Romance and Tarantella

Once again, I am endebted to Christopher Marks for championing my music.Here is a lovely recital he did recently on a pretty terrible instrument. Chris really made the Reuter POFS 1000 sound better than I’ve ever heard.I also love how he plays my piece....

Chopin’s DaVinci Code or The Secret of Phi

It appears that my mentor, Terry Mohn, has finally come up with some applications of the Golden Ratio that I think we can all support. The theory’s application to the arts is something that has been discussed since the Renaissance.It seems like there is...

My funky, latin jazz cello sonata

I received a commission from the National Music Teachers Association and Nebraska Music Teachers Association to write a new piece for their state convention last year.I wrote a cello “sonata” with the idea that I would try to write something fun and not...

Jazz Cello: All the things you are

Here is a sample of Justin Lepard and I playing together. This was from our Feb. 3 concert. After we finished a concert of modern cello music, we decided to play some standards for everyone. I think this is super fun, and I love playing with Justin.

Relax, don’t do it

I’ve been extra grumbly lately. I’m sure all of you people out there on the internets will tell me if I’m becoming too much of an old man.So, lately, I’ve been hearing my local NPR station describe the music that they play all the time as...

Musical Universalism clarified some more

Thanks to some pointed questions from my dear friend, Chris Krull, I am heading back to first principles and trying to clarify what I’m really trying to protect.Chris very correctly pointed out to me the dangers of saying something was “universal” in...

Frozen peas vs. musical universalism

I have quite a few friends, students, and colleagues that have been posting an NPR story about the lack of universal aesthetic experience when listening to music. You can read that article here. The study is by scholars from MacGill University who were playing Western...

Teaching composition: narrative analysis

I first learned the term “narrative analysis” from Mike Siciliano. The style of analysis made so much sense to me. It was one of those things that you learn, and after you learn it, you say, “Hey, someone made a name for the thing that I’ve...