pedernal’s ashes (2024)

for soloist and electronics

originally for trumpet and modular synth

duration; 8:15

I) gathering at sunset

II) outbound under moonlight

III) a clearing (ghost story 1)

IV) onward through the night

V) hillside apparitions (ghost story 2)

VI) switchback

VII) peak (ghost story 3)

VIII to dust

Pedernal's Ashes was inspired by a Halloween storytelling hike at Ghost Ranch in Northwestern New Mexico. The title refers to Cerro Pedernal and the fact that Georgia O'Keeffe's ashes were spread on the mesa’s iconic flat peak.

Available Now: Bandcamp

Available in two versions: The original version includes my performance on trumpet but doesn’t include sheet music. The play-along version includes a PDF sheet music portfolio as bonus content along with the electronics audio with the trumpet performance removed.

The PDF sheet music portfolio Includes parts for instruments in C, Bb, Eb, & F with standard orchestration clefs for solo woodwinds, brass, and stringed instruments.

Suitable for high school and above.

of the right opinion (2022)

for brass quintet

(2) trumpets in Bb/horn in F/trombone/tuba

duration; 11:15

I) orthodoxies and shadows

II) pause, perhaps forever

III) spark

Of the Right Opinion imagines a place where a civilization arises, is torn apart by conflicts brought on by the strict adherence to a set of beliefs, implodes, and disappears. There is a moment of calm and emptiness as the stage resets. Eventually, the spark of civilization reignites, and the whole play reenacts itself. Will this civilization avoid the same mistakes when the push to adhere to "the right opinion" inevitably raises its ugly head?

PDF: $16.00

*Print: $40.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print $56.00; includes $8.00 s&h

sonata for trumpet and piano (2021)

for trumpet in C or Bb (includes parts for both)

duration; 16:30

I) spinning plates

II) thermals

III) noir / IV) dance mode

The chaos of political machinations and biological catastrophe creates a need to focus attention within. Turning away and finding one's sense of balance and collective protection from infirmity requires a fluid embrace of isolationism, deep empathy, and self-love. Multiple storms pass. Desire and undeniable instincts lead back into the warm light of acceptance, forgiveness, and community, but with a greater appreciation for the fragility of our shared existence.

PDF: $13.00

*Print: $34.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $40.00; includes $8.00 s&h

fanfare for something else (2020)

for unaccompanied trumpet in c

Duration; 2:30

Written during the run-up to the 2020 American Presidential election, this fanfare is a call for change from whatever circumstances you may want to alter.

PDF: $2.50

*Print: $12.00, includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $14.00, includes $8.00 s&h

probe (2020)

for percussion octet

duration; 11:05

crotales / handbells / vibraphone / marimba

(4)timpani / roto-toms / sand blocks / (3)flower pots

rainstick / claves / (2)bongos

boomwhackers (C maj. diatonic set, chromatics set, treble extension set)

Dragonfly, Perseverance, and Alvin: three probes exploring very different environments to learn more about our place in the universe.

Dragonfly is a rotorcraft expected to perform vertical take-offs and landings on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan in 2034. Titan is a world like our own with oceans, rivers, and lakes. On Titan though, our water cycle is replaced with hydrocarbons, it rains liquid methane, and the surface temperature averages -179 degrees Celsius. The first section of Probe features contrapuntal melodies with a set of roto-toms representing the probe, flower pots representing the possibility of something growing in such a frigid place, and a rainstick representing the potential food source for a hypothetical methanogen. 

Perseverance will roam the dry, dusty surface of Mars beginning in 2021 drilling and preparing samples that will, for the first time, be returned to Earth. Perseverance will also carry with it a small rotorcraft to prove the ability of flight within Mars’ thin atmosphere. In the second section, tonal harmony is replaced with sandpaper blocks, claves, and bongos with the roto-toms now playing the role of both the secondary rotorcraft and the Martian wind. 

Alvin has been ferrying explorers to the deepest parts of Earth's oceans and providing insights into the origins of life since the 1970s. The discovery of large tubeworms living in an environment without sunlight, thriving on the energy provided to them by hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, changed our understanding of how life might thrive in many environments across the universe. The conclusion of Probe features Boomwhackers appearing as tubeworms. 

PDF: $14.00

*Print: $36.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $43.00; includes $8.00 s&h

wind quintet (2019)

“all that is solid melts into air”

duration; 12:00

flute (piccolo, 3rd mvt. only) / oboe / clarinet in Bb / horn in F / bassoon

I) alla marcia (the heroism of modern life)

II) declamando (nakedness: the unaccommodated man)

III) animato, en pressant (the mire of the macadam)

IV) pastorale (pastoral and counter-pastoral modernism)

V) animato, en retenant (the twentieth century: the city rises, the city fades)

this work is inspired by and takes its subtitles from “All That Is Solid Melts Into Air” by Marshall Berman.

PDF: $16.00

*Print: $40.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print $56.00; includes $8.00 s&h

watches of the night (2019)

for horn in F and piano

duration; 10:45

I) fIrst watch (2200)

II) second watch (0200)

III) third watch (0600)

A lyrical, intermediate-level horn sonata inspired by the works of Rudyard Kipling and Neil Gaiman.

PDF: $7.00

*Print: $22.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $25.50; includes $8.00 s&h

a parliament of owls (2018)

for trombone octet

duration; 4:49

alto / (6)tenor / bass

Higher, faster, louder. Soar. Attack!

PDF: $15.00

*Print: $38.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print $45.50; includes $8.00 s&h

the backbone of night (2017)

a chamber symphony in one movement

duration; 15:00

flute/ oboe / clarinet in Bb / bassoon / trumpet in C / horn in F / trombone / tuba

violin / viola / cello

bells / vibraphone / xylophone / marimba / snare drum bass drum / triangle

The Backbone of Night is a piece about astrophilia and the loss of the night sky in our urban centers. The title is taken from a painting by Jon Lomberg.

PDF: $125.00

*Print: $250.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $320.00; includes $8.00 s&h

aviary (2017)

for unaccompanied Bb clarinet

duration; 6:30

I) diva turkey misses curtain call

II) whooper cushion

III) bill and coo of chirpendale

Aviary was inspired by several things, including an embarrassing event from my youth when I accidentally missed an extraordinary musical performance by running out of gas on the way to the show; a runaway turkey inside Garner State Park in Texas; a novelty film by the vaudevillian and self-taught clarinetist Ken Murray; the conservation work of Dr. George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation; and the annual Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, TX.

PDF: $5.00

*Print: $18.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $20.50; includes $8.00 s&h

duo (2016)

for unaccompanied flute and oboe

duration; 8:00

I) allegro

II) slow

III) spiritedly

DUO is a conversation between two instruments that share many of the same functions within an ensemble, although they each have their own unique qualities that make them invaluable. As with many well-suited pairings of unique individuals, sometimes each member of the DUO speaks the same language but from a different perspective. This is represented musically in the second movement by an extended palindrome. At other times, each member flies right past the other without much consideration. Conversations often remain left open. Hopefully, for the sake of the DUO, frustrations and arguments (represented musically both with strings of monotonous chromaticism and long "sighs" through the instrument while the other is "talking") resolve harmoniously, like in the three-pitch "I Love You" motive that closes the second movement.

PDF: $8.00

*Print: $24.00; includes $8.00 s&h

PDF+Print: $28.00; includes $8.00 s&h

*All print editions are printed on demand. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. If you need the music sooner, we recommend purchasing the PDF+Print option. You will receive the PDFs immediately after payment processing. Works for band and my chamber symphony include a spiral bound 11X17 score and 8.5X11 parts. Choral works are standard 6.5X10.5 octavos with 8.5X11 instrumental parts. All other works include 8.5X11 scores and parts.