Twisty, Curvy Roads

    Score and parts are available here Scored for Chamber Orchestra, Fanfare of Freedom is appropriate for junior or senior high-school musicians, yet sophisticated enough for professional orchestras. After the introduction, the dynamic volume drops and begins a slow build toward a powerful climax. This makes Fanfare of Freedom perfect for a voice-over presentation of patriotic or other material of your choice.  There is much discussion of "freedom" these days. But the word "freedom" has more than one meaning. Perhaps the most common meaning in everyday conversation is "freedom from coercion". However, in another sense, the word "freedom" implies that one possesses the means to pursue that which is worth pursuing.    This second meaning of the word encompasses and expands the common meaning of the word. If I wish to compose music, no one is stopping me from doing so - but I cannot compose music until I have submitted to the discipline ...

    (See the score to this composition here .) The song " Daisy Bell " was composed British composer Harry Dacre in 1892. It is famously the first song that was ever sung by a computer! In 1961 an IBM 7094 became the first singing computer when it performed " Daisy Bell ". In Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey , The rogue HAL 9000 computer sings " Daisy Bell " as "Dave" works feverishly to disconnect HAL's circuits. Of course, everyone is familiar with the piano. The piano is a common instrument in musical styles from classical to jazz. The musical bicycle is not as common. In fact, I found it necessary to design the bicycle for this project from scratch. My musical bicycle has most of the features of standard bicycles but one uncommon feature is that it has three handlebars arranged in tiers much like the keyboards of a large pipe organ.  Sound generating devices are mounted on each tier of the handlebar set. The sound ge...

    I hope that you will enjoy listening to this performance of my original song, Love, Love, Love At Christmas.  There is a story behind this song. For several years, my band, The Second Line Jazz Band, performed a monthly gig at a coffee shop in Round Rock, Texas. We developed quite a following. There was one lady in particular that always showed up at our gigs. She was an older lady, but her spirit and excitement always made her stand out. After a performance one even, she came up and said that she had written a Christmas poem and would I be willing to set it to music. I couldn't say "no", so she handed me her poem typed on a much-folded sheet of paper. I put the paper in my instrument case and finished breaking down the equipment. Several week went by before I though of the song. I got it out and looked at what Gloria had written. It was a bit long and rambled a bit and the meter was not really consistent, but, here and there there were lines that I could work with. ...

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...