As the music developed in three parts, its reflection in our system of government began to appear. Balance of Power, therefore, really demonstrates the three branches of our democracy that help balance one against another: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. I never fully associated one section of the piece with a specific branch... that can be left up to the listener, but the basis is there. It is still really an overture in that it reuses thematic and rhythmic characteristics frequently, but I'm not sure that really matters. It is a balance of power.

Most of it was written between about August and November of 2020. While Covid-19 isolation probably provided more time to write this music it will also no doubt prevent its first performance indefinitely. I'm not the only composer suffering this conundrum.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. This introduction, while not intended to describe the "Big Bang," provides a picture of a compact elemental globule, building pressure, note by note, gradually adding every note in the scale until it finally explodes and throws the element in a sparkle throughout the universe.

Helium follows Hydrogen immediately and is a picture of the noble gas floating lightly in the atmosphere.

The sounds of Silicon are of the computer and the information age with the ticking and clicking of the clock of calculation as well as the resulting harmonic programs.

Lead concentrates on the lower instruments of the band, though there is plenty of upper brass as well. It describes the weight of this element along with some of its uses over the ages.

Gold begins with the sparkle and shine of this valuable metal, then proceeds into a fanfarish royal march, one of the most common places to find its riches.

Carbon, being the element from which life on earth is built, is a very simplified trip through evolution. It opens with the protozoa flickering through the primordial stew, growing more prolific and abundant until suddenly becoming the fishes of the sea. The sea creatures develop, then just as suddenly crawl out of the water and onto the land, evolving into the reptiles, who proceed to parade proudly around the planet. The aggressive dinosaurs appear and begin to wreak havoc on the more docile and defensless varieties when the comet unexpectedly rains down upon the earth resulting in the extinction event. The horns then herald the arrival of the mammals, culminating with man.

The music was completed in July of 2019. My thanks to Heather Oesting for her suggestion of the periodic chart as a source for the ideas.

I had started writing a "fantasy" for piano many years ago, but could never get it to do what I wanted and ultimately abandoned it, but the idea of a fantasy (in this case something free and imaginative as opposed to the development of an existing piece) never went away. All during its composition that hazy phantasm remained in sight though the listener might not visualize it. The music, including the string/timpani orchestration, was completed in early August of 2018. The final expanded orchestration was pretty much completed by the end of 2019. With eventual intentions of writing a large piano concerto, this has proven to be a good study off which to work when that time does come along.

The music was declared complete on July 30, 2017, with the orchestration finished the beginning of February, 2018. It was premiered by the Eastside Symphony on May 19, 2018, under Alexei Girsh. This is now a Notion 3-6 realization.

I Come in Peace was written specifically for the offeratory portion of the service, three minutes in length and with an inspirational feel. I should point out that while it is intentionally secular, the title, mood, and inner workings can certainly be applied to a sacred setting. While it may not be entirely discernible to the listener the music describes the following series of events: cosmic sign, announcement, descent, statement, dialog, enlightenment, ascent, farewell, and final cosmic sign.

It was started on February 13, 2017, and completed, including orchestration, on February 25. The first performances occurred on April 23, 2017, during services at Bellevue Presbyterian. It has also been performed in concerts by BBNW on April 30 and May 6, and in an orchestral version by the Eastside Symphony (composer conducting) on December 10 of 2017. The Northwest Symphony also performed it on March 17, 2018 with Anthony Spain conducting. Below are the Notion2 realizations for both brass and orchestra, one of the live performances on April 23, and the Eastside concert performance.

The melody, especially when combined with flowing ostinati, seemed to describe a journey through the clouds, and it was from this perspective that I pursued it. Of course, there are many types of clouds, not just the puffy white ones, including high cirrus and dark storm clouds. Several of these others find their way into the music, but no matter what the clouds, we are adrift.

This is another produced using Notion 4 software.

The structure was intended to be continuous, albeit in numerous sections of diverse musical and emotional character. As the music developed it began to take on the perspective of a series of short stories or musical scenarios, some unique and isolated, some flashing back to earlier scenes for revision or further development.

• The first vignette, marked Moderato deciso, is predominantly in 5/4, and opens with bassoon in a steady stream of eighth notes upon which the other instruments build various thematic elements. After an allegretto interlude in 2/4, the original material is revisited and the section closes with the telltale heartbeat of a fading pizzicato cello.
• The second vignette, Adagio dolcissimo, is a slow, sweet section with rich lyrical themes presented in a number of different ways.
• A Vivace staircase of notes leads into Vignette 3, Allegro energico, and a rollicking adventure in 12/8, chasing merrily along until the instruments scamper off back to their own hiding places.
• The brief fourth vignette, Allegro con calore, is rich in warmth, sentiment and simple melody as it bounces on ostinato figures presented by cello then tossed around through the other instruments.
• Andante teneremente, the fifth vignette, extracts melody from the third vignette and sings a somber lullaby.
• The Vivace returns to present vignette six, Con spirito, a modified recap of the rhythmic structure of the third vignette with concentration on different elements of the original.
• The seventh and final vignette, Moderato, brings the story full circle from the opening bassoon of vignette one, as twisted plots end in an altered version of the opening musical narrative.

The first movement gives a definite feeling of instability, like travel over a bumpy road. As is sometimes my frustration, I struggled to come up with a reasonable tempo/descriptor marking, but found that "brusquely" easily described the music, hence, Allegro bruscamente. The second movement allows the tuba to sing to the piano accompaniment, while the final movement is another that tends to dance along in its after-beat rhythms. While not a terribly long piece, it still provides some challenges for the player, particularly in the opening movement. I would like to mention that with the completion of this piece the cycle of music for tuba is now full circle, with music for solo tuba, tuba and concert band, tuba and brass band, and tuba and orchestra having been previously presented. Cue the fireworks!

These recordings were produced using Notion4 software. It has not yet been publicly performed.

It is in three movements of the traditionally fast-slow-fast pattern. The subtitle of the first movement was difficult to come by. It is driving without ever really letting up, but Driving didn't seem like a good description. I didn't want to call it aggressive or agitated as it does not really feel angry or upsetting, but it is alive and always moving forward. Vigor finally seemed like a reasonable settlement, though if another word should come along that works better there may be competition. Mostly in 5/8 with occasional side trips to 6/8 or 3/8, there seems to be an edge-of-your-seat continuum throughout. Being a lover of modulation and harmonic transition I would not feel right establishing a key, but it does begin and end in B minor. The second movement, "Pastorale", is as it's name suggests, a lush and peaceful break from the driven opening, though the middle section does provide movement and allows the piccolo to shine with some technical passages. The final movement, "Dance", opens with the only cadenza of the piece, then jumps into a frenzied, rhythmic intensity with a feel that may be somewhere between a paso doble and a Hungarian folk dance. Between bookend revelry is a slow waltz, though the waltz characteristic may suffer a bit due to the fact that I did so enjoy the woodwind trills that shape the section while not quite committing to waltz, that I did not want to sacrifice them.

The concerto received its non-professional (but nevertheless "world") premiere on May 21, 2016, with Lisa, Alexei, and the Eastside Symphony.

I had completed The Age of Man in early February of 2014, but then spent the next 8 months editing and preparing other music for possible publication rather than writing anything original. At the same time I had a commitment to write the Piccolo Concerto for the 2015-16 season of the Eastside Symphony. After such a long time away from original composition I needed something to ease me back into it so I would be ready to work on the concerto. Completing this quartet served that purpose nicely.

Despite my original intent, I had for some time abandoned the idea of writing traditional movements to complete the quartet and instead opted for just one longer fast movement. And again I needed to match the flavor of the material that already existed. While the first movement toys with atonality though never really quite achieving it (except perhaps in the last bar when the final pizzicato notes separate themselves from the rest of the piece), the second movement starts more traditionally in B minor. Before long, however, it crosses into a section that utilizes twelve-tone technique, albeit not fully. A 12-tone row is established, played retrograde, inverted, and in retrograde inversion, but each time comes back to a tonal center. Ultimately one of the rows is wrapped up in the more traditional harmonies and melodic lines that were established at the opening, while still stating its existence. The opening theme of the first movement eventually becomes prominent as a concluding element as well, and emerging from a pile of dissonance is a final D major chord. Overall this second movement is definitely more tonal, but at least takes you to the edge a few times providing an adequate counterpart to that initial encounter.

The work is in three movements and roughly describes Christian Thomsen's archeological system of early human history. "The Stone Age" presents a somewhat hardened and irregular way of life with all its dangers and uncertainties. In "The Bronze Age" we see a vision of the artistic side of man in its early stages, still not highly refined, but with the promise of the future a reality. "The Iron Age" is almost mechanical in its rhythmic foundation, with the elements of both warfare and material progress engaged in the development of civilization.

So, Tensions was, from it's inception, intended for orchestra with a large percussion section. For a long while I considered the percussion a sizeable part of the orchestra, but not necessarily a truly solo ensemble, hence the terminology for "orchestra with percussion ensemble" rather than "percussion and orchestra". After finishing the full publishable score, however, and doing everything I could to whittle the percussion section down to the smallest number of players possible, I found that seven was the fewest I could call for, which has made it more the "percussion and orchestra" piece after all. No matter, though, it still plays the same.

Structurally, as the title would suggest, the music creates many tensions as it passes along, ultimately resolving these tensions, though usually not by means of chord progressions, but rather sometimes by removing the tension to reveal the stable element or perhaps by moving from a great unsettled clutter to the calm and serene. Musically, the purpose was to develop a statement that was not melodically organized, but rather full of textures and fragments, (something very well suited for percussion). As the composition developed I found more and more that it would still fall clearly back into my own style even if there were very few places one could actually "whistle the tune". When all was said and done I decided that what I had was a piece of music that might not be brash enough to impress the ASCAP panel, but which could appeal to a much larger audience. And as Samuel Jones and I discussed once, the purpose of music is to provide enjoyment to an audience and not some intellectual argument. I think that audience should be as large as possible without sacrificing personal style, but of course, if the composer's style is such that the audience is kept to a minimum, then I guess that's the composer's choice. I won't argue that one must be true to one's own self. I have chosen here to speak to the audience and allow it to feel.

As we began rehearsals for our spring concert I asked Alexei Girsh, director of the Eastside Symphony, if we could play this concerto if it was completed by the end of the summer (2013). While he waffled at first (not that I haven't been known to do that myself from time to time) he ultimately announced to the orchestra that it would be performed at our March, 2014, concert. That's when I decided it would probably be a good idea to get started writing it.

The music is in three movements and begins with a four note motif, repeated with a slight alteration, that essentially ties all the movements together despite the other themes that are unique to each. This motif is presented at the beginning of the first movement in a slow setting before being developed as the movement progresses, then ending much the way it began. In the second movement the motif is not introduced until the very end, in contrast to the main theme of that movement, but ends in the same key as the first movement's ending (essentially G minor trying to lead to C minor.) The last movement is mostly a bright scherzando throughout, with mixed tempos and a juicy tranquillo theme that recurs and helps end the movement. The connecting motif comes in several times midway through the movement and is played in the penultimate bar to bring the whole piece full circle.

The complete electronic version is linked below. It was created using different versions of Notion software, which I normally use in the writing process. The orchestra was reproduced in Notion 2 and the tuba part in Notion 4, which plays back a more realistic range for the instrument, then the two files combined into one. The Concerto was premiered by me with the Eastside Symphony conducted by Alexei Girsh on March 15, 2014 at the Redmond Performing Arts Center, Redmond, Washington. Quite honestly, it was not a very good performance though it had its moments. The 3rd movement turned out the best and, while still sub-standard in my ears, was tolerable enough to create a YouTube video and link it here. I do not expect to post videos of the other two movements though I do expect to combine live tuba with the electronic orchestra eventually.