WORKS
_Works for Wind Band___________
HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL
On Behalf of a Grateful Nation (2015)—
My most recent work: a medium-easy concert band setting of an original melody—a bagpipe tune I wrote for a friend who fronts a Celtic band called the American Rogues. In this arrangement, an unaccompanied piccolo introduces the tune. Solemn military-style drums propel a straightforward presentation and development, leading to a climactic statement featuring optional bagpipes. I hope to post a recording soon.
Contact me for purchase or a perusal score.
Dancing on Marbles (2014)—
This is a medium piece for wind band featuring a recurring 5/8-7/8 hook amid more straightforward passages in 3/4. The title implies a slightly off-balance feeling, as if your feet might slip out from under you at any second. I had initially considered staying in 3/4 throughout and writing the odd-meter figures as syncopations, but Charlie Burts, who commissioned the piece for his Sidney Lanier Middle School Band in Fairfax, Virginia,
thought it would be more fun and challenging for his kids to count, feel and play in 5 and 7. The rhythms are consistent and repetitive, so the players can master them fairly easily.
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Festive Dances (2000)–
A grade 3-4 band piece, published by Carl Fischer. It’s my first published composition for wind band, a three-movement suite that pays homage to my composition and arranging teacher, Charles Carter, using his initials (CEC) as the motivic basis for the entire work. Charlie was a humble, funny man whom I’ve heard described quite aptly as a “genius teddy bear.” He composed many classics of the school-band repertoire, such as Overture for Winds, Queen City Suite, Rhapsodic Episode, Symphonic Overture and Capitol Hill March - all of which display Charlie’s remarkable gift for melodic invention and harmonic color, wrapped up in impeccable craftsmanship. If my piece does nothing more than show how much I admire those qualities, that will be enough. Charlie never got to hear “Festive Dances” - he died about a month before its premiere, and it is dedicated in part to his memory.
Ascendance (1998)–
published in 2002 by Carl Fischer – medium – available through JW Pepper and other distributors
Burst of Blue March (2011)—
A short march (based on an even shorter fanfare) with a lot of rhythmic energy. I hope to post a recording soon.
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Fantasia for a King: Variations on ‘Good King Wenceslas’ (1998)–
published in 2002 by Carl Fischer – medium – available through JW Pepper and other distributors
Flight of the Falcon (2003)–
published by Carl Fischer – medium – available through JW Pepper and other distributors
Mysterious Presence (2006)—
a chorale prelude written in memory of my nephew and based on the hymn “Father In Thy Mysterious Presence Kneeling.”
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Under the Double Eagle (J.F. Wagner, arranged by Robert Thurston, 2006),
published by Carl Fischer – medium easy band – available through JW Pepper and other distributors.
The Front Page (2005)–
a concert march commissioned by Tallahassee Winds, Tallahassee FL, and celebrating the 100th birthday of the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.
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Frontier (1990),
published in 2005 by Carl Fischer – medium – available through JW Pepper and other distributors
MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL
Here We Come a-Wassailing (traditional, arranged by Robert Thurston, 2007),
published by Carl Fischer – easy band – available through JW Pepper and other distributors.
Songs of the West: A Rhapsody for Band featuring “Cindy” and “Streets of Laredo” (traditional, arranged by Robert Thurston, 2003)
Two classic Western folk songs in an easy band setting, published by Carl Fischer.
Uprising (2003),
I often wait until I’ve finished a piece before deciding what to call it. The key of D minor with modal colors, plus aggressive percussion and a swift tempo, all combined to give this piece for first-year bands a hint of determined rebellion—conveniently (and I hope bloodlessly, or at least peacefully) channeled through musical instruments, of course—so
“Uprising” sounded right. Published by Carl Fischer.
Gates of Freedom (2001)–
A hymn-like march tune your beginners can play on their first concert. Published by Carl Fischer.
COLLEGE/PROFESSIONAL LEVEL
Departures (2014)—
A work aimed at college and professional wind bands, or mature high school groups. “Departures” is the last original piece I wrote while I was still a member of the US Air Force Band—so it commemorates my departure from the Band (and the military) after a 20-year career. I started out with the intent of making a few stylistic departures as well—trying out some musical tricks I don’t often use. What I found, the farther I got into writing the piece, was that old habits die hard. But I do love how the piece turned out, and I know you’ll enjoy the Air Force Band’s recording, conducted by Col. Larry Lang.
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Time Travels (2012)—
I wrote “Time Travels” with the simple objective of showing off the virtuosity of the supremely gifted musicians of The US Air Force Band. Col. Larry Lang conducted the premier at the Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 2012.
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Chief of Staff March (2010)—I wanted to write a military march in the Hollywood tradition of great marches like Jerry Goldsmith’s “Patton,” or John Williams’ “Midway.” I came up with the melody while walking from the US Capitol to the nearest Metro station. I didn’t have a pencil and paper with me (very uncharacteristic of me!)—but I did have my cell phone, so I texted the melody to myself using letters for note names and dashes for 8th-note place holders. The text version was in the key of C (easiest for punching out the note names with my thumbs), but I found that F worked better once I started scoring it. Otherwise, by the time I finished the march a couple of weeks later, the melody was virtually unchanged from the tune I texted to myself.
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Across the Clouds, for euphonium and band,
for euphonium and band, premiered by the US Army Band, Washington DC, Col. Gary Lamb, cond. – also arranged for soloist with piano.
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Meditation and Blues (2010)
for tuba and band—college and professional level.
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His Excellency’s Farewell (2009),
for narrator and band. The narration tells of General George Washington’s first retirement after the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783. It incorporates many quotes as he said goodbye to his troops and officers in New York City, then headed south on a “farewell tour” of sorts, stopping through Annapolis, Maryland to resign his commission before finishing his journey at his beloved Mount Vernon.
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High Flight (2007),
for chorus with band or orchestra—college and professional level, or mature high school groups.
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the sky on laughter-silvered wings….
I have always loved the sonnet “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee Jr., a young American pilot who forsook a scholarship to Yale in order to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in the fall of 1940, a little over a year before the United States entered World War II. Magee’s poem was inspired by the sight of the earth 33,000 feet below him as he piloted his Spitfire Mk I while based at RAF Llandow in Wales during the summer of 1941. “High Flight” celebrates not only the joy of flying, but the wondrous thrill of seeing creation from a whole new point of view. Magee included the poem in a letter he sent to his parents a few months before he was killed during a training flight in England on Dec. 11, 1941. He was only 19 years old.
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_Works for Jazz Ensemble___________
El Colado
published by Pro Jazz Charts
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
music by Albert Hague, lyrics by Dr. Seuss, arranged by Bob Thurston, published by Pro Jazz Charts