Composer
In early 2017 I was experiencing some of the worst burnout I’ve ever had. Stress from all sides of my life was my only companion. I could only focus on what I needed to do an hour at a time, a minute at a time, a moment at a time. I was struggling with just …
I read a lot of comic books and Superman remains one of my favorite characters. Alan Moore and Curt Swan’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is, I think, one of the best Superman stories. The opening prolog of the comic (which is one of the stories portraying Superman’s death) establishes that the book …
Stalker is based on the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and was composed for Aaron Ragsdale. In this book, aliens have visited Earth and left strange objects behind in certain “zones” around the globe. Stalkers are black market dealers who enter these zones and procure these rare and often dangerous objects. In …
I first heard the koan about Ryonen on the Daily Buddhism podcast. At first, I was struck by the Zen teachers’ reactions to Ryonen since their views on her beauty offended my more contemporary feminist attitudes. The story stuck with me and I kept thinking about it. The more I sat with it the more …
I am an avid reader of comic books and one of my all-time favorite series is Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. One of the main characters in the series is The Drummer, a man who can control the flow of energy and information with drumsticks. By drumming on computers, televisions, or electrical panels …
Thanks to Kevin Keith for sharing his recording of Knott’s for speaking percussionist with me. It is up on Soundcloud and also embedded in the details on the piece.
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 …
Most of my compositions come from some speci?c form of non-musical inspiration and are therefore easy to title. Sometimes, though, I write a work which is devoid of extramusical inspiration. [untitled] is an abstract piece that explores different instrumental colors in a slow and organic manner. Performed by the pLAy ensemble. Download the score: [untitled]
Throb is an improvisational piece inspired by the complex rhythmic figures which can emerge from simple steady pulses. The players are given a basic framework of how to perform the piece, sometimes coordinating with each other but, for the most part, they are off in their own rhythmic worlds. While the players are often uncoordinated …
This work was written for the iKtus Percussion Quartet and they exercised enormous patience in waiting for false’s completion. I asked each performer to list the 4-6 smaller and more portable instruments that they enjoy playing. The players were not to coordinate their list with any other member in the quartet. I then too this …