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Inspired by the Dylan Thomas poem "The hand that signed the paper," this piece is theatrical with a sense of the medieval. While the five kings in the Thomas poem represent the fingers on the hand of an oppressive ruler, for me, the five kings represent the five players of a brass quintet.

Minstrels for Five Kings

Brass Quintet

Format

As elements appear one by one a lively dance is revealed. Contraption features interlocking rhythmic gestures and soaring lines to produce an agile and peppy piece suited for audiences of all ages.

Contraption

String Orchestra Score & Parts

The Great Blue Heron was inspired by the relatively large wading bird, commonly found in North and Central America. The name of this bird conjures an image of something of such immense size and, yet, unbelievable beauty and wonder. Something both terrifying and awe-inspiring.
Musically speaking, this work is an arabesque, a short, single movement containing ornamentation. This term is also used in art to describe works that contain two flowing, decorative motifs in the shape of "S" and "U".  In ballet, it is used to describe the shape and movement of a spiral. The gestures of this work follow the contour of these shapes and movements and embody the arabesque in all of these forms.

The Great Blue Heron

Voice

Voice Category

This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best, Night, sleep, death, and the stars.

A Clear Midnight

SATB Octavo

Frank Frazetta was a Brooklyn-born painter who became the most influential artist in the 'sword and sorcery' fantasy genre. This suite consists of four movements, each depicting the drama found in the accompanying paintings. "Dawn Attack" features brief, churning motifs that propel the music forward. "Egyptian Queen" begins with an ancient horn call atop a jingling dance rhythm."Leaping Lizards" (from 1989) consists of several monster movie cliches: Heavy angular brass motifs ending in a rising major seventh, screeching woodwinds, and frequent chromatic lines and augmented arpeggios. "The Silver Warrior" is monothematic in form, lending to its concise style. The music moves forward in hopeful resilience and ends as rousing as the icy mountain range that adorns the background of this scintillating painting.

Frazetta Suite

Concert Band Score & Parts

This work is comprised of three series, with each series containing four issues. It may be performed in a number of different ways; each issue or series may be performed separately or the entire work (consisting of twelve issues and a Prologue) may be performed as a whole. Duration (in its entirety):  45 minutes.

Strange Myths and Wondrous Images: Prologue

Instrument Type

Rhapsody on the Remnants of a Lost Folk Song was begun during one of those ideal sunny weekend days in a coffee shop in August of 2007. My intention for this composition was to create a simple tune based on a mode accompanied by a waltz-like figure. The tune (never heard in its complete form) is carried through a few variations, at times stately, other times modest. This piece also features recurring juxtaposition of the pitches E and F#.

Rhapsody on the Remnants of a Lost Folk-Song

Harp Book

I. Germs - Referencing the idea of small details making up larger formations, as expressed in the Whitman poem, I created a brief gesture made of cascading pitches. This gesture progresses throughout the work and varies texturally and harmonically.II. Voices - This song features flourishes of arpeggios and flowing triplets signifying the joy expressed by the poem's narrator. III. When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer - The narrator of this poem was not swayed by the lecturer's sterile and purely academic approach to astronomy, but instead found wonder in the stars by simply gazing upward. This song begins with alternating couplings of fourths and fifths in the highest register of the piano, depicting the uninspiring calculations of the lecturer. Bell-like gestures mark a return to a more awe-inspiring and sincere fascination of the stars. IV. Thoughts - This final song conveys a musical sense of finality expressed in its text. Utilizing quartal and quintal sonorities, this song takes on a patient and passive quality. As the narrator of the poem alludes to mortality, then finally states "Death," the music becomes more chromatic, creating tense agitation. The passive quality returns quickly, however, and the work gently comes to a close.

Songs of My Aims

Soprano Duet

"Hijinx" opens with a short, spirited fanfare. It is a rousing piece for soprano saxophone and symphonic band.  Aside from the fanfare, "Hijinx" features a groovy dance, a serenely mysterious cadenza, and closes with a jam session and a thrilling coda.

Hijinx

A "hang" is a computer term for the failure of a program to continue to respond to signals, causing the operating system to freeze. Hangs occur in different ways, but this work depicts one common symptom of the hang: 'kernel panic,' a safety measure that stops the system from further data loss due to an internal error. Depicting failing machines, this is music marked by frequent reboots, constant bleeps, bops, clicks, the occasional rude interruption, and makes use of ever-repeating musical figures to help depict an eternal state of stuck.

Kernel Panic

In this music, I attempted to capture the spirit of film noir from the 1930s and 40s. The rugged, angular, and at times, sleazy characters in films like Scarlet Street, The Third Man, and Rope provided the impetus for many of the musical gestures in this work. Using various characteristics of the saxophone quartet, such as fluid lines, forced articulations, and the overall jazz idioms allowed me to create many of the expressions found in the films of this genre.

The Mean Street Anthems

Saxophone Quartet

Commissioned by the Milpitas Community Concert Band, Director Jeff Yaeger, through a grant from the Milpitas Parks and Recreation Foundation for their 20th Season Anniversary Gala Concert, June 7, 2013

Ceremonies Past and Present

Perfect as a warm-up exercise or a concert piece, Three Bach Chorales features Chorale 143. In dulci jubilo, Chorale 149. Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr, and Chorale 211. Weltlich Ehre€ und zeitlich Gut.

Three Bach Chorales

A hang is a computer term for the failure of a program to continue to respond to signals, causing the operating system to freeze. Hangs occur in different ways, but this work depicts two common symptoms of the hang: thrashing, the exhaustion of memory from rapidly exchanging data and infinite loop, where a sequence of instructions is in no condition to stop. The work ends with the death knell to any operating system, a crash aptly named, Blue Screen of Death. Depicting failing machines, this is music marked by frequent reboots, constant bleeps, bops, clicks, the occasional rude interruption, and makes use of ever-repeating musical figures to help depict an eternal state of stuck.

Hangs and Crashes

Originally composed for choir, this concert band version of "Stars" captures the same expressiveness of the version from voices but now with a fresh variety of color. While the version for choir was dedicated to my then fiancee, this version for concert band is also dedicated to her, now as my wonderful wife.

Stars

This work is comprised of three series each series contains four issues. It may be performed in a number of different ways; each issue or series may be performed separately or the entire work consisting of twelve issues and a Prologue may be performed as a whole. In its entirety the running time of Strange Myths and Wondrous Images is approximately forty-five minutes.

Strange Myths and Wondrous Images, Issue #2: Secret Identity

In August 1960, U.S. Air Force pilot Joe Kittinger ascended in a high-altitude balloon 102,800 feet above the surface of the earth. As he leapt out of the gondola, Kittinger felt little sensation of falling due to the lack of air in the stratosphere. Depicting the moments before the 614 mph free-fall, this work opens with slowly forming clusters. Gaining intensity, these chords signify the sensation one must feel looking up to the blackness of space then peering down to the clouds below. Throughout the piece, a subtle trembling effect suggests the buffeting that can occur at high speeds. Kittingr's Descent is a fast-paced, turbulent ride honoring the man who broke records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, and the longest and fastest free-fall by a human without the aid of a machine.

Kittinger's Descent

Trombone Ensemble

Forceful and sinister, this is music that might emanate from a witch's cauldron or some primordial ooze. The contrabassoon slithers through the scene, mocked by brass fanfares, accompanied by timpani strikes, and interrupted by violent guiro scratches. A faster tempo ensues; the woodwinds and mallet percussion announce scalar flourishes followed by an angular theme presented by the contrabassoon. The section concludes with nimble music in the woodwinds, marked by sprightly accents and dramatic changes of color.  The middle section of the piece begins with a murky background and a plaintive statement from the orchestral bells and vibraphone. Marked Ethereal, this section features a rhythmic motive that develops into a distant ostinato. The simple 'bell' statement matures, growing powerful and triumphant. The music settles, the menacing music from the beginning returns. What was once sinister, now takes on a rhapsodic and mildly optimistic nature. All of the earlier themes are now cast in different guises and pitted against each other. The cauldron is stirred, the ooze flows, and the contrabassoon, now alone, simmers. As the piece comes to a close the instruments return one by one to join each other in one final, primal scream.

Strange Gravity

Strange Myths and Wondrous Images

Strange Myths and Wondrous Images, Issue #4: A Hero's Anthem

Global Sections - CORE [DO NOT TOUCH]*

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