We've started listening to Christmas music in our house (Yes, it’s October) - there's just too much good music to listen to in one month! In that spirit, I'm pleased to announce the release of a new arrangement of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, scored for 8-part flexible instrumentation with optional piano and percussion.
A few weeks ago, I was thinking about what I should write for another collection of flex music. I was flipping through a binder of music that I have played with my wife Ashley and came across a transcription of an African American Spiritual. I realized in that moment that I would like to spend some time with this music and reflect. And I thought to myself, I think others will want to spend time with this music as well.
And so I went searching for Spirituals that I thought would work well for flexible instrumentation, and started (and it turns out, ended) my search with arrangements by Harry T. Burleigh, a composer and vocalist who, among many other things, created stirring arrangements of African American Spirituals in the early 20th century.
I chose three Spirituals - Down by the Riverside, Deep River, and I Want to be Ready, and I’m pleased to offer this new collection: Three Spirituals, a collection of arrangements scored for 8-part flexible instrumentation. These spirituals are adaptations of arrangements by Harry T. Burleigh, whose early 20th-century settings of African American Spirituals are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago.
It’s here! I’m super excited to release LemonEtudes, a brand new 4-week composition curriculum supplement that guides students through the process of improvising motives and composing an original etude for their instrument.
See all the details, peek inside the curriculum, and view preview videos here >>
My second collection of music for flexible instrumentation is here! The first collection was “Three Tallis Melodies,” and now I’m excited to share “Three Fugues by J.S. Bach.”
Since I first discovered renaissance choral music in college, I've been entranced with the beauty of this music. It is timeless and just as moving today as it must have been centuries ago. In 2019, I sang in a chamber choir (I'm really a saxophonist, but they still let me sing!) and one of the pieces we sang was the hymn "Third Mode Melody" by Thomas Tallis. The music captivated me. It lingered in my mind for weeks. Shortly thereafter, I had decided to write a piece for my college wind ensemble director, Gary Green, based on a photograph he took of a church in Savannah, Georgia. The mysterious and beautiful photograph and the music from "Third Mode Melody" seemed to fit well, so the piece came together quickly as Entrata.
After studying "Third Mode Melody" and weaving that music into my piece Entrata, I took time to explore other Tallis works. I had heard and sung the Tallis canon before, and also came across his stunning work 'If Ye Love Me." Fast forwarding a bit to spring 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, composers and conductors began to think about creating music that could be adaptable to a wide range of instrumentations and ensemble sizes for fall 2020 (and potentially beyond). At the writing of these notes (July 2020) we still don't know how many musicians will be able to make music together, and how each school will organize classes. As I thought about creating music that could be flexible, I quickly thought of these Tallis works. I believe they are works of remarkable depth and beauty, while at the same time relatively simple. I think there is a lot to learn and enjoy from playing and studying this music, and so I decided these tunes might be helpful in a flexible setting.
As I was arranging this music, I pictured student groups of various sizes and instrumentations - 7 wind players, or 12 strings, or 23 players including strings, winds and percussion - all finding some solace and beauty in the music of Thomas Tallis. I pictured them being filled by the richness of this music, being touched by the depth of this centuries-old art. This thought inspired me to create this music, and I hope that teachers and students find it meaningful and rewarding.
In March of this year, I wrote a 2-minute brass fanfare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Eastman School of Music. Rochester’s classical radio station, WXXI released a video about the project that shows my compositional process. Enjoy!
This year I was fortunate to attend my first TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association Convention), held in San Antonio. The stars aligned and I had a total of five performances (?!?) at the convention, including one world premiere.
Music education is Texas is an inspiring thing to see. The amount of dedicated teachers, the size of the audiences, the enthusiasm for music - it’s amazing.. Here is a quick rundown of my performances that took place at TMEA this year:
The Sam Houston State University Wind Ensemble premiered “Lamentation for Euphonium and Wind Ensemble.” Irving Ray, Euphoniumist in the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” was the soloist in this new work written in memory of his older brother Isaiah. Brian Gibbs conducted the wonderful SHSU students in a moving performance that capped one of the most rewarding collaborations I have been a part of. The audience was huge and encouraging, cheering on the students before they even began their first piece!
The Baylor University Wind Ensemble, directed by Eric Wilson, performed “Into the Silent Land.” I had the pleasure of working with the ensemble in a short rehearsal the day of the concert, and was blown away by the musicality of this ensemble. Their concert was packed and the final piece on the program was Omar Thomas’s “Come Sunday.” The audience was cheering throughout the piece as sections of the ensemble stood for featured moments. I have never been to a wind ensemble concert that had that much energy from the audience - it was incredible.
The Texas ATSSB All-State Symphonic Band (Association of Texas Small School Bands), conducted by Eugene Corporon, performed “Magnolia Star.” I had the chance to visit a rehearsal with the ensemble and hear them play. They were cookin’ on this piece! It was an honor to be on their program.
The Texas Community College Band Directors Association (TCCBDA) All-State Symphonic Band, conducted by Sarah McKoin performed “Into the Silent Land.” I visited with the group in a rehearsal and had a wonderful time not only listening to them make beautiful music, but also answering questions they had about the piece and other topics. It was a great experience.
Finally, the Texas 6a All-State Concert Band, conducted by Robert Ambrose performed “Magnolia Star.” It was so much fun to stand in front of this group of students and hear them play. The sound was glorious! I had the chance to meet many of the players and their families after the performance and the whole experience was really inspiring.
THANK YOU to all of the conductors and performers who brought this music to life. What an amazing time - thank you Texas!
Entrata is a new work for wind band (grade 4+) that was recently premiered by the Florida 9-10 All-State Band, conducted by David Ragsdale.
It was a special performance, as the piece was written in honor of Gary Green, who was in attendance at the premiere. And David Ragsdale was a conducting student of Mr. Green’s. The piece was commissioned by a consortium of Mr. Green’s students.
The piece is now available here.
Here are the program notes for the piece, which provide some more insight into the work:
Entrata is a gift for conductor and teacher Gary Green from his students. For 22 years, Mr. Green was the conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the University of Miami, inspiring countless student performers who played under his leadership, and conductors who trained under his mentorship.
I was fortunate to play saxophone in the Wind Ensemble under Mr. Green's direction when I was an undergraduate student studying composition. During this time, I was introduced to an incredible variety of music, and began to develop an interest in writing for the wind ensemble. I learned from numerous guest composers through the wind ensemble - one memorable highlight was playing in the East-Coast premiere of David Maslanka's Mass.
In 2018, Mr. Green gave me a print of a photograph he had taken of the entrance to a church in Savannah, Georgia. The striking photograph has many interesting features, and shortly after I received it, I knew I wanted to write a piece inspired by the scene. The church appears somewhat dark and mysterious, with a stone facade and arched stained glass windows. Two items in the photograph immediately caught my imagination: First, there are beams of light streaming down from the sky, above the church. Second, the doors of the church seem to be ever-so-slightly ajar. It’s a beautiful and captivating photograph.
Entrata, Italian for entrance, is a nod to the doors in the photograph that are cracked open - mysterious and intriguing. Much of the music is inspired by “Third Mode Melody,” a haunting tune written by English composer Thomas Tallis in 1561. Around the same time that I began brainstorming ideas for this piece, I sang “Third Mode Melody” in a choir, and found the melody and harmonies lingering with me for weeks. Its mysterious and haunting sounds seemed like apt inspiration for this piece.
The first half of the piece draws inspiration from the open doors in Gary Green’s photograph. In the second half of the piece, I tried to capture the beams of light shining down from above. And then at the end of the work, we return to the open doors, and finally enter through the darkened doorway to find what mysteries lie within.
I’ll soon be starting work on a voice and chamber winds version of my newest song cycle, Six Little Songs. I wrote the songs for voice and piano a couple of years ago based on texts written by my wife Ashley. The chamber version will be scored for voice, piano, flute, 2 clarinets in Bb, bass clarinet in Bb and 1-2 percussionists. The piece was originally written with a soprano vocalist in mind, but the piece could be done with a baritone as well.
There is currently a consortium being organized by Trae Blanco, Director of Bands at Murray State University. If you are interested in being part of this project, please reach out to myself or Trae.
Here are details of the inspiration of each poem, from Ashley:
The Letters - a poem about the letters Steve and I wrote to each other the summer after we first met, when we were living on opposite sides of the country.
Academy Hill - a poem about a quiet hilltop park in the small Massachusetts town where we lived just after graduate school. (The place where Steve proposed.)
Orchard - a reflective poem about our visit to a small, family-owned apple orchard in Central Massachusetts one Sunday afternoon in early fall. It was a quiet, grey day, and the owners invited us to wander through the orchard as long as we liked.
Thanksgiving - a poem about our travels to visit Steve's family in Connecticut for our annual Thanksgiving gathering.
The Chase - a playful poem about the sun and the moon and a reflection on how fast time moves (especially when you’re in love).
The Man in the Moon - a poem about childhood memories and the mystery of a moonlit night.
