2006 Music
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Americana for brass choir and percussion
Completed in the spring of 2006 as my master's thesis, Americana was written for my
Brass in Boston, he had promised that if I wrote a piece for brass choir that the group
would do a reading of it and possibly program it on one of their concerts. When I
started the piece, I had in mind that I wanted an American flavor to the piece for a as
I developed as an undergraduate music student, I became obsessed with nationalism,
especially that of American nationalism. The works of Samuel Barber, impact on my
early compositional development. While at UMass, I worked on expanding my
harmonic language and attempted to move away from being simply a composer
whose only intent seemed to be that of paying homage to those 20th century
American greats. Still, with this piece, I thought it allowed me the opportunity to apply
all that I had learned about composition in the two years I was in the master's
program to my long-standing desire to be known as a composer who could capture
the "American" sound. While it was a step away from the direction my music was
inevitably headed, I also believed there was no reason that a composer should be
confined to a certain harmonic language or style with every piece.
Initially, I hoped to use five "American-sounding" themes, but after struggling with
finding a logical way to transition into each of them, I started over using some
pre-compositional material. I wrote what can very loosely be described as a "pitch
set." In fact, it was simply the opening melody heard in the trombones. I transposed
the "set" for different instruments and started at different points in the melody,
sometimes stopping at just a few notes, while sometimes playing through the whole
melody. The melody also appears in the bass instruments, functioning in what sounds
like a harmonic progression. Eventually, this melody is rearranged so that it forms a
melody that concludes the first section of the piece. Another motive that appears
initially and then eventually resurfaces is a rhythmic motive heard in both the low
brass and snare drum. The subsequent sections feature more independent melodies,
but are transitioned by the initial "pitch set."
"Americana" received its premiere in February 2007 when it was selected to open the
Midwest Composers Symposium at Indiana University.
Recording from premiere performance, February 16, 2007
Auer Hall, Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Music from David's Red-Haired Death (2006)
The following music was written for the University of Iowa's production of David's
Red-Haired Death by Sherry Kramer. The compositions were divided between three
composers; the following two pieces are my work for two of the monologues in the
show.
"Jean"
"Marilyn"
Completed in the spring of 2006 as my master's thesis, Americana was written for my
Brass in Boston, he had promised that if I wrote a piece for brass choir that the group
would do a reading of it and possibly program it on one of their concerts. When I
started the piece, I had in mind that I wanted an American flavor to the piece for a as
I developed as an undergraduate music student, I became obsessed with nationalism,
especially that of American nationalism. The works of Samuel Barber, impact on my
early compositional development. While at UMass, I worked on expanding my
harmonic language and attempted to move away from being simply a composer
whose only intent seemed to be that of paying homage to those 20th century
American greats. Still, with this piece, I thought it allowed me the opportunity to apply
all that I had learned about composition in the two years I was in the master's
program to my long-standing desire to be known as a composer who could capture
the "American" sound. While it was a step away from the direction my music was
inevitably headed, I also believed there was no reason that a composer should be
confined to a certain harmonic language or style with every piece.
Initially, I hoped to use five "American-sounding" themes, but after struggling with
finding a logical way to transition into each of them, I started over using some
pre-compositional material. I wrote what can very loosely be described as a "pitch
set." In fact, it was simply the opening melody heard in the trombones. I transposed
the "set" for different instruments and started at different points in the melody,
sometimes stopping at just a few notes, while sometimes playing through the whole
melody. The melody also appears in the bass instruments, functioning in what sounds
like a harmonic progression. Eventually, this melody is rearranged so that it forms a
melody that concludes the first section of the piece. Another motive that appears
initially and then eventually resurfaces is a rhythmic motive heard in both the low
brass and snare drum. The subsequent sections feature more independent melodies,
but are transitioned by the initial "pitch set."
"Americana" received its premiere in February 2007 when it was selected to open the
Midwest Composers Symposium at Indiana University.
Recording from premiere performance, February 16, 2007
Auer Hall, Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Music from David's Red-Haired Death (2006)
The following music was written for the University of Iowa's production of David's
Red-Haired Death by Sherry Kramer. The compositions were divided between three
composers; the following two pieces are my work for two of the monologues in the
show.
"Jean"
"Marilyn"
Music