Budafulmusic

I recently had the privilege to compose incidental music for an upcoming Graduate speech recital. Sounds really academic, huh? Well don’t take it too seriously. This program is not for the long of face. In short, the extremely talented Allisha Sperr will be performing a series of short, absolutely hysterical comedy routines. I cannot begin to describe how funny this recital is going to be. You just have to see it for yourself to believe it.

This program takes place in Stratton Hall on the campus of BJU this Saturday, December the 5th at 7 o’ clock pm. Here are some audio samples:

Pre-show2: waltz

Pre-show1

Break their hearts, All is ha!

This second hymn tune in my short series of hymn tune postings is set to a common meter text by Isaac Watts. Based on Psalm 16, When God is Nigh is about God’s ever sure presence in our lives and the protection and comfort He provides us on our earthly journey and then talks of the glories and pleasures of heaven. This hymn tune is similar in style to the famous and gorgeous Passion Chorale. View and print the PDF here. Listen to a nice piano rendition of the harmonization here.

One of several projects I was given while in grad school was to write hymn tunes. Make them singable yet harmonically interesting and appropriate to the text; accessible to the average ear yet beautiful and compelling. Here is the first of three hymn tunes that I wrote. Of course, the first place I started was with the text. I discovered this Charles Wesley text on www.hymntime.com and renamed it: Eternal Praise. This text is about just that: the adoration and praise of Christ through all ages and for eternity in heaven. View and print the hymn here. Listen to me playing the hymn here. It is a cut above the cheap MIDI sounds on hymntime to be sure!

My composition recital check is days away and I just came from a great rehearsal with my soloist, orchestra and choir. In spite of all my measly worries as the composer, the people in my recital have come together and have begun to really make music together. I am exited about the possibilities for improvement over the next month as we move towards the recital date. But the first hump needs to be crossed on Saturday.

Dr. Forrest was very encouraging and hopeful after the rehearsal this evening. In spite of my short comings as a conductor, the music is really coming together. I am grateful to all the wonderful people who have so graciously given of their time to perform for me. Conducting aside, I don’t feel like I’m doing that much, they are the music.

Here is a picture of me sitting at the piano at the Help at Home Live show. I’m being interviewed by Gary Moore, the shows host.

In anticipation for a extremely busy semester, including choir, piano and percussion lessons, I’ve been composing music for my recital this summer. At this point, I am thinking that it will be divided into 3 sections, one of which I’m just finishing up writing.

While working on precomposition aspects of a different part of the recital I had an idea for a song cycle for baritone voice and piano. In case you aren’t aware, a song cycle is a grouping of several individual songs intended to be sung together as a whole, unified by a poet or as in my case, a topic or theme.

It is now nearly finished while the my other idea is still within the far reaches of my brain. Precomposition is now almost complete and it is time to write out what I have been thinking of for almost 2 years. School is looming ahead and there isn’t much time.

Looks different than when you last visited, huh? yeah, well, I had to change my theme so that I could post several pages of content. I’m keeping my eyes open for a better one but for now we’re stuck with this “Light” theme.

I’ve just added some new pages, basic stuff for now, that will eventually grow. I still have far to go in getting this site more functional.

Wow, the upcoming school year is fast approaching. One thing that I will be posting quite frequently is my composition recital for which the set dat is March 21, 2009. I have been mulling over several ideas this summer and have also written a few pieces that are possible entries into said recital. I’ll try and document my work as time permits. This next semester, I’ll be finishing up the writing of my recital (whether I want to or not) and will then begin the laborious process of gathering people to perform my work and rehearsing with them. It will be an exiting year.