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I began
writing music when I was a teenager in a garage band. For years I just wrote
songs by ear. All that time I had more elaborate music in my head, but lacked
the technical grounding I needed to capture it in a form that would allow
anyone but me to hear it.
When
personal computers and MIDI arrived in the 1980s, I could compose in
“classical” music forms, but I was still working from instinct and
trial-and-error. The results sounded good to me at the time, but today when I
listen to the MIDI files I created then, I can only shudder. Still, some of
the musical themes I recorded have been worth salvaging for later works.
Finally,
after I ended my career at IBM, I had time for formal instruction in composition.
Now I theoretically know what I’m doing as a composer. Of course, music is a
field that one need never finish exploring, and there is always more to
learn. But I believe I can avoid the blunders I committed when I started
composing on a Commodore 64 in 1983. Listen and judge for yourself.
All the
instrumental music is recorded through Finale: notation
software that gives me the sound of virtually any instrument, from simple
piano to a symphony orchestra, and astonishingly lifelike. I play piano and
guitar a little, but nothing like the level I would need to produce what I
have here.
If you
wonder why I write the sort of music I do—particularly why it isn’t more
progressive or avant garde—this essay will
explain.
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A local
church has a thoughtful tradition of pausing during a Sunday service in
Autumn to commemorate their fellows who have passed on during the year,
while a few musicians in the congregation play some suitable music. They
offered to let me write something for the occasion, solemn but not too
mournful, and this is the result. It was first performed on November 1,
2009.
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In Memoriam
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Flute, alto
flute, clarinet, cello, and contrabass
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This is my
most recent major composition: a wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet,
bassoon, and horn) in four movements. I love the sound of this ensemble.
Warm, friendly music seems to be its natural element. A melodic contour of mi-do-re-mi
is threaded throughout the piece, set to many different rhythms and
harmonies. How many do you hear? The Argyle Wind Quintet will perform this
as part of their annual holiday concert on December 7, 2009.
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1. Andante
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2. Adagio
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3. Scherzo
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4. Allegro
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Local
violist Ken Gilleland asked me to write a viola concerto for him to
premiere. We both like the result; now we’re looking for an orchestra to
add it to a program.
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1. Allegro
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2. Adagio
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3. Perpetuum Mobile
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This
overture in A minor is the first piece I wrote for orchestra. It premiered at
the Rockwall Music Festival in 2004.
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Allegro
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These are
two fragments that sound to me like the themes for dramatic films. I
eventually wrote lyrics for the second one.
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Majestic theme
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Celtic lament
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This tune
for winds also sounds like theme music, but for a slick caper movie or a detective
story à la Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett.
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Main Street Mosey
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I wrote
this waltz for the father–daughter dance at my daughter’s wedding in April
2008.
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Cristin’s Waltz
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I am a big
fan of rags, not just Scott Joplin but James Scott and Joseph Lamb. I also
enjoy writing my own. Two of these were performed at a concert in
Seattle on July 19, 2009.
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Culpeper Rag
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Rondo Stomp
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Some
college out there needs to adopt this sentimental tune. It would also work as
a hymn or, with more lyrical instrumentation, as an Irish ballad.
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Alma
Mater
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This is a
folky-sounding little thing for a celtic harp (no pedals).
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Harp
Rondo
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This is
the only expressly imitative piece here. Tombeau is an old name for music written as a memorial to someone.
Here I pay my respects to Domenico Scarlatti, one of my favorite composers,
with a sonata in his own typical binary form, which I like to imagine he
would have enjoyed.
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Tombeau
de Scarlatti
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As I said,
I don’t write much in the idiom of the 20th or 21st centuries. This is a
perverse attempt to make a piece based on a 12-tone row sound almost tonal.
Even at that, it has an unsettled, neurotic feeling to it.
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Duet for Flute and
Vibraphone
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This is a
hoppin’ little instrumental that I wrote for no particular reason.
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Rock One
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Finally,
here are some songs. All but the last five date from the 1970s. In 1975 I
bought a Dokorder reel-to-reel tape deck that allowed me to overdub four
tracks. With the rotten job I had then, it cost a month’s pay. As I said
before, I was in a band with some friends, and I wanted to record my
original material, because I believed in it. My only instruments were two
guitars: a Gibson SG (which I dearly wish I still had) and a Yamaha FG-75
acoustic (which, perversely, I do still have). So I could record a guitar
backing and vocals—that was it. I didn’t have a bass or drums, and keep in
mind that this was ten years before MIDI.
Fast
forward to the present. Now a PC with the right software makes a decent
recording studio. I’ve copied my primitive old tapes to WAV files on my
hard drive, and I’ve used Finale to add drums, bass, and other instruments,
including an orchestra. Sadly there’s nothing I can do now about the
balance or noise levels in the original recordings, which I made in a
basement efficiency apartment. There’s also no way to fix my voice, about
which I have no illusions. Try to imagine these sung by someone who can do
them justice.
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Conestoga Sunrise
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Many of my
songs are about the search for purpose and continuity in human experience, though
I do my best to keep them from being as dry and pretentious as that may
sound. This one is set in, of all places, a wagon train at dawn. Lyrics
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Can It Be So Surprising?
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I wrote
this for my niece when she was a year old. Now she has three sons. Lyrics
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I Cut Out My Baby’s Heart
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The
ultimate country-western ballad about adultery, murder, and prison was
written with a bunch of guys in a dorm room. Lyrics
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The Scarlet Pimpernel
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One writes
songs about hopeless love when one is in one’s twenties. Lyrics
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Sigh
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You could
call this an anthem of sorts for once young, once idealistic boomers. Lyrics
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The Children Who Don’t Speak
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I was
compelled to write this after seeing a news story about an autistic boy. Lyrics
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She’ll Come Upon You
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One writes
songs about hopeless love when one is in one’s twenties. Lyrics
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Madame Soleil
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The
remarkable Jeanne Jackson, wherever she may be, no doubt still beams
sunshine on anyone near her. This is the first song I ever wrote. Lyrics
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There Will Be Times
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Sometimes,
when things are going badly, you need to write a song about holding on
anyway. Lyrics
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If I Knew You
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One writes
songs about hopeless love when one is in one’s twenties, but sometimes they
find a way to accept something short of love. Lyrics
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The Voices From Before
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I used to
have an aunt who genuinely believed she was a witch—a good witch. Lyrics
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Whisper
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One writes
lots of songs about hopeless love when one is in one’s twenties. Lyrics
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Versailles
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Strangely
enough, this song was prompted by browsing a family photo album, not by a
tour of France. Lyrics
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Come Back to the King
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It’s not
about Elvis. I wrote this for a friend of mine to show him that I could
understand his faith although I didn’t share it. Lyrics
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One for the Road
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I saw yet
another MADD cross by the roadside and wondered what the story behind it
might be. Lyrics
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Something Good
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This is a
song about hope. It does have lyrics, but the range is way beyond me, so
I’m not going to put you through that. Lyrics
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A Little Romance
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This is
for those of you who enjoy Cole Porter, Noel Coward, and the like. Again,
my voice is not up to the task. Lyrics
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Rich Sons of Bitches
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This is my
reaction to the recent financial shenanigans. Judging by the response of
everyone who has heard this song, I think a lot of people feel the way I
do. There is one very strong word
in this song, but I think it’s the right word where I used it. Lyrics
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