Something Human
solo flute | published 2015
The first annual Snow Pond Composers Workshop took place June 7-13, 2015, under the direction of Edward Jacobs and Richard Nelson. The workshop was part of the broader Snow Pond Music Festival in Sidney, Maine and featured Visiting Performing Artist Peter H. Bloom and Guest Composer Elliott Schwartz.
New compositions were performed at the Workshop's final concert then collected and published by Noteworthy Sheet Music as The Snow Pond Composers Workshop Anthology, New Music for Flute.
Learn more about the Snow Pond Composers Workshop.
A Short Story
Theater Piece for Typewriter, Lamp + Live Electronics
The typewriter’s singular function makes it synonymous with storytelling for me, and in this piece it is employed both as a prop and as a musical instrument.
In A Short Story, the instrument is first heard alone, then progressively its sound becomes further and further removed from reality as new sounds from the author's past come flooding in. Additional sounds that help construct the narrative are triggered by a lamp, the only source of light in this theatrical piece.
The audience is invited to observe an author’s creative process – to hear his imagination and memories. The performer triggers new sounds as he acts out the role of the writer recounting his past.
Live Performances:
Mar 16, 2018 Graduate Recital, University of Oklahoma. Norman, OK
April 28, 2018 inner sOUndscapes. Norman, OK
Nov 8, 2018 Electroacoustic Barn Dance Festival. Jacksonville, FL
May 29, 2019 SMC Conference. Malaga, Spain
July 23-27 2019 Monash University. Clayton, Victoria, Australia
featured music
Ravello Records published Convergences along with six other electronic works on the 2018 album release titled Mind & Machine Vol. 2.
Theophany
Somewhere between the Canyon and Stars
Work for Doctoral Dissertation
In 1972 the famed French composer Olivier Messiaen visited several National Parks in Utah to gain inspiration for a commissioned work celebrating the United States bicentennial. The result was a powerful 12-movement orchestral work titled Des canyons aux etoiles..., which Messiaen premiered in New York City in 1974.
The sights and sounds that inspired Messiaen inspire still, and this work is designed to be both a tribute to him and a colorful contribution to the electroacoustic genre.
Audio recordings of wildlife and other sound textures at Bryce Canyon National Park and Mount Messiaen in Parowan, Utah provide the raw material for this three-movement tri-phonic composition.
The recorded sounds were digitally sculpted using electronic techniques and tools, and live performers trigger the manipulated sounds during performance.
The finished work aims to explore the space and capture the essence of this beautiful region.
Theophany was submitted to my academic committee March 25, 2019 in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Oklahoma.
Convergences
stereo fixed media
Convergences is an electronic composition that explores the merging and juxtaposition of metal and wood, sound and silence, momentum and stagnation. The digital medium allows a composer to create a musical environment in which sounds can simultaneously exist near to and distant from the hearer. In this piece, I incorporate that effect so that the audience can enjoy this unnatural auditory experience.
The two basic elements of this piece bring their own unique characteristics, and when they converge, the cold and more aggressive metallic gestures are contrasted with the gentle warmth of the wood at various levels of intensity and harmony.
Sand
ballet | violin + electronics
Combining modern ballet choreography by Boyko Dossev, and violin performance by Erika Burns, Sand is based on Jenny Erpenbeck's short story about a grandmother and granddaughter's relationship over time. The work was commissioned by World Literature Today Magazine in honor of their 2018 Fellow. The ballet premiered March 9, 2018 at the 50th Annual Puterbaugh Festival in Norman, OK.
"Making the Music" video produced by HannahTstudios.