Afton Water Premiere
I'm excited to share with all of you a brand new world premiere! This is a choir piece I wrote back in 2019 for a commission that fell through. I liked the project enough that I went ahead and finished it. Fast forward to now, it received its world premiere back in December by the Armstrong Youth Chorus in Oklahoma under the direction of Mark Jenkins. Hope you enjoy!
Click here for the sheet music!
Does Music Theory Have Rules?
Music theory is often thought of as a list of rules that govern music: Parallel 5ths are illegal; You can't double the leading tone; dominant must go to tonic. But is that really true? Are there actually any rules in music theory?
Music theory is often thought of as a list of rules that govern music: Parallel 5ths are illegal; You can't double the leading tone; dominant must go to tonic. But is that really true? Are there actually any rules in music theory?
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Why Is Christmas Music Everywhere?
How did Christmas music become so...everywhere? Today we're taking a 2000-year-long journey to uncover the history of Christmas music....briefly. I cannot stress that enough. A lot of stuff got left out. The Unabridged, Expanded, and Annotated History of Christmas Music is a different video altogether.
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Vince Guaraldi’s Brilliant use of Repetition
Music is a balance between new and repeated material. Today we're looking at "Linus and Lucy" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. How does this Peanuts' classic teach us about repeats? We'll look at ostinatos, loops, melodic structure, and Rondo Form.
Music is a balance between new and repeated material. Today we're looking at "Linus and Lucy" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. How does this Peanuts' classic teach us about repeats? We'll look at ostinatos, loops, melodic structure, and Rondo Form.
music theory resources
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Featured Music Theory Course
understanding music theory
Overcoming 5 of the biggest obstacles to music theory fluency
Why Baseball Games Feature an Organ
Why is the organ played at baseball games? Why do we sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game? Why did Cracker Jacks even get brought up? Today we look at the fascinating history of some of baseball's most beloved traditions.
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Magnify Your Name Music Video
As you may know by now, Evensong is HERE! You can get my new full-length studio album on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Pandora.
To go along with the release of Evensong, I’ve got a brand new music video that I’m excited to share with everyone! Magnify Your Name is the opening song on the album and serves as an overture for all of the musical styles that are to follow.
EVENSONG IS HERE
After nearly two years of work, I’m excited to announce that my new album Evensong is here!
How Eric Whitacre Writes A Clusterchord
Today we're looking at the 14-part clusterchord from Water Night by Eric Whitacre, how it is constructed, and how it all works - thanks to a good preparation of voicing and voice-leading.
Today we're looking at the 14-part clusterchord from Water Night by Eric Whitacre, how it is constructed, and how it all works - thanks to a good preparation of voicing and voice-leading.
music theory resources
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Featured Music Theory Course
understanding music theory
Overcoming 5 of the biggest obstacles to music theory fluency
Trappist-1: Percussion Quartet No. 1
The official video of my first Percussion Quartet!
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.
I'm Moving To New York!
I finally have an answer to the question “What are you doing after grad school”
A lot of you have asked me what I’m doing when I finish grad school. And I usually hate that question. Except now I have an answer to it!
This has been a few months in the making, but it is still really new. Back in March, a friend of mine who is a pastor of a church plant in Queens, NY called me and asked if I would be willing to come and serve as the Director of Music and Media. After praying about it for about two weeks, I accepted and began the long process of getting ready to leave South Carolina and move to New York. I’m really excited about the position I will hold up there, but also because New York is such a great city for a musician to be. Just about every kind of music imaginable is happening there.
The plan is for me to arrive in New York in early August - we’ll see if that actually happens. That being said, I’m super excited to work with ensembles and musicians in New York - so if you’re in the area, let me know if you want to collaborate!
England Highlights
I went to England. It was pretty cool.
I went exploring in England with a group of Choral grad students from the University of South Carolina, and LSU. We got to study the rich tradition that is Sacred British Choral music. I highly recommend it. Also, we poked our head into Paris for a second.
Here are some highlights.
Thesis Complete!
After 9 months of work - I’m done!
After 9 months of work, my thesis project is finally done. It is a 15 minute string quartet that exploits the pitch drift inherent in just intonation, to create a microtonal diatonicism, as the piece constantly develops a single hymn-like theme as it slowly drifts from A major to F major.
While there has been no premiere, and one hasn’t been scheduled, a quartet did a reading of the first five minutes - a sort of proof of concept - earlier in April. You can listen to it below. Hopefully soon I will be able to get the piece a proper premiere. Until then, I will enjoy being done with my thesis. Up next: Graduation.
World Premiere - Clarinet Sonata No. 1
Brand new chamber work for clarinet and piano.
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.
Songs on the Mortality of Ice
New piece for chamber ensemble.
My new piece for chamber ensemble premiered last night as a part of the University of South Carolina's New Voices Concert. The piece was written for the Spark Ensemble.
Music And The Protestant Reformation: France
It all begins with an idea.
Martin Luther wasn't the only one leading reformations in Europe. Today we look at what was going on in France - lead by reformer John Calvin, who had a very interesting view on music in the church.
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Music And The Protestant Reformation: Germany
What does a German monk, a Roman Pope, and a Spanish Emperor have to do with music history? Today we look at the events that surrounded 15th and 16th Century German music - particularly that of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
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Ireland Premiere
On tour with the South Carolina Concert Choir in Ireland!
I’m with the South Carolina Concert Choir over in Ireland for two weeks. The most exciting part about that, is that Hymn of Habakkuk - a choir piece I wrote back in 2014 - is getting its European premiere! It is being performed in three different cathedrals in three different cities. Which is very exciting. Below is the video of the performance in Galway. Thanks to the Concert Choir for their hard work on this piece. Y’all sound great. And yes…that is me on the right side of the screen.