OTHER:

Pedagogical piano pieces

For a while I thought that piano teaching might develop into my career and that composing would be a component of it. I even started writing a method book to support my approach: style study, listening experiences, theory lessons, and an abundance of short pieces. In this ten-minute video I share several original pieces, starting with the simplest and ending with a couple of chord studies. Some of the pieces introduce students to common harmonic and style structures in jazz.

The Glass Menagerie (cl., hn., bells, guitar, vibes, vln., vcl.)

An Equity theatre company asked me to compose music for a production of the reading version of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. I sourced music for the dance hall and the Victrola, but at least as much original music needed to be written. Following the script’s directions, nearly an hour’s worth of music resulted.  For the curtain call, we used this medley of three of the main tunes: “Cotillion,” “Grace,” and “Try to be Tidy.”

Songs in the popular vein (voice and piano)

I include these pieces with some hesitation. They come from teenage years, but these two songs are no less representative of who I am musically. They were written to poems by Ron Emery, my first-year college roommate. He gave me permission to use them, or maybe he merely acquiesced. They are presented here in informal home recordings.