
The movement ends with a measure of the melancholy followed by two measures of gladness that once again emphasizes the oxymoron.
After composing this movement, I decided to create a poem to go along with it. Here it is:
Oxymorons of my psyche
Buried beneath the surface
Id, ego and super-ego
Wage unwinnable wars
Anima and Animus mirror
Masculine and feminine
Traits waiting to be discovered
As life unfolds
Yin and Yang interconnect
Creating perfect balance
If allowed to prevail
Over surface turmoil
My melancholy floats
Over contrasting rhythms
A shroud of doubt
Added to my sadness
Then gladness bursts forth
The sun shinning through
A break in the clouds
Dancing in major-colored skirts
I often wonder
Which is the real me
The oxymoron of life
Imprisons my soul
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
This the first movement of four of a composition for SATB Saxophone Quartet and Piano. It is commissioned by Louis Sinoff. I am calling the composition Lexicon No. 1 because each movement will be a musical definition of an interesting word. I envision that there will be many more "Lexicon" compositions in my future.
The word for the first movement is Rambunctious. Its definition is "difficult to control and wildly boisterous." To represent this definition musically, I chose a Vivace tempo in duple meter. The meter changes frequently and contains a lot of syncopation and hemiola, as if the music can't contain itself to a meter pattern.
The movement has a relentless energy and is mostly at a forte dynamic. While I can delineate a form (ABCAB), the contrast is more of mood and texture instead of musical material. Motifs are used freely between sections and develop symphonically, thus making them the same but different. The canonic middle section (C) is wildly boisterous because of the five imitative lines over an ostinato bass.
After composing this movement, I decided to create a poem to go along with it. Here it is:
Rambunctious is a scrumptious word
That rolls around my tongue
Rapscallion sounds are often heard
And playful tunes are sung
Scampering chords set the mood
Syncopated rhythms abound
Down and up the melody feuds
Playful turbulence all around
An instigator emerges from the pack
Others begin to follow
Maybe the leader should be on Prozac
To control the urge to wallow
Scampering chords and syncopated rhythms
Become more boisterous and wild
Wondering what can be done with him
How to control this unruly child
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
This is the third movement of a composition being composed
as a
result of a woodwind quintet commissioning consortium. The title of the
piece is Travelogue and is an aural representation of interesting places
from around the world. The places to be represented are the Sailing on
the Mediterranean Sea, Rocky Mountain Starlight, and the Alhambra. The
composition would be 10-12 minutes total. For more information about the
consortium. please visit http://cooppress.net
I tried to create a movement that represents the strength of this famous fortress that has stood for hundreds of years through occupations of different powers. The movement has Spanish flavor because of the use of the Phrygian mode with its characteristic lowered second degree. The movement appears to be in A minor because of the key signature and the way the melodic line starts out, but the tonality and modality constantly shift over the the descending bass line that is 4,3,2,1 in the Phrygian mode.
There are three main thematic sections in this movement and each constantly vary. These thematic sections appear to use similar melodic ideas, but they are different in key and mood. Think of m. 4-11 as A and m. 22-30 as B. There is also a canonic section from m. 40-47 that we can call C. The resulting form is AA'BB'CB''A''A'''A''''B'''C''B''''A'''''Coda. Beginning at m. 80, the music seems quite different because of the running 16th notes, but it is really variants of the three sections.
Another key ingredient that is a constant yet also varies is the four note cadence idea at the end of each section. Notice how this is varied by repeating itself, changing key, elongating the rhythm, and the use of rests. When it elongates, it has the characteristic Spanish two feel against the 3 feel.
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
