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| This musical excerpt is from an original composed by the blogger and has been copyrighted. All rights are reserved. |
It has been quite a while since I last wrote in this blog on
this area of my life. It’s at the forefront again because, as I’ve been working
on my goals for 2025, alongside other goals I have, I’m realizing that I still
want to make music composition an area of life where I see more progress.
Since I last wrote, which was at the end of 2022 (not
counting my post in November which was more of a philosophical aside), God and I
have written a lot more pieces of music. Almost none of them have followed what
I expected would have been projects I would be working on. But I believe that
that is OK, in that music, just like every other area of my life, would have
interruptions or changes of direction.
I remember when I last left off, I was working to come to
grips with what I believed was a call to step down music-making because I had
other things in my life. And I did, for a while. I was working two jobs, taking
a class in school, and dealing with daily dramas at the home I was living. And
work was doubly stressful for a season. Somehow, by the grace of God, I didn’t
experience any health challenges in all of 2023 (or if I did, they were so
short-lived that I don’t remember them).
Anyway, with a reprieve from school, and a lighter stress-load
in both my jobs, I was given time and space to write and record more. One big
step forward that God revealed to me was how to take files I notated in Finale
(my music software), convert it to MIDI (and XML, among other formats) and upload
the MIDI tracks into GarageBand. This solved the question of how I was going to
record such a large influx of music with still so little time.
To date, I have released another three albums in Bandcamp, catching
up on all past and present (through the end of Piano Sonata No. 3 in F# minor),
with some mild plans to release a couple more, one a piano album and another a jazz/rock
band album, all via MIDI files mixed in GarageBand. Primitive stuff, I know,
but it works for me.
Somewhere during this time, I began also numerating the piano
sonatas, realizing how quickly I was starting to take up major and minor keys
to the point that I might begin to lose track of which sonata was which.
2023:
A Wife of Noble Character. Although I wrote this in 2022, I
recorded this in May and June 2023, after I was finally granted a reprieve in
schooling. This was released in Bandcamp on the album From This Time Forth
Forevermore, although as an added track (the album was originally released in
March 2022, prior to this song’s composition let alone recording). What stands
out about this GarageBand track is that there’s no drum line. I did add two
bass guitar lines (one of which acts more as a baritone guitar line). Considering
that both my handwritten sketches and the file in Finale consists solely of the
melody, lyrics, and chords, I think I need to create a copy with the bass lines
as well because those lines got to be quite fun to create!
Be Still And Know That He Is God (text from Psalm 46). This is a congregational praise and worship piece, with choir. This was originally sketched in 2015, almost in the same exact format, inspired by my experiences with the Gospel Choir at my previous church (and specifically with being involved in writing parts to accompany praise and worship songs), and then put in a desk drawer. While working as a keyboardist and accompanist at First Presbyterian in Lake Forest, I believe God gave me inspiration to bring this back out, flesh it out, and flesh out the recording track that already existed, with the idea of making it ready for release someday. As it stands, the recording is about 80-90% done, and mixing yet to be done.
Come, Lord Jesus (text from Revelation 21:1-5,22:2-3,5,14-15,20, Matthew 6:10, James 1:12). This is a congregational praise and worship piece, with choir. This was a song originally composed in 2009 from a very dark place (originally titled “Gone and Vanished”), looking at what the end of my life might possibly look like from that unsaved place in which I was. Incredibly, I was able to get this song performed at various concerts with a couple different bands, and from a strictly musical standpoint, I felt it held up very well. But, upon being forgiven after repenting in 2019 and having fresh convictions about my faith, I realized that the lyrics to this song in particular (along with a few others) had to go. It took a few years but I felt God nudge me to rewrite the words to focus on the end of time from a Biblical perspective, i.e. when Jesus Christ will be coming again. Instead of the end of time being something to dread, the message was to be refocused on Jesus’s 2nd coming, a celebration of the end of this time. Come, Lord Jesus is a prayer, a prayer of anticipation, because as much as I or anyone else might want this world or this life to be fair and right and good, nothing will ever be made fair and right and good until He comes again. (And of course, I want to make sure I am right with God before that happens! And you should too.) As for this piece, the recording is similarly about 80-90% done, with mixing yet to be done.
Wait on the Lord! (text from Psalm 27, Romans 8:31,
Deuteronomy 31:6) This is a choral composition with pipe organ. During this
time, I was finding that the stress I was feeling wasn’t going away, despite me
lightening my load in a few areas of my life. During this time, I was still
trying to find ways to grab hold of Jesus and hold onto my faith by whatever
means necessary. Given that I’ve found music composition set to Biblical lyrics
directly honoring God to be a great vehicle, this desperation led me to embark
on a bigger project. Psalm 27 has 14 verses but really 49 lines of text, plus
adding two other Scriptural passages that I felt God put on my heart to include.
Although I’m currently still needing to work on aspects of the execution of this
composition, this was definitely one of those where I was pouring my heart out
to the Lord to do something about what was going on around me.
Piano Sonata No. 4 in C.
I.
Deliverance. This track was released in Bandcamp
on the album Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. IV. I wrote the
sketches in August and September 2023, finishing them up during a week off from
work (and away from stress). In my never-ending quest to refine Sonata Rondo
form (methinks it might seem a bit unnatural to me), I ended up doing something
that I can only really describe using the McGangBang
analogy. This movement begins in C minor but ends in C major (and I have
similar plans for the 3rd movement which I’ll share more below). The
first half of the piece is in Sonata rondo form in the minor key, but as I
return to the recap, after 1 line I reset the piece to Sonata rondo form in the
parallel major key, but starting over from the beginning instead of doing a
recap section. Once I get through all the same material (in their modified
keys, of course), I then set up a coda with what would by all appearances be a
cadenza. Looking back, I can confirm that this was one of those Holy Spirit
moments where my reaction was: “a cadenza in the middle of a sonata? Are You
sure?” and the answer I got back was, “yep.” So I went for it. And I know it
was the Lord because as I moved forward in faith writing the cadenza, I found
that I had so much fun writing this part that I didn’t want to stop! Of course,
once I did wrap the piece up, I had this lingering question of whether this
might be a one-movement sonata. I believe to this day that the answer is still
no, but I have noticed that writing the other two movements have not come
nearly as easily as the first.
II.
2nd movement – title TBD. Shortly
after I finished the sketches for the first movement, I began the sketches for
the second. To this day I have about 80% of this piece completed, thanks in
part to the second movement of the Minimalist Piano Sonata No. 1 in F (which I
composed a few weeks later) which provided the long-lost format I was trying but
failing to find when first sketching this piece. To be honest, writing the
middle movements of sonatas has proved to be the most difficult for me to
figure out, despite all the ink I’ve spilled on here and on my Bandcamp site
about Sonata rondo form. What I’m kind of settling on is a hybrid between
Theme-and-Variation and Verse 1, Verse 2, Bridge, Verse 3, Coda.
III.
3rd movement – title TBD. This one seems
to have sketches all over the place. I wanted to take an old sketch from 2010
(an early attempt at trying to write a piano rock/pop/sonata piece that went
nowhere after about 60 bars) and repurpose it for this. I also have a couple
other sketches (also written right around the time I completed sketches for the
first movement and worked on the second movement) for some climax moments that
would work well with this piece. But, the question remains: how to put this all
together? That’s the fun part. So far, the result of repurposing the incomplete
sketches from 2010 has resulted in a very lengthy intro to this final movement
with such a great buildup… and then a Beethoven/Mendelssohn variety as the main
material for the main part of the sonata (so far).
Minimalist Piano Sonata No. 1 in F. Released in Bandcamp on
the album Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. IV, this sonata was a rather
unexpected gift. In my last post in 2022, I had shared about my work so far in
beginning the Minimalist Piano Sonata in B-flat minor (I still haven’t done
anything more on this since that post). Between being back in school, having
just picked up my 2nd job, and various life stresses, and just the
fact that trying to create a minimalist sonata was so new (I didn’t know where
to go for the subsequent movements), I felt I had no choice but to let it sit
there. That is, until another situation came across that, in spite of its
stress, inspired the composing of this work. Unlike the other Minimalist Piano
Sonata, or the Piano Sonata in C, this one actually came together pretty
quickly over the course of a couple of months. For this reason, I denote this
my First Minimalist Piano Sonata. I believe that in the writing of these three
pieces, God gave me a roadmap for how I might combine minimalism (specifically,
the type of music that takes its time) with maintaining a faithful Sonata
structure within a somewhat reasonable allotment of time.
I.
Landing the Plane. Simply put, this movement is
Sonata form combined with minimalism. Per my liner notes, musical inspiration comes
from both Johann Sebastian Bach and Philip Glass. Even my dad, who has over the
years gently prodded me to always be trying to create something new instead of
settling for creating more of the same-old, approved of all movements but especially
this one.
II.
Wise Counsel. As mentioned above in my notes for
the Piano Sonata No. 4 in C, completing this movement has helped give me a
structure for how to write a slow second movement in today’s day and age. I’m
sorry, but even the best sonata compositions in Classical music history still
had boring second movements. Too much silence, which was fine for the day in
which they were composed because the audiences had the patience to sit through
them (we don’t now). Hopefully this will provide a nice, modern take on what “slow”
movements could be without making them sound too much like the triumphal first
movement or the fast last movement.
III.
Liftoff. This was Sonata rondo form combined
with minimalism. On paper, the idea seems logical enough. Sonata rondo form
goes thusly: A, B, A, C, A, B, A, with maybe some kind of coda at the end.
However, to bring in the minimalism aspect, I determined that each major
section (not counting transitional sections after the B and C sections) should
have two sections of repeating material at 4 bars each (keeping the material
minimal). I determined that how these should repeat would be the first line 1x,
the second line 1x; the first line 2x, the second line 2x; the first line 3x;
the second line 3x; the first line 4x, the second line 4x. And this was to be
for section A, section B, section A again, section C, section A again, and section
B again (in the home key as part of the recap). When I added it all up, the piece
ended up taking over 18 minutes! (I may also have dropped the final section A
of the rondo form because of this, in favor of proceeding directly to the coda.) Part
of the fun of trying to find new things in music to try out is that there are
going to be a lot of unexpected quirks, kinks to work out, and lessons to learn
along the way. Because this piece doesn’t have a lot of big chords or
complicated Lizst-like (or Rachmaninoff-like) passages, I don’t really feel a
need to reduce the length of the piece (like say, removing the 4x repetitions
from all sections in the piece!). Both hands are constantly in motion, but I believe
that this functions more like a very lengthy etude without actually it being an etude.
I think it’s worth leaving as is.
One final thing to note about the Minimalist Piano Sonata
No. 1 in F (along with piano sonatas No. 2 in B minor and No. 3 in F-sharp
minor (“Wedding”) – I wrote these pieces with Stuart & Sons pianos in mind,
because of their expanded ranges. This is not true for every piano piece I
write (I would say, prior to the No. 2 in B minor, every piano piece I had composed
was to be played on a standard 88-key keyboard, Steinway & Sons or
something comparable), but as I have proceeded to write other things more
recently, I’ve realized that it might make sense to indicate what piano type I’m
hearing as I write them. I’ve come across videos of concerts and commentary
about Beethoven’s keyboard music. The short version is that it sounds so
different on a pianoforte vs a modern piano, and I kind of have to agree with
the critics that say that his pieces sound far better on the instruments they
were composed for! Don’t get me wrong; I still love hearing Beethoven and Bach
on modern pianos. But there’s something greater about hearing them performed on
the instrument on which the composer heard it. I say all this to say that, on two
of my pieces (Liftoff and The Honeymoon), on one of the last pages I simply
write: “if playing on an 88-key keyboard, simply omit the out-of-range notes.” One
might look at that and think, “the composer doesn’t care.” Well, true, I kind
of don’t. We’ve had 88-key keyboards as the standard for almost 150 years that,
eventually, the time for innovation is due for the next generation of music.
Stuart & Sons was one of those to unapologetically push the boundaries of
how big a range they could make their pianos. There’s another piano brand that
I will highlight more further down in this post that has been inspiring some of
my more recent compositions.
Piano Suite No. 4 (“Nuclear”). This is a piano suite that as
a concept gradually came together over the course of a couple years. Without
getting into too much detail, I will say that the music I’ve written has often been
inspired by other people. “Song For My Sweetie Pie” and “Song For My Father”
are pretty-self explanatory (don’t worry, Mom, “Song For My Mother” is rattling
somewhere in my mental pipeline of future works to write!). What I will say is,
one of the side-effects of the housing situation I found myself in for the
three years leading up to my wedding last summer is that my experiences of some
of my housemates gave me opportunity to put to music what I was noticing.
I.
Working-Man Song. Although I totally could have
used the title “Work Song”, I thought it best to change the title a bit,
especially considering that the music itself also hearkens back to the song
(unlike “Song For My Father” which is totally different from Horace Silver’s
piece with the same name). The caricature in this song is of a person who hates
his job so much that he wants to quit but can’t (by the way, this is not about me!). Not only so, but it’s gotten
to the point that other noise in his life that tries to speak up ends up crowding
out his sanity and causes him to snap. The form of the song takes a sort of bass-driven
jazz tune with a main theme, but never quite gets to the point of developing a
bridge section due to the interplay between the different musical voices
representing the chaos as described above.
II.
Point, Counterpoint. This is a three-voice fugue
representing the difficulty of trying to reason with someone who won’t let up,
even after they’ve been proven wrong (including time and time again). At the
end, “Working-Man” makes a comeback and offers his two cents before the fugue
completely wraps up in grand fashion.
III.
The Unknown Entity. This piece is a quick
fantasia of sorts representing a person that I’ve heard quite a bit about but
have never met. The initial goal was to have this be a fifteen-second, four-chord
piece, a brief interlude before moving on to the next movement. But after
coming back to complete it, I found it strange to end it at that. The same four
chords provide the structure, and it starts out like a very diminutive theme-and-variation
where, by the 4th or 5th variation, the music turns it into
a fantasia, continually expanding on the progression to far-and-away keys (all
in the span of only a few measures, of course). The main chord sequence returns
once more, and after a few more repetitions the music settles into a closing
gesture that begs to set up the next movement, whatever it may be… 😉
Letting Go Of Control. This is a standalone piano solo composition,
also released on the album Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. III.
I wrote this when I thought I was at the peak of the struggles that I was going
through. A second source of inspiration comes from having just listened to Piotr
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), specifically the 4th
movement, which happens to be in the same key. As for the musical structure
laid out in this piece, it takes a two-part section (first part: slow,
accented, pensive, and vertical; second part: broken, staccato, and an attempt
at relaxing and "letting go" -- also inspired by some of the
improvisatory sections in some of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard fantasias)
and repeats it a second time a minor third higher. By the third time, though,
the tone is starting to change. The third go-around, a quieter, more relaxed
repeat of the slow, accented, pensive, and vertical section, reveals a change,
and ultimately depicts blessings from above.
2024:
When God Decided. This was a collaboration with a fellow
member in my church band. She presented me with a set of words around New Year’s
Day 2024, and I received it not knowing whether any music would come (I have
previous instances of other people giving me words to set to music, and those
words are still sitting somewhere in the proverbial desk drawer). About a
couple weeks later, I happened to pull out this set of lyrics and spent a few
minutes looking at them, to see if any music came. This was one of those times
where it did! It’s easy in hindsight to say, “of course it was God,” but in the
moment I also knew it was Him. As long as I’m writing music to honor Him, all
inspiration I receive will come from Him. As such, whether music comes
immediately or not will depend on His timing. This was one of those times where
He gave the green light to write the entire song. I think we finished it in one
day.
The song’s structure is a simple, verse, bride, verse,
bridge, etc. format, ending on the verse with an extended coda (because I love
doing those things). We worshiped at church with this song once, and it was
pretty fun.
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor (“Wedding”).
IV.
The Honeymoon. This is the only movement in this
Sonata to not be in any kind of Sonata form. As it turns out, letting that part
go was the key function in getting this piece to finally get written. Like
always, God supplied the inspiration at multiple different stages (I ended up
repurposing a jazz tune I originally wrote for my ex, but the piece never quite
suited her), and I was pleasantly surprised to find how much of the other ideas
and desires I had for this piece falling into place.
Psalm 39. This is a through-composed tour through the entire
Psalm for solo voice and jazz/rock band. Although the essential compositional
sketches are complete, as of this post, it’s still very much a work in progress,
primarily related to orchestration and to a lesser degree to adjusting the
lengths of a few transition sections.
Galatians 5 (title TBD; text from Galatians 5:1-6). I sketched this right
around Memorial Day, so I imagined the typical US military-sounding music as
the style for this. As far as following the text, the music takes a
through-composed approach, but I still find a way to incorporate a version of
Sonata form (in terms of modulations, anyway). I think my vision is that this
music repeats through the text twice, with the first iteration being a solo (or
soli) baritone voice(s), and the second iteration being sung by a 4-part SATB
choir, with the melody in the soprano voice. I stretch out the last line on the
second time through, having it “hook” three times until its somewhat-grand
conclusion (it’s a trick I’ve found done in modern praise and worship songs
that I really like).
Piano Sonata No. 5 in A major (“Joy”). I haven’t released these
tracks yet onto Bandcamp, in large part because I’m waiting to finish the other
movements for a currently-in-progress Piano Sonata in E major (“Love”). This is
a three-movement Piano Sonata inspired by a few different sources: 1.) God (of
course), since He’s the one who gives me musical ideas; 2.) for the first
movement, a recurring idea that persisted anytime I went out for a walk during this
time; and 3.) watching movie trailers of “Inside Out 2,” which was playing in
theaters at the time, and observing the character Joy’s heroism and role as the
protagonist (she was kind of an antagonist in the first movie). I was also
still trying to find new ways to incorporate some form of minimalism in these
three pieces while otherwise sounding Classical (or even Baroque, in some
spots), and what I found this time was to have each piece repeat some sort of
short line for the entire movement.
I.
The Joy of Redemption. This movement was written
in Sonata rondo form. As of writing this piece, I’m starting to feel as though
I’m finally nailing this particular form. Previous attempts (including from Piano
Sonata No. 4 in C and Minimalist Piano Sonata No. 1 in F, among others) often
had me do some kind of mutant rondo form, but the organization in this one
seems tight, which I like. Sometimes the key is limiting the variety in the
material.
II.
The Joy of Eternal Life. This movement was
written in Sonata slow-movement form. Similar to the first movement, I’m
finally feeling as if I’m starting to nail what I would want for the slow
movement in Sonatas. The development section here is quite minimal (I think
only 2 bars). But for the material and the pacing, I think that’s perfect. If I
could claim having drawn any rhythmic inspiration from anywhere, consider “Here
I Am To Worship” by Tim Hughes. Because, in all movements but especially this
one, I am here to worship the One who gives me the inspiration to write what I
write.
III.
God’s Joy As Strength. This piece is simply a
delight – there are some pieces I enjoy listening to more than others, and this
is one of them. This is a fast, duple-meter Sonata rondo composition, keeping
in tradition with many Sonatas of the F. J. Hadyn/W. A. Mozart era (Ludwig van Beethoven
did this too but ultimately branched out), but also incorporating the same minimalist
mission of the entire piece keeping the same rhythmic ostinato throughout.
Having said that, I will say that the C section features sounds, rhythms, and
accents that remind of Beethoven… or Ben Folds. I can’t decide which.
Save Me, O God (text from Psalm 54). This is an a cappella
choir piece. I originally wrote it in 1995, back when I was a child and still
very early in my development as a composer. I did clearly have to rewrite lots
of it to make it functional and intelligible, but I liked the spirit of this
piece enough to try to preserve what I think I was trying to accomplish then.
The Lord Is My Portion (text from Lamentations 3:22-33). This
is an a cappella choir piece. I was reading through Lamentations right before composing
this and found myself drawn to a section of text that I ultimately ended up
using. Aside from God’s inspiration, I’m not sure what motifs or chord
progressions, etc in particular drove the creation of this composition. I
believe this was one such case where I simply wrote what I heard, and that was
that.
When I Have Gathered (text from Ezekiel 28:25-26). This is
an a cappella choir piece. Similar to the previous piece, I was reading through
Ezekiel right before composing this and found myself drawn to a section of text
that I ultimately ended up using. Also similarly, I just wrote what I believe I
heard God supply me. One thing I’ll note is that there’s a moment on the first
page (I was already setting this piece up as a SSAATTBB arrangement) where I set
a particularly important message in the text to a chord sequence where the TTBB
parts simply doubled the SSAA parts down an octave (for a measure or so) – I love
doing things like that and note with dismay that I don’t get to do things like
this more often.
Hymn to Light (formerly Hymn to Night) (text from John1:1-14, 1 John 5:6-9). Originally a pop “hymn” set to lyrics of darkness, I really wanted to transform this piece because I really like the music and wanted to find a way to make it honor God instead of darkness. Similar to Come, Lord Jesus’s predecessor, this song’s original version was also performed a few times with a couple of my bands and surprisingly held up well. (At one rehearsal, one of my bandmembers who likes to try to make everything into a certain style tried to suggest doing that with this one which is slow and in 5/4 meter. Another bandmember thankfully had my back and shot it down, saying, “this is an art song!”) Regardless, the lyrics still had to go once my faith was revitalized. This is now a converted congregational praise and worship piece. One of the inspiration for the new text in this song was from a YouTube video that points out passages in Scripture where newer translations have simply removed them (and not for good reasons). 1 John 5:6-9 is one of those passages. One translation I have simply states: “a few late manuscripts read…” and then quotes the passage, trying to pass it off as a late addition without any real scholarship. Just like my desire is to go through old pop songs of darkness and transform them to songs of light.
Be Born Again (formerly Christmas Eve) (text from John3:3,5,6,11-21;4:23-24; Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15). This is a congregational
praise and worship piece. I did have an original set of Christmas-y lyrics (hence
the former title), but I never quite felt right when it came time to compose
the melody (I had the structure, chord progressions, interlude melodies, etc,
all written out). Even now, I still don’t really have a melody. But, fresh off redoing
Hymn to Night as Hymn to Light, I received inspiration to finally put together
God-honoring words to this song. I still need to sit down and notate the lyrics
on sheet paper (I have a lyric sheet with chords and underlines denoting which
syllables should fall on the downbeat).
The Lord's Promises (text from Joel 2:12-32). This is a
choral composition with piano and orchestra (short score version so far). I was
reading through Joel right before composing this and found myself drawn to a
section of text that I ultimately ended up using. In the “part 3” post of this
series, I wrote about difficulties I have with embarking on big projects but
also about finding ways to take steps toward practicing writing bigger
compositions than I’m used to, on my way to writing the aforementioned really
big projects. This composition, to be set to 21 verses of text, would provide
that bridge. As of this post, I am still only about halfway through, months
after writing the first sketches.
Neighborhood Watch (Look Above To Jesus Christ). This is another
converted congregational praise and worship piece, albeit more of a “marketplace”
or “low church” variety, due to the copious amount of observational text in the
first few verses before finally getting to the main message in the bridge and
beyond. The concept for this song originated around 2010, when I saw the “neighborhood
watch” sign outside the living room window at a friend’s parent’s house in the
city of Chicago. I wrote a bunch of lyrics and my first attempt at setting it
to music. I got a certain distance in the music-composition department before
the inspiration ran out. A few years later, after it had sat in the proverbial
desk drawer, I reviewed the lyrics again and improvised a completely new groove,
paving the way for it to be a completely new song. The 2nd attempt at
the song quickly came together, composition-wise, but then stalled as I was
still slow in figuring out how to record and mix pop songs. The melody has a
wide range as it is, a bit wider than I felt comfortable singing without possessing
editing skills to cover up that gap in singing skills. Plus some other gaps of
knowledge. So it kept sitting, even as I got around to practicing recording and
mixing other songs. Then, in 2023, the inspiration hit for me to transform some
of the lyrics toward the end to make it more Christ-centric. Now, with a lot
more recording and mixing knowledge (as well as creating MIDI files to speed up
the instrumental recording process), the only things standing in the way are 1.)
doing it, and 2.) recording the vocal tracks.
Boppin’ On Up. Originally sketched in 2014, this is a jazz/rock band instrumental
composition designed to fit a fusion band like Ring Shout. With the help of an
interesting music groove generator app that my dad had on his phone at the time
(plus a song that a bandmate had just written), I wrote the original sketches, recorded
a dummy track on GarageBand, and then promptly forgot about it. That is, until
2024. I don’t even remember how I came across it again. I do remember I randomly
began playing the groove in a rehearsal and one of my bandmates had asked what
it was. At any rate, I beefed up the existing recording and sent across an
improved dummy track to the band for their listening. After adding a bridge, it
was ready for rehearsal. This song is currently set for saxophone, EP keyboard,
2 guitars, bass, and drums. It follows an A-A-B-A pattern (four lines for each
section) and allows space for solos in the middle.
It’s A Stretch. This was the first of two compositions
written off the elation of Donald Trump’s election win. Another jazz/rock band instrumental
composition, also designed to fit a fusion band like Ring Shout, it’s titled “It’s
A Stretch” because it is a stretch piece for the band. As a Classical-at-heart
composer who can also write jazz and rock tunes, I wanted to give the band
something that would challenge them musically. As of this post, this piece has
not yet debuted in rehearsal, in part because I still need to orchestrate the
different parts. At the same time, I have a split-vision for this piece, 1.) to
share it with the band to see if they can play it, and 2.) regardless of that,
to share it online and hopefully make some money off it (just like most of the
other compositions on here). I intend for this song to be set for saxophone, EP
keyboard, 2 guitars, bass, and drums. It will follow a chorus-verse-chorus pattern
with a bridge in a completely different key, and I intend to have space for solos
in the middle.
Greg’s Jazz. This was the second of two compositions written
off the elation of Donald Trump’s election win. Well, almost. This was another
compositional sketch that had sat in the proverbial desk drawer for about 14
years that I pulled out the same week as I wrote “It’s A Stretch.” Still,
another stretch song for Ring Shout, being completely OK if it never makes it
past the first rehearsal. I intend for this song to be set for 2 saxophones, trumpet,
trombone, EP keyboard, 2 guitars, bass, and drums. It will follow an A-A’-B-A’
pattern and allow space for solos in the middle. As for the title, I originally
wrote the sketches way back when I was meeting up with a friend of mine to do
storyboarding for animation, and he was looking for some music to accompany it.
After having composed “Esmeralda’s Jazz” for jazz band more recently (and
having it performed a few times with a few of my bands), I figured I might as
well keep the name.
The Original Rocky Road. This is an experimental rock/pop-symphonic
composition (actually, almost more like a piano concerto of sorts given the
piano cadenza in the middle). I wrote this originally in 2004 as “Rocky Road.” Although
it was a ton of fun to write, I thought it crazy to ever share this piece because
I didn’t know what it was supposed to be. As such, I thought its best hope for
survival was to use material from this piece to build other pieces. (Hence
another song I wrote and released titled “Rocky Road” in 2013/2014, and as a
result renaming this one as “The Original Rocky Road.”) After composing “Boppin’
On Up,” “It’s A Stretch” and “Greg’s Jazz” (and after having added some drum
tracks to the GarageBand file), I can finally see this piece having some
potential. This piece calls for an orchestra of flutes, bassoons, full set of strings,
trumpets, and trombones, as well as guitar, bass guitar, drum set, and other percussion,
along with the piano as the feature instrument.
Piano Sonata in E major (“Love”). Still in progress, this is
to be a five-movement Piano Sonata based on the theme of love, to follow in the
footsteps of the three-movement “Joy” Piano Sonata. Although I only have two
movements listed (they’re both almost completed), I have a concept for three
other movements in mind. I have short improvisational recordings for two of
them (to be Movements 4 and 5), and a concept for the 2nd movement
to be a fugue of purity, following the first movement, Celestial Fire, being
set up as a prelude. I’m not necessarily going to follow the five popular Greek
words for love, but I intend to cover all the main aspects of love: Godly love,
pure love, apologizing-and-making-amends love, young/excited love, and a love
where peace and security abound. (Although not necessarily in that order.)
I.
Celestial Fire. (Theme: Godly love) This was
originally an improvisation track created in 2011 and released on to my album “Cairns”
in Bandcamp in 2016, retaining the first spot in the album and the same title.
The inspiration for the title came from a line in a hymn with the English
translation from Veni Creator Spiritus (John
Cosin’s version – evidently there are quite a few varying English versions!
Check them out here,
here, and here).
The ostinatos that reverberate through this movement has little sparks, like a
fire, and “Celestial Fire” seemed to fit perfectly!
II.
Third Movement – Title TBD. (Theme: apologizing-and-making-amends
love) This is yet another attempt at combining minimalism with Sonata form (not
Sonata rondo form this time). I originally came up with the first theme sketches
in around 2015 and even made a recording of it (along with two separate
recordings of other tracks that I imagined would be part of a set someday).
Then, nothing, until I was writing the “Joy” piano sonata, that it occurred to
me to write a series of sonatas based on different Biblical themes, like
perhaps the fruits
of the Spirit. Some of them might be more difficult to imagine, but I figure
the simpler, more obvious ones like love, joy, and peace should be doable, as
well as those virtues of faith and hope (from 1
Corinthians 13:13).
One final note relating back to both the “Joy” and “Love” piano
sonatas in A major and E major, respectively: unlike some of the other sonatas,
I don’t hear this being played on a Stuart & Sons piano, or necessarily
even a standard piano of today. Although my philosophy on piano will generally
either conform to (but fill) the 88-key range, or go past it, I found myself
hearing these pieces on a Klavins piano,
which has an option for a 64-key piano (basically chop one octave off each end of
the standard 88). A quieter type of piano, but a cleaner one as well. It comes
in many sizes and options (including una corda), but I
wanted to write something that has the option to be played on a 64-key una
corda keyboard if necessary.
One of my goals this year is to finally release as much of my
work as possible onto multiple different websites for publishing and
distribution. My love sent me links 2 ½ years ago to all sorts of top-leading
online publishers and resellers, and I’ve worked to get as many tracks ready as
possible. But a secondary goal is to get a certain number of compositions (as
well as categories) completed so that I can justify it, at least to myself. I’m
still fleshing out this second goal, as I will tend to just keep writing and
writing (which I love to do!) and put off the first stated goal. More to come.
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