ABOUT ME AND THE MUSIC
I've played music virtually all of my life, beginning piano at age 5 and trumpet at 7. At 11, tuba took over for trumpet. At 16 (1967) I began small-scale composing, studying it briefly in college at Iowa with Richard Hervig after three long and frustrating semesters in engineering, but then ultimately quitting school. In the mid-70s I resumed piano studies followed by a return to composition in the early 80s with a collection of pop-style songs, ultimately transitioning back to "classical"-style piano music in the late-80s. Composition was slow for a number of years with a new, major thrust eventually occurring in 1996, and a great leap in quality after completing Hummie Mann's Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program in 2008. I later had the privelege to do a little studying with Samuel Jones as well. Both of these great mentors have kept me on the path of "harmonically acceptable" music, dear to my heart, near to my style, and clear to an audience, not the avant garde or atonal music one finds frequently these days, though I've tried my hand at avant garde with some limited success. While I've deviated from time to time my preference has long been to write for the concert hall.
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So why am I posting all of my music here? Unless a composer wants to write in a vacuum and only for himself, the basic purpose of music is to provide enjoyment for a listener. It is an unfortunate truth that a composer without financial support will need to "work for a living" and will probably not have as much time or opportunity to write as those with means, but that doesn't change the objective. I don't believe any composer chooses to write in order to get rich (though there are many film and pop composers who have succesfully accomplished that.) I believe most composers write for the love of it, not the money. And in order for others to enjoy the music they must be introduced to it and become familiar with it. In the course of familiarizing the public with a composer there may come a time when providing "freebies", that is, full-length pieces, has to give way to limited samples instead in order to entice people to purchase recordings or sheet music and provide some semblance of income. Until then it only seems to make sense to allow as many people as possible to hear as much music as possible as a means of nurturing that familiarity, which is the point at which I still am, and will no doubt be for some time.
What will you find here? Most of the classical and much of the pop music I've written is on this page. All music, both pop and classical, has been either live recorded or produced using sampled sounds in various notation softwares, particularly Notion, and presented in MP3 format. Many of the pieces that have live recordings associated with them are less than ideal, but live music still has a certain magic to it, something the Las Vegas show people don't quite get. (There's an editorial comment for you!) There may be a few hidden items (Easter eggs) from time to time as well.
The music is listed here in order of composition based on the completion date. If a piece is intended to have additional movements that have not yet been composed, what is complete is still likely to be here and will be updated and rearranged on the list as the remaining parts are finished. A number of pieces are currently published and while anyone browsing this site can and is welcome to listen to anything and everything found here, the published sheet music is only available for purchase through the publisher, though ultimately this site may end up becoming a publishing outlet. That remains to be seen. Look for symbols at the end of each description for a publisher's link if you wish to purchase anything. Currently
Solid Brass Music is the sole publisher of my work (look for the
symbol), but I expect there will be others coming along. If something is not listed as published but you would like to buy the music you may contact me directly and we can make appropriate arrangements. By the way, commissions are also quite welcome. Thanks for listening!
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