A Journey, some Pirates, a Jig, and a “Frontier…”

On the horizon – Pirates! (a 2009 J.W.Pepper’s Editor’s Choice) and Irish Jig for Young Feet will be available this summer from FJH Music.  Irish Jig for Young Feet is a delightful little 6/8 jig with some call and response between the percussionists and the winds players (and their feet!).  My thanks goes out to Tad Greig who was the […]

Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi, You’re My Only Hope…

So those of you who follow my survival on Facebook hopefully have realized by now – I am a huge Star Wars fan.  A friend of a friend was actually worried about me for awhile thinking I was participating in a cult that believed the “force” was a religion, and George Lucas was a “high priest” (thanks alot Bob!).  But […]

A Frontier Fought and a City Found

I was honored to be asked by friend and colleague Drew Fennell to write for the River City Youth Brass Band.  They will present “A Frontier Fought and A City Found” on May 31, 2009 of this year.  The piece is a historical sonic potrait of the battles fought between the British and the French during the 1750’s around Pittsburgh.  […]

Who’s next?

The end of October to now has been a bit of a blur – football playoffs, honors band auditions, KSU work, finishing up two new pieces and digging in on a third one, and the big news the birth of my son.  He joins me awash in a sea of estrogen – but if you have met my daughters and […]

Where there’s smoke there’s fire…and hey, is that my middle school band room?

The morning was calm.  Too calm.  After taking one last drink of coffee, I picked up my scores, baton, and tuner and began walking towards the podium.  In just seconds part of my middle school band would descend upon our rehearsal room eager to learn and play music (or maybe it was just the sugar from the snack line at […]

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