I am pleased to have two new selections available from the FJH Music Company this summer. The first is a transcription of a piece originally written for the River City Youth Brass Band in 2009. “A Frontier Fought and A City Found” retells a small part of the story from the Seven-years War in relation to the founding of Pittsburgh, […]
It has been a unique spring to say the least – I cannot remember a time that I have been busier with writing, guest conducting, concerts, teaching, and traveling. I am constantly humbled by colleagues both near and far who have selected “American Visions” for performance with their group. While there are program notes in the score, I feel led […]
I am pleased to announce that AWM Publishing will be releasing Marshalls of the Open Range in the summer of 2010. The piece was written as a challenge from friend and colleague, Dennis Emert last spring. The result was this piece, and his students at Kerr Elementary gave the debut performance. Probably the most humorous story I have ever been […]
An abridged version of this article appeared in the January 2014 issue of Teaching Music (a publication of NAfME). For a list of works that I have completed for this level, please click here. Within today’s middle school band programs around the country, there are many directors that must develop their student’s technical performance skills within the ensemble setting. Although […]
This week I began researching interpretation and feeling as part of my work at Kent State. At first glance, they seemed unrelated. However, the more I began reading perspectives of different composers and conductors, my conclusion is that great interpretation does not just recreate the composer’s intent but rather conveys feelings that the composer intended. The sources abounded including Mark […]
