Twisty, Curvy Roads

The arrangement (score and parts) is available here !   This composition for woodwind quintet was based upon a melody by Netherlands composer, Gijs Bikker. Gijs and I met via Marc Sabatello's " Mastering Musescore " school.  There are four short variations, each with a different take on the original theme.  I. Adagio - The first variation begins quitely, with the horn playing a long, sustained note. Then the flute and oboe introduce the theme and are gradually joined to build, and then recede from the climax. The movement ends with the sustained note from the horn. II. Gigue - A gigue is a lively dance characterized by leaping movements. The melody has been transformed from the slow 3/4 of the first movement into a fast 6/8. The bassoon takes the lead and everything progresses from there!  III. Humoresque - This is my favorite movement! The mode changes to minor in an almost "circus"-like two-step. The melody is beginning to loose all semblance to the original,...

 I just finished this arrangement of the Wang Wang Blues for brass quintet. I think this is one of my best arrangements for a brass quintet! Check out all of my compositions and arrangements on YouTube .  The scores and sheet music is available from  SheetMusicPlus .

I absolutely love Goodman's music. At my high school, each year the senior class would take a trip to visit New York City. I was somewhat of a clarinet nerd, so I took along my clarinet. Every chance that I had, I would hide in the hotel room closet and practice y clarinet. There was a copy of The New Yorker magazine in the hotel room and I happened to notice that Benny Goodman was going to be performing at a place called Basin Street East. It looked to me as though his performance would begin at 2 a.m. the next morning. To say that I was excited would be the understatement of the century! I knew better than to ask our chaperones whether or not I could go hear Goodman. There was absolutely no possibility that they would agree to allow a seventeen year-old Alabama boy out of the hotel to roam around New York City in the wee hours of the morning. I waited until after bed-check and around midnight I sneaked out of the hotel and began a trek across Manhattan toward Basin Street East. I...

Score and parts available In memory of Elizabeth Anne White Clieno Scene I: Tapestry Life is a tapestry woven from many threads. This short introductory movement presents several musical statements which are then developed in the following movements. In measure one the flute introduces the theme that will become the basis for Scene II. In measure 9 the violins introduce the theme that will become the basis for Scene IV. There is also some non-musical symbolism in Scene I. The single sustained note played by the french horns in m. 7 introduces a descending major scale that represents the forces of fate that influenced the lives of so many who were born during the 1920s. The generation endured both the Great Depression and WWII. Every life was lived against this backdrop of tragedy. In m. 16 the direction reverses and the major scale, voiced in the french horns, begins an assent that is symbolic of Faith and the resolve born of that Faith. The final cadence, again in the french horns, is...

Words are inadequate to express the deep revulsion that many of us have to the events taking place in Afghanistan. There is little doubt that Joe Biden wanted nothing more than to be able to brag that he had "brought the troops home" by the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. This misery is entirely due to the ego-driven actions of Mr. Biden! I composed this piece to reflect the pain that so many of us feel when we see the death of not only our own soldiers, the American citizens that Joe Biden has abandoned, and the many Afghans who have died during this disastrous political event. 

Here is an arrangement for strings of a Welsh folk song. It was popular for barn dances. Score and parts available here

Beginning at around the age of 12 or 13, peer group begins to take over from the parents as the major influencer in the lives of children. It is a period of experimentation and testing of rules. It is natural and the same type of behavior can be found in herd animals such as elk and buffalo where the adolescents, especially males, leave the herd and gather together on their own.  When I was a high school band director, I understood that this was a natural tendency and became very good at recruiting 6th graders to join my band! I also understood that it is super important to have rules. Kids are going to experiment, and it is better to have clear-cut and unambiguous rules with clearly spelled out and consistently delivered consequences. The kids are going to test the rules and the teacher or the parent had better be prepared to follow through with consequences. Otherwise, all hell will break loose! What we are seeing today is a consequence of the Great Society experiment of the '60s...