composition

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF COMPOSITIONS

1984   Sunlight Dancing on the Water– solo piano, strings (1989)

1986   Clarinet Trio– clarinet, cello, piano

            Two Songs: fathandsbangrag, Death By Water– voice, piano

            Three Pieces for String Trio– violin, viola, cello

            Brass Quintet

1987   Three Pieces for Piano: The Climb, Plateau, The Way Home- piano

            Bug Music: The Ant, The Centipede, The Fly, The Germ (after poems by Ogden Nash)– voice, piano

            !Ingo– solo bassoon

            Triptych (1,2 & 3)– flute choir (from 6-12 flutes)

            Keeping Things Whole (after a poem by Mark Strand)– soprano voice, alto flute, cello, piano, harp, vibraphone, percussion

1988   Marco Polo and Kublai Khan (and their musings over invisible cities in a dying empire)– clarinet & viola

            Confessions of Sappho– 8 pt. Choral (ssaattbb)

            To a Kid Who Believes in Astrology (after a poem by Alan Dugan)– flute, cello, bassoon

            Heavy Breakers– 2 pianos

1989   Friday, July 28, 1989– solo actor, vocalist

            Smoothness of an Eight, Economy of a Four– percussion trio

            Crushing a Circle (the lady had sensual things on her mind)– soprano voice, harp, cello

            Banishing the Demons– chamber orchestra

            Bedouin in a Colorfast Society– 4 electric guitars, 4 dancers

1990   She Couldn’t Say It (after a poem by Gerald Early)– soprano voice, alto flute, cello, piano, harp, vibraphone, percussion

            Nocturne (Epithalamium for Cathy & Tom)– solo piano

            Two Flute Pieces: “a clear wet dawn…”, and “The Deer on Pine Mountain”– solo flute

            Nine Modular Pieces – violin and re-tuned guitar

1991   Variations (I dreamt of thorns)– solo cello

            Scenes (a book of eight solo piano pieces) – poems and music with drawings by artist friends

1992   These Birds (In These Shadows)– baritone voice, piano, cello, cymbals (after a poem by Gerald Stern)

            The Thistle Must Have Juices– cello, piano (for John Cage)

            See How Your Dark Clouds All Come Dancing– 10 piece brass ensemble

1994   Where a Great Wind Came and Went, the Wild Grass Lies Sleeping – string quartet: 2 violins, viola, cello

            Slick Boy (The Everyman Trilogy)– live and tape music for a multi-act dance performance (choreographer Jordan Fuchs)

1995   Creeping Dawn: Mountain & Shadow– 24 piece recorder Quire

1996   Water– CD of original songs also string arrangements of these songs for performance

1998   You Never Cried– recorded original compositions for multi-sectioned dance performance including found sounds and composed music for piano, violin, guitar, drums & whistle.   (choreographer: Christina Black)

1999   Things So High and Strange– 30 minute composition for dance and live instruments: 3 electric guitars, 3 bass drums, violin, viola, cello, and cymbals for all. (choreographer Christina Black)

2003   Three Pieces– for SATB recorder quartet: “leaves in the river: autumn”, “old music box”, and “reflected light on buildings: morning”

2004   Scene– trombone quintet

2006   Crushing A Circle– edited for voice with solo harp accompaniment

2007   Pastime– 35 minute composition for dance inspired by baseball. Sounds include: field recordings and other samples, solo piano, recorder orchestra, electric guitars and saxophones. (choreographer Christina Black)

2009   Inner Postcards from San Francisco– three pieces inspired by San Francisco locations, written for the Bernal Hill Players for flute, Bb clarinet, and piano. Partially funded by a grant from Subito! and recorded with a CMC professional enrichment grant. Movements: 1. With the Birds Above Fort Funston, 2. At the Fog Line (Clayton St, Ashbury Heights), 3. Scherzo- A Walking Race with the #33 Bus.

2011   Extinction Burst: a dance of lost movement– partially original music to be performed live as part of a dance installation at the California Academy of Sciences. Much of the music was made as a collage (mashup) of existing songs and pieces of unrelated music layered and sung by the dancers. (choreographed, conceived and produced by Christina Black)

2012   In Memoriam: a Wished-for Song (in honor of Michael Knapp)– music for soprano vocal and 8 cellos written to celebrate the life of friend and fellow teacher Michael Knapp. The music was written to be performed by his cello students on the occasion of his memorial. Text by Rumi.

2013   Monkey Gone to Heaven-.music about primates and prayer written for EmSpace’s dance performance (choreographer Erin Mei-Ling Stuart)

            Sacrificial Collage– music for harpsichord and percussion a commission to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Rite of Spring.

2018   Book of the Dead– 3 pieces for soprano voice and piano using text from Gerald Stern’s book Galaxy Love. Songs: Galaxy Love, Book of the Dead, and Skylark.

2021   Fanfare: a returning– a short piece for SATB recorder quartet commissioned and written in celebration of Play the Recorder Month for the American Recorder Society.

Recent projects in various states of completion include: a group of flute and piano pieces, music for string quartet, a set of banjo ensemble pieces, an orchestral version of Aesop: Alive and Well for storyteller and orchestra, and music for 16 piece recorder ensemble.