Orchestra
The Canvas (1998)
Treble Choir and Orchestra 11' 00" Text by Peg Lauber Text and music suitable for both children's and women's choirs with mostly unison and two-part writing; pitch material well-supported in the instrumental parts; orchestral writing appropriate for college and community orchestras, with an emphasis on relatively simple parts for strings and more challenging parts for winds; pairs of winds plus piccolo, 3 tps, 3 hns, 2 tbns, 1 tuba, timpani, 1 percussion, strings. Text quote: "I loosen the canvas when the wind has dried it and the sun passed through it to become the unbelievable light that touches each living thing." Commissioned by Cynthia Bradford, conductor of the Southlake Children's Choir and Dennis Friesen-Carper, conductor of the Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra. Published by Yelton Rhodes Music. High school; College; Adult women.
Ceasefire (2021)
2222/2200/Timpani and 1 Percussion/Strings 3' 20" Commissioned by the South Bend Symphony Alastair Willis, conductor for performance on January 9, 2022. Focusing on the notion of the military embedded in civil society, as presented in Georges Seurat's painting La Grande Jatte. Notes on Ceasefire that I read to the audience just prior to the premiere: “In composing Ceasefire, I focused on the three people in military hats, one a bugle player, the other two listeners standing at attention. No one else seems to pay them any mind. You will easily hear the military reference in the snare drum each time it occurs. Even when there is a seeming musical ceasefire, the rhythm always reasserts itself, first in the accompaniment parts, then more boldly in the percussion. And therein lies the sort of metaphor I rely on in much of my composing, something that allows a wider application than the specific original inspiration. So, a military ceasefire can occur in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a congressional ceasefire might allow a bipartisan agreement, and a ceasefire in a relationship conflict might make it easier to get through the holidays. But many ceasefires serve only to kick the can down the road where the conflict can reignite again.”
It's the Soup that Animates the Noodles (1995)
1211/1210/2 Percussion/Strings 10' 00" - 3 Movements The title is a phrase from Tampopo, the 1986 Japanese film which tells the story of a search for the perfect noodle. The first movement deals with a kind of 'reverse heterophony,' carving simpler lines and pedals from a more complex strand; the second movement uses layering techniques to build intensity and creates new lines from short quotations of different layers; the third movement alternates intense unisons based on additive rhythm and free, expressive, contrapuntal versions of the same pitch material.
Now and Then, Variations for Orchestra (2004)
2221(with piccolo and contrabassoon)/4231/2 Percussion/Strings 8' 00" The “now” and the “then” refer to the two different musical characters that permeate the whole piece. The “now” theme is forceful, somewhat angular, and has a touch of “Hindemith” in its design. The “then” theme is unabashedly tonal, complete with tonic pedal and root position dominant. The variations are both traditional (the “then” approach to variation form) in that each clearly delineated section has a new sort of approach to the thematic material, and non-traditional (the “now” approach) in that the two characters increasingly influence each other, intermix, and intertwine. Is now so different from then? Now cannot exist without then, and the more we understand then, the more our sense of now is changed. Composed in 2004.
Off the Charts, a Pop Tune without the Pop (2023)
2222/2200/2 Percussion/Strings 4' 50" Off the Charts, A Pop Tune without the Pop, uses the resilient, recognizable components of a pop tune structure (alternating verse(es) and chorus) with the common appendages of intro, pre-chorus, bridge, and outro, and certain of its patterns of repetition and layering, but with my own music poured into it the mold. In place of new lyrics with each verse, the orchestration changes.
Skit (1988/rev. 2011)
String Orchestra with optional Winds, Brass, Timpani 2' 20" Grade 2.5 This is a short piece with introductory level mixed meter passages for a string ensemble core, with optional bass, flutes, oboe, clarinets, horn, trumpets, trombone, and timpani. It has been performed by grade school and high school strings and small orchestra groups.
Symphony of Alcoves (2001)
2222/4221/Timpani with 1 Percussion/Strings 12' 00" - 3 Movements Symphony of Alcoves has three short movements, making up a 12-minute work. It was begun in the summer of 2001 and was completed in October 2002. The title draws on the image of an alcove--a small, recessed extension of a room, often with an arched opening. Each movement might be seen as a room in a house. The outer "rooms" have alcoves (three in the first, two in the third), with each alcove having both its own identity and its own intimate relation to the main room. Each alcove also has its own instrumental character, carved from the full orchestra of the main room. A "secret passageway" of sorts recurs in each of the three rooms and serves to connect them. The second room is the smallest of the three, too small for its own alcoves, and almost an alcove itself within the whole piece. It is entirely unified by the continuous alternation of 3/8 and 7/16 meters, but with two distinct sections, rounded out by a short return to the first section. Published by Arsis Press.
Time to Face the Music (2007)
Youth Orchestra 6' 00" This new work for younger players uses a variety of eclectic materials in a user-friendly, introductory way: minimalism, asymmetric and traditional meters, and tonal, quartal and modal pitch material. All the orchestra sections and many individual players are highlighted. It is appropriate for high school players and beyond. The title is a playful use of the old expression “It’s time to face the music,” meaning that it’s time to face up to what you have done. This is something musicians always do when they perform music, and it is literally what they do each time they sit down facing a music stand. The two possible sources for the expression each add their own musical flavor o the saying. One story is that a soldier being forced out of the army would be put backwards on a horse and led away, facing the military band. The other story refers to new actors, shaking in fear at the prospect of an audience, were told to go out and face the music. It was quite literal because the musicians were seated at the front of the stage or in the pit, between the actor and the audience. Time to Face the Music was written for conductor Paul Salerni and the Intermediate Concert Orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp. They premiered it on August 4, 2007. Has been performed by youth orchestra and adult community groups.
Wind Ensemble
Absorb (2015)
Youth Band 6' 15" I’m interested in the way things that are initially distinct and quite different can become part of the same thing. We hear about how immigrants are absorbed into a culture and, in so doing, change the culture. If we are absorbed in a wonderful book or an activity, it’s almost as if we have been taken over by or entered into the book or activity. In Absorb, there are two distinct elements: a G major triad (GBD) and a 3-note chord built in 4ths (Ab Db Gb). They initially are very distinct (no notes in common, separated in space by register, shortness of duration, different instrumental colors). Then the absorption begins—the two chords touch in time (full quarter notes), then they overlap. But there are other absorption paths as well, for instance, scale passages form from all the available notes and elongate, so that the two entities are no longer distinct. The more melodic sections are where the real absorption is accomplished, because the melodies and their accompaniments utilize all the pitch resources and let go of register and tone color differences. Essentially, a new ‘culture’ is created.
The Bells of Saint Mary's (2017)
Concert Band Arrangement 2' 50" This is a charming arrangement of The Bells of Saint Mary's (composed by A. Emmett Adams and made famous by Bing Crosby in the 1945 film of the same name). Written for a small non-major college band, with lots of doubling and alternate parts, even some string doubling options!
Quantum Stew Anew (1992/rev. 2011)
Concert Band or Wind Ensemble 6' 00" Grade 4.5 The title whimsically borrows from the vocabularies of physics and the culinary arts. Quanta are finite, indivisible units of energy and a stew, of course, is a variety of ingredients simmered together. The quanta are presented, then developed, separately at first, then they are thrown together in a big pot in which, though they fiercely maintain their own quantum characters, cannot help but be influenced by the overall mix. They all contribute to the final stew. QS may be performed by wind groups with instrumentations ranging from a minimum group of 25 to a full concert band.