Transition – Piano Reduction Release

September 25th, 2012

I know that at least a few people have been anxiously waiting for me to finish the piano reduction for my alto saxophone concerto, Transition. This is an officially announcement to say that I have now officially included the piano reduction in both versions of the Transition download. For more details, please visit the Transition page for more details.


Wind Band – Shekinah

November 9th, 2011

Even while being mostly half and whole notes, this composition for wind band can be extremely challenging. The wide spacing of perfect intervals at exposed moments between instruments of different families demands that the wind band have an acute sense of intonation in order to have a pleasing performance. Also, in order for this wind band composition to be effective, it must be noted that the climax of the music is intended to be at mm. 21 and not at the very end. It cannot be stressed enough how massive the sound of the bass drums needs to be at that moment. If a cannon were practical I would have notated for that to be used as well (if you’re able to use one, feel free). By climax, I mean to say what will be perceived as the loudest and most exciting moment for the average listener. After this happens, the rest of the work is to sound so other-worldly that the strangeness causes discomfort and awe. The end can be taken as a climax of emotion and the other a climax of power.

Download Score and Parts (pdf) – $39.99
 Foreign Currency? Click Here.

The download includes 8.5×11 and 11×17 versions of the score.

Sample score and parts

This wind band composition is a programatic work based on the text of Exodus 33:18-21 in which Moses said to God “Now show me your glory.” God proceeded to hide Moses in the cleft of a rock, put his hand over Moses as he passed, and then allowed Moses see His back. The sound in the beginning depicts a distant radiance as the Almighty approached. When the sound becomes as big and radiant as possible, the massive bass drum hit is the hand of God coming down to hide Moses in the rock. This is followed by the full radiance of God seeping through the cracks between God’s hand and the rock as He passes by. At last, the end of the piece depicts God lifting his hand from the rock and letting Moses see His back. It would be an other-worldly and terrifying experience to perceive the holiness of God in this way.


Transition

November 4th, 2011

This sample is taken from my album, Prelude. Click here  for more information.

Download score, parts, and solo part (PDF) ($129.99). (Includes 8.5×11 and 11×17 versions of the score as well as a complimentary piano reduction.)
Foreign Currency? Click Here.

Purchase piano reduction, solo part, and accompaniment mp3 ($16.49)

Sample accompaniment mp3

Sample scores

Sample piano reduction

Duration: 21:00

Performance notes: This Concerto features an extremely difficult saxophone part utilizing the saxophone’s countless timbres, agility, and altissimo register. The performer must have a particularly acute sense of rhythmic precision and strong upper range; like any other concerto in history the soloist must be an extremely accomplished musician. There are also special effects that are particular to the woodwind family including multi-phonics, growling, pitch bends, portamenti, and quarter tone trills.

If the performer generally has a dark sound, the soloist will be overpowered, particularly in the second movement. This can compensated for by the performer using a brighter timbre during these densely scored sections, performing in a brighter hall, telling the band to switch to one on a part, or by artificial amplification. Be sure to consult a sound engineer on how to amplify the soloist if you choose this solution.

Musical interpretation: The title of this work has two meanings. In one sense it is the representation of life in general going through change. In order to settle upon a contented state, one must not fight the changes they go through in life but rather change their attitude towards their new surroundings. It is not our circumstances that make us happy, but our attitude towards our surroundings that governs how we feel. After all, a person can have everything in the world going their way and still be unhappy. I have attempted to capture this concept with this work. My suggestion to see this in the music is to think of the saxophone as a person seeking contentment and the band as the person’s environment (I hope you now see why I have chosen to not thin the orchestration).

On the other hand, this work is a perfect representation of how I have viewed life throughout the year of June 2007 through June 2008. I listen to this work and remember days and times that I assign to certain sections of the piece, some of which are documented in my journal. I will obviously not go into depth about this, but I will leave this by saying that I learned a lot that year.

In a sense you can say that this piece is about growing up; the attitudes of a person before they start to mature, the pain that is required to mature, and then finally looking at the world through eyes that are seeking deeper understanding. In any case, the work represents a person painfully transitioning into a new and better outlook on life.


Prelude

April 16th, 2009

Click here for more information about the saxophone concerto, Transition.

Duration: 49:34

Prelude is the project I have constructed to begin promoting myself as a composer. A previous version was sent to graduate schools as part of my portfolio, but has since been improved in significant ways. The main improvement (besides the sound quality being better over all) is that I have recorded the saxophone part for Transition, capturing the emotion and passion of the piece much more effectively than a synthesizer ever could. However, I should be sure to mention that the recording is very much a studio production, in that there is no possible way that I could perform the concerto in real life to that level of expertise. I have no shame in admitting this since I am not a performer and don’t plan to be.

This project includes what I consider to be my strongest compositions upon graduating from Cornerstone University. It is entitled Prelude since all of the work is not the work of a professional, but a student attempting to become a professional. It is the work that I did to prepare for the future projects that I intend to complete as my career unfolds. This of course not to downplay the quality of the production or to lower your expectations, but to make it clear that this represents where I am coming from and not necessarily where I am going.

Track listing:

1.Tear of Ambiguity———-piano-synthetic realization—6:34

2.The Dark Process———-full orchestra-synthetic realization—17:48

3.Vagrant Contemplation—alto saxophone-performed by Caleb Hugo—4:40

4.Transition——————alto saxophone and wind band-performed by Caleb Hugo and synthesizers—20:23

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