Of all my artistic influences, musical and otherwise, the most impactful has been Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack for the anime series “Cowboy Bebop.” At first listen, Kanno’s music is striking for its stylistic variety. Although jazz forms the core of the music, it branches out to blues, country, rock, heavy metal, and even late Romantic opera. […]
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“. . . Ring in the new”
2012 was a good year, but 2013 promises to be even more exciting. Certainties In 2012, blogging was my neglected step-child. This year, expect a steady and frequent stream of posts as I keep you in the loop about how my music is progressing, what I’m listening to, and what other thoughts and cool things […]
Continue readingMore Tag“Ring out the old . . .”
It’s been a good year for composition. It hasn’t been such a good year for blogging, so it’s time to highlight the best of 2012 and the opportunities coming in 2013. I’ll start in this post with 2012. Second Performances My biggest milestone this year was finally having pieces enter performers’ regular repertoire. I wrote “Icarus […]
Continue readingMore TagThe Things You Find When You Have Nothing Else To Do, Part 1
No comment necessary: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNabSidq2XU&context=C3ae8240ADOEgsToPDskJG-_jV26Uliu2ZXVTAvfWD] . . . and for something completely different, here, as promised, is the audio for Myths and Legends. Good job again to Jared, Kory, and the BYU Chamber Orchestra!
Continue readingMore TagField Guide Premieres in Utah
Less than a week after the successful premiere of my Clarinet Sonata (Kudos to Jaren Hinckley and Jed Moss! It was an electrifying performance!), A Field Guide to Natural History just received its Utah premiere this past week as part of BYU’s Group for New Music concerts. For those who weren’t there or who want […]
Continue readingMore TagAttitudes, Thought Processes, and Their Resultant Ideas
I was partially surprised by how surprised I was by this realization. I’d taken Intro to English Language. I’m aware of the hypothesis that how we talk about things shapes what we talk about. Yet up until this point, I had never thought of compositional process as having such a strong effect on compositional thought. But I suppose as Admiral Kirk said, “Well, now you have something new to think about.”
Continue readingMore TagTwice in One Night
In case you haven’t been following my concert schedule (though that’s silly—of course you have!), the next six days will feature four performances of my music, including one night, Friday, when I have two performances. If you’re here in Utah, you have no excuse not to see one of these shows. They’re going to be […]
Continue readingMore TagLatest News: London, Reading Session, Premiere
The past few weeks have been an exciting time for me with recent recordings, upcoming premieres, and an awesome international adventure.
Continue readingMore TagTwo Conflicting Views on Influence
“After all,” says Harrison Birtwistle, “we all come from somewhere: we don’t invent it for ourselves; we don’t come from the moon.”
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Today I wrote music . . . while listening to other music. Though a first for me, this isn’t too unusual. One of my friends routinely writes music at concerts; my teacher admitted to writing one of his best pieces will at a friend’s recital; and I’ve even heard rumors that Luciano Berio wrote his […]
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