Postcards

I’ve started a new instrumental composition series. Each piece in the series is written based on a photo that I took somewhere on this planet. In addition to the photos being a good creative prompt, each of them are meaningful memories to me. I’m planning for the first collection to have 10 Postcards.

I’ve got the first two here for you.

The first I took on the Little Platte River in Nebraska at our campground. As far as the music goes, the story is Sunset on the Little Platte River in Nebraska. Sleep is calling, but an active mind initially resists, but eventually succumbs.

The second is from the Upper West Side in New York City. It's called the city that never sleeps, so perhaps aptly, I took this photo at 2am the night from the roof of my building. Fun Fact, the photo was taken in late January, and you can still clearly see a Christmas Tree in one of the window on the right.

Trappist-1: Percussion Quartet No. 1

The official video for my first Percussion Quartet is live on Facebook! Thanks to my friend Chase Banks and his wonderful team of percussionists for an excellent performance!

The piece itself is called Trappist-1, which refers to a Star System 29 light years from earth. It has 7 planets that all orbit their star closer than Mercury does to the sun. In order for this system to not collapse, the planets orbit each other in a very mathematical way, most of them orbiting their neighbor planet at a ratio of 3:2. In music, the 3:2 ratio is a Perfect 5th, and if you assign the outermost planet as C, then follow the ratios, you end up with a Cmaj9 chord - which is the basis of the piece. In addition, each planet was given a leitmotif, with each motif being proportional to the orbital period of the planet, using musical characteristics that match what we know about each planet. So, go check it out!

Interested in performing this piece? Score and Parts available here.

World Premiere - Clarinet Sonata No. 1

Last week, Steven Christ (Clarinet) and Annie Tindall-Gibson (Piano) premiered my first clarinet sonata at the University of South Carolina. The piece was commissioned by Steven Christ, and we’ve been collaborating on this project since late 2016 - so it was exciting to see it finally all come together.