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. When Kevin Keith asked me to write a work for him, we talked about a lot of possibilities…
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unHandel for organ (2007)
As I studied harpsichord, I fell in love with the keyboard sonatas of Handel. They have a charm and quirkiness about them that drew me in completely and I always enjoyed playing them. The Sonatina in B-flat Major (G40) is especially dear to me. I decided to take this piece and obsess on it at…
Toccata for piano solo (1994)
This is my first “keeper” composition. A simple aggressive ostinato provided the inspiration and motivation for the work. Even though this toccata is only about two minutes long, there is a brief break in the motoric energy for a more lyrical moment. Finally, a mad dash towards the end and an explosive finale. Download the…
Deconstructionist Preludes for piano solo (2003)
The plural title is not a mistake. While this piece is one continuous work, four separate preludes are woven together. The first prelude is light and delicate, quiet and apologetic. The second prelude molds this delicate material into a more mechanical and persistent character. Prelude three is raucous, barbaric, and single-minded. The final prelude takes…
Miniatures for piano and fixed media (2006)
These four short pieces are an outlet for my newfound interest in improvisation. Since the tape part for these pieces will not change it made sense to me to have a piano part that would always be different. The first piece uses short rhythmic gestures and drones. The second miniature is rough and aggressive in…
Sonatina Natalina for piano solo (2009)
Sonatina Natalina was composed to celebrate the 10th birthday of my niece, Natalie Dale Parker. In the tradition of composers writing birthday pieces, I took Natalie’s name and created a short musical 4motto from it using pitch names and solfege syllables. This score includes a version in the original key of A major and a…
Voiseynvention for piano solo (2009)
Voiseynvention was composed for Robert Voisey’s XL birthday. I took the letters in Robert’s name and created two musical mottos from them. One of the mottos was a simple numerical procedure which I have subsequently forgotten. The other procedure mapped the letters of his name onto a telephone keypad and then correlated the numbers on…
ALEX modes for piano solo (2011)
These four piano pieces are for my nephew, Alexander Jay “A.J.” Parker. I took the first four letters in Alex and used them as inspiration for the modes of each of the movements. Modes are scales that are less commonly used than major or minor. All of these modes use the same key signature (that…
as if to each other… for piano and fixed media (2011)
I composed this work in February 2011 as part of the RPM Challenge which requires musicians to compose and record either 10 tracks or 35 minutes of music during the shortest month of the year. My goal was to write a single 35 minute long composition for piano and electronics but something that would be…
Lullaby Boxes for piano solo (2013)
In January of 2009 I started writing a chamber piece. As the music unfolded, I kept changing the scoring, changing the instrumentation, etc. and was never happy with the way it was working. Eventually, I realized the piece was a really a piano piece. I wrote on the manuscript paper: THIS IS A PIANO PIECE….