New Music for Concert and Jazz Bands

I know this is "off the subject", but what the heck, it's my web site, right? For many years I have been an active arranger, transcriber and composer of concert band music. I have a unique style, not quite as formula oriented as a lot of stuff on the market today. I'm not anywhere close to a lot of great composers out there today, but, as a self-trained composer I can hold my own. It is quality literature that I can guarantee your students will enjoy playing, and your audience will enjoy listening to. It is more of a hobby than anything else, so the good news is, if you would like to try one of my works, the first one is FREE!!! If you can help out with shipping and handling , that would be great, if not, I'm not going to worry about it. It's the old honor system.

Over the years, I have sent my concert band list out to community bands, high schools , and colleges all around the world. I had a lot of bands respond to my letters, and sent out over 100 copies of my works out the last two years. Most of my new contacts have been on line with "Band Chat" sponsored by Andy McMahan. I write music simply for the love of it, and am really not anticipating any financial gain. So here is a proposal I would like you and your band to consider.

I will provide a full score, and one copy of each part (that you can duplicate to fit your needs) on any of the titles listed below. I will mail to your organization the very first chart at my own expense. In this way, you can "check it out" and see if it might be something your organization can use. As I said earlier, if you can help out with expenses great, but not required. In this way, there is NO RISK to you. At the very least, you have something your band can practice sight reading with, that you know they have never seen before. If you use it, and might be interested in any additional titles later on, let me know what you want, I'll mail it to you and bill you later. The charge will be $5.00 for all ensembles, $10.00 for each concert work where the conductor's score is 34 pages or less, or $15.00 if the score is 35 pages or over. The fee is designed to cover my copying costs at "Staples," and mailing it to the address you indicate. My motivation for writing, is to hopefully hear my music played. I do ask that if you program anything I have written, if you could please just let me know, and, if possible, mail me a cassette tape of the work at, or just prior to its performance. Also, a copy of your concert program would be appreciated, if you have one. A lot of my music has not yet been played, and I have only heard it in my head.

Below is a list of works for your consideration by category:

Transcriptions / Arrangements

• The Overture From The Wasps by Ralph Vaughan Williams
  It was written in 1909, and I believe it is the only opera ever written by Mr. Williams. This is my latest work, and it is fast and furious, as the title might indicate, with a typically slow and lyrical English Folk Song middle section. Considering his popularity in the wind band literature, it is amazing that we do not more of his works available to us. For this reason, if no other, The Wasps is "must try" with your group.
• Adagietto from Symphony #5 by Gustav Mahler
  Very slow and expressive, a great warm up or program piece. If you like Mahler, this is a must!
• The Russian Army March
  This was (or maybe still is) the official march of Russia's Red Army. It is no wonder why during the "Cold War" it was never published, but if you are always looking for "different" sounding marches, this is one you should try. It starts soft, builds to a big impact, and then fades out again.
• Symphony #7 (Leningrad) 1st Movement Excerpts, written by Shostakovich
  It is the middle section of the first movement that Bartok later labeled "obscene." I always kind of liked it though. Note: this is locked into to a copyright agreement of $50.00 to Boosey & Hawkes. Because of the cost I wave all of my fees.

Original Overtures

• Fantasy on "Black Is The Color Of My True Loves Hair"
  Now I wrote Fantasy on "Black Is The Color Of My True Loves Hair" for my twin daughters to be featured their senior year at their high schools Spring Concert. Erin and Ryan play flute, and I wrote it to "co-feature" them both equally in a solo capacity. It is a hard work to describe, in that it combines drum set and electric bass, with two soloists (either flute or clarinet) in a concerto like work. This gives it a very contemporary feel and even offers an optional improvisation section in the middle, but it definitely is a concert, not a jazz piece. It begins and ends with the traditional American song Black is the Color, and the middle section is a hard driving 6/8 original work I initially wrote for chorus called Tales of American Songs. Both themes are bounced back and forth, held together with the rhythm section and a variety of accessory percussion, until near the end, where both the triple and duple meter themes come together. Now that I have you thoroughly confused, I guess you will have to take a look at this one yourself to see what I mean.

Ensembles

• A Medieval Sketch
  An original work for 4 clarinets, or 3 clarinets and one bass clarinet. A-B-A format is used, and is very couterpuntal, almost "fugue like" in texture.
• British Fanfare and March
  A brass sextet using typical quintet instrumentation plus a baritone. It combine several British Band favorites, and is one your brass players will have a lot of fun working up.

Jazz works for Full Jazz bands and Combos available as well

Drop me a line and I can fill you in on what is happening here. Solid grade 3 to four for full band, and the combos are more for solid middle school and easy high school, with VERY flexible instrumentation.

I also have two grade 2 � works for middle school bands if you would be interested. A real fun arrangement of Grieg's Hall Of The Mountain King (where your band can accelerate to as fast as they can technically handle it), and an original work titled A Medieval Sketch.