Download

Download Full Text (1.1 MB)

Publication Date

3-17-2008

Year of Release

2008

Note(s)

Christopher Miller, piano

Jason Mitchell, soprano sax

T.K. Lambardo, piano

The Restless Saxophone Quartet:

Jason Mitchell, soprano sax

Sara Vorac, alto sax

Zack Merritt, tenor sax

Melanie Baldwin, baritone sax

Waterfall is about the sensation a person feels when he is going down a waterfall. Starting from the beginning of the piece every note captures the true power and beauty of the saxophone.

Hummingbird For me, at least, the motions within the piece make me think of a Hummingbird in flight. For Katie.

Dreams through Cracked Glass This piece is meant to create a surreal environment of a dream. The shifting melody and texture portray the often uncontrollable and spontaneous nature of dreams. The tonality of the work is meant to give the work a sense of mystery. It was commissioned by saxophonist Chris McDerment.

Brass Quintet is an exploration of the late Renaissance style with multiple changes of mode and tonality. The idea for this composition came while reading Don Quixote, a book set in Spain during the Renaissance. My goal was to write something in a Renaissance style.

Mix and Enjoy! consists of 33 small fragments which the performer - depending on some rules- puts in order and play. Those fragments are grouped in three. Group 'a' includes rubato rhythm and dynamic variety group 'b' has variations of a constant rhythmical structure with a middle range dynamic, and group 'c' has forte attacks on a couple variations of a chord. The idea of the title came to me in a school break when I had to eat microwave food all the time, therefore had the chance to explore what's on as microwave food for a. vegetarian in the supermarket. The presentation of that one product, Chinese. 'Udon Soup' attracted me in a different way. This traditional soup with noodles was packaged in the same way as all microwave products packaged (stiffen and unhealthy) and had those words on it: 'mix and enjoy with your sticks!". Those words applied to originally healthy food, now presented to the world in a plastic bowl tasting as tasteless as all other microwave foods. I was amazed by the contradiction that it was still advertised in a way suggesting a so traditional way of consuming. My marimba piece had been all over my table at the time and I was mixing their order and imaging how the player will enjoy the music with his/her mallets (sticks). So from such a connotation the piece got its name.

In Woodwind Quintet, I explore the possibilities of contour, motive and rhythmic development. )'be piece begins with a trill, which accelerates into a long tone. This basic idea is contrasted with lines with more shape, such as the quick descent or ascent, or their combination, the arc. As the piece progresses, lines are developed by growing longer. Each instrument has a period of music where its lines are especially highlighted in this process. The flow of the group gestures is balanced by moments of repose through long tones and silences.

Before the Gates to Nowhere I created the theme of the piece during summer of 2007. After working on it, my perception about the material has expanded. I'd interpret that theme as more like a question rather than a statement if it was a sentence. I hear the wanderings of the flute as inner conversations before some gates with long walls that create a kind of expectation by promising something new and different or biding something behind. The music is going to recreate the moment before those gates and question whether that new and different thing hidden behind the gates itself or that moment of expectation and those inner-conversations around it are more worthy or important.

Suite for Vibraset was commissioned by Chris Scarberry in 2007. The idea behind the piece is to incorporate the sounds of a vibraphone with that of a drum set. The first movement is a rhythmically driving piece that takes advantage of most of the surrounding instruments. Although there are no explicit examples of drum set sounds or "grooves", the piece was written from the vantage point of a drum set player.

Note

Jomie Jazz Center

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department presents a Society of Composers, Composition Concert, David Schoening, President, MU Chapter SCI, advisor:, Dr. Mark Zanter

Share

COinS