Composer
In late 2012, I challenged myself to write a new vocal composition each week. I dubbed the project “Lied Time” and while I tried my best, I only managed to complete a handful of compositions. When I was an undergraduate, I tried to set this poem by A. E. Housman and it didn’t go very …
In late 2012, I challenged myself to write a new vocal composition each week. I dubbed the project “Lied Time” and while I tried my best, I only managed to complete a handful of compositions. This short work was the first: a bawdy limerick. It isn’t very polite; consider yourself warned! Download the score: Limerick
I have this collection of poetry from Pitt Press that I’ve been reading and reading since about 1992. A few poems by Ted Kooser caught my mind and I filed them away for a future text setting. When Katherine Crawford asked me to write a piece for her and electronics, I decided to finally act …
In early 2009, I was asked to write a work for woodwind octet. I pushed around a lot of ideas which didn’t work until I finally de- cided to revive an old work for saxophone quartet (this quartet movement is currently operating under the title Mechismo). The piece is mechanical, chunky, and slightly robotic. Given …
This quartet started its life as a fanfare and then became the first movement of a multi- movement work (the rest of the movements were pretty bad and they have been destroyed). I’ve always liked the material in this quartet; its forward momentum, its octatonic melodies, its mechanical nature. I’ve tried reviving this movement several …
For Christmas in 1992, my future in-laws gave me a poetry collection from the Pitt Poetry Series. A few of Bill Knott’s poems were in this collection and I’ve been a fan of his work ever since. These poems are some of my favorite short poems from his collection Laugh at the End of the …
This work was composed for the Central Michigan University New Music Ensemble in early 2013. The unusual accumulation of instruments inspired the form and structure of the piece as well as the idea to feature the trombone as a soloist (being the solo brass instrument in the group). The concertino juxtaposes the soloist with various …
Ashamed/Unabashed is a single movement in four main sections. The first section is delicate and intricate, very slow and deliberate. The first section gives way to barbaric and aggressive pounding in the two pianos. Another noisy climax signals the return and expansion of the delicate music. After a final iteration of the mechanical and relentless …
Illuminations is inspired by central themes found in Walter M. Miller’s science-fiction classic A Canticle for Leibowitz. A Canticle for Leibowitz is set at the Abbey of Saint Leibowitz many millennia after a nuclear holocaust. The book is in three sections and each section is centuries removed from the previous setting. The monks of the …
This composition grew out of five short samples of note production on a harpsichord. These samples were then strung together to mimic the trajectory of a sounding note on that instrument: attack/articulation, sustain, and then the abrupt cut off release. Purchase the CD.