Newest Music

Days

This piece was written for the International Horn Society's 2022 composition contest. It is due on December 1, 2022. This recording was performed by Audio Artisan.


PDF Score for Days

Program notes:

Days begin in darkness and mystery. Shadows stretch across the landscape, only grudgingly giving way to gradual appearance of morning light. The first sounds of birds greet the new day and take flight, replacing the retreating shadows in a wild and glorious crescendo which builds into a full symphonic celebration of life.

Morning light appears gray with a tinge of blue. Then the colors of the morning burst forth. Orange and yellow paint the sky. The sun rises in a spectacular display of magnificence.

Vivid blue sky overtakes the colorful sunrise canvas. Puffy clouds roll in, and hearts swell. Another beautiful day is born. The sights and sounds of life fill the perfectly picturesque scene.

But as with everything, perfection fades. Following closely behind the beautiful blue sky with its marshmallow clouds creeps another sky of gray, bringing the storm clouds, with violent lightning and crashing thunder. Rain falls and cleanses the land, dwindles, and finally abates.

The day retreats slowly. Darkness falls, the moon rises, and the stars come out. Days come and go. Each one gives us another chance for greatness, whether creating a magnificent invention or performing a simple random act of kindness. The final question is, what will we do with each new day?

The composer loves to watch first light and sunrise. Then at the sunset end of another full day, we realize that this day, and each day, is a metaphor for our journey through this life.

Ride Rainbows

This piece was written for the Ithaca College Choral Composition Festival iin 2022 This recording was performed by Audio Artisan.


PDF Score for Ride Rainbows

Program notes:

Ride Rainbows is a choral piece for Piano and SATB. It is intended for high school choruses. The piece was written in a style inspired by Electronic Dance Music. Originally, I wanted to adapt the Uplifting Trance style, but I felt that tempo range was too fast and opted for a more traditional House style with a tempo of 110 beats per minute.

Ride Rainbows encourages people to follow their desires and achieve their dreams. Featured are the metaphors of Unicorns and Rainbows as vehicles for getting to the end of the rainbow to claim your dreams. As such the melodies and harmonies are happy and uplifting.

I will find out if I made the finals on December 9, 2022. If I am one of the finalists, then I will go to Ithaca for the performance of all finalists and find out who won first and second place.

Endless

This piece was written for the International Horn Society's 2022 composition contest. It is due on December 1, 2022. This recording was synthesized by Finale.


PDF Score for Endless

Program notes:

Rabindranath Tagore waws a Bengali poet. A small book of collected poems named Gitanjali was the inspiration for this piece. It attempts to reflect the ethos of one poem in the book that I call Endless. It revolves around the idea that we are all endless in this game of like.

The piece was written to be playable by horn players from high school through college. It focuses on lyric phrases and rich harmonies.

Endless:
  Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure, this frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
  This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.
  At the immortal touch of thy hands, my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.
  thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.
  Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still, there is room to fill.

 
Choral Music

Dear Next Reader

SATB setting of a poem written by Alec Wilder late in his life. This recording was performed by composer's choir.


PDF Score for Dear Next Reader

Hymn to the Night

SSAATTBB setting of Longfellow's text. This recording was performed by composer's choir.


PDF Score for Hymn to the Night

From God Above (SATB)

SATB setting of text I wrote many years ago. This recording was performed by composer's choir.


PDF Score for From God Above (SATB)

From God Above (SSA)

SSA setting of text I wrote many years ago. This recording was performed by composer's choir.


PDF Score for From God Above (SSA)
 
Art Songs

Selections From Gitanjali

Solo recording of a set of songs from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. This recording was performed by composer's choir.

Endless


PDF Score for Endless

Light My Light


PDF Score for Light My Light

My Prayer


PDF Score for My Prayer

You Came Down


PDF Score for You Came Down

I Sing


PDF Score for I Sing

Poems of Jimmy Carter set to music

Solo recordings poems written by Jimmy Carter. This recording was performed by Wade Henderson.



Always a Reckoning



Consider the Void



Difficult Times



Itinerent



Light Comes



Lillian


PDF Score for Lillian

My Father's World



Rosalyn


PDF Score for Rosalyn

Tom Gordy


PDF Score for Tom Gordy

Trout


PDF Score for Trout

Winter Morning



A Woman's Song

This is a song I wrote in graduate school in the Winter of 1981. Sherry Woodruff sang it then, but I have recorded it with some help.


PDF Score for A Woman's Song

25 Poems

I wrote this song in early 1983 shortly after I moved back to Miami. It was never performed until now.


PDF Score for 25 Poems
 
Instrumental Music

Callisto for Horn and Piano

This piece for horn and piano programmatically represents discovery and exploration of the Jovian moon named Callisto. 1) From the void of space, a trumpet and horn sound the pensive theme; 2) With a soft, playful, and thinly scored start, the surface of Callisto is explored; 3) It is well known that Callisto has subterranean seas; Speculation includes abundant life as these subterranean seas are much warmer than the surface, and conducive to life; 4) Back on the surface, the profundity of being in Jupiter’s shadow is evident.


PDF Score for Callisto for Horn and Piano

Callisto for Horn and String Quartet

This piece for horn and piano programmatically represents discovery and exploration of the Jovian moon named Callisto. 1) From the void of space, a trumpet and horn sound the pensive theme; 2) With a soft, playful, and thinly scored start, the surface of Callisto is explored; 3) It is well known that Callisto has subterranean seas; Speculation includes abundant life as these subterranean seas are much warmer than the surface, and conducive to life; 4) Back on the surface, the profundity of being in Jupiter’s shadow is evident.


PDF Score for Callisto for Horn and Strings

Enigma for Bb Trumpet

This piece was a contest winner in 2016. It is a short solo piece for Bb Trumpet. As the name implies, it leaves more questions and answers.


PDF Score for Enigma

Convection Currents for Flute

This piece is whimsical and is meant to suggest convection currents (crosswinds) high in the sky. I wrote this in graduate school and Becky Hutchinson played it, so it goes back many years.


PDF Score for Convection Currents

Program

Twilight for Six Horns

I wrote this in graduate school. I had recently formed a horn club named The Ohio Valley Horn Club. We played this at the Tuckwell Horn Festival in Charleston, West Virginia in 1981.


PDF Score for Twilight for Six Horns

Program

Sonata One

I wrote this in graduate school and played it on my graduate recital.

Movements 1 and 2


PDF Score for Sonata One, movements 1 and 2

Movement 3


PDF Score for Sonata One, movement 3

Program

The Gate To All Mystery

I wrote this when I first moved to Miami. I entered it into the IHS competition.


PDF Score for The Gate To All Mystery for Six Horns

Lorelei

I wrote this the first semester I attended Cincinnati Conservatory. Some good moments, but aside that a bit green.


PDF Score for Lorelei