MSU Compositions

Old Man de-Composing

Don't be confused by the imagery above.

  • My legs don't work like that. My knees hurt all the time.
  • I'm never in that kind of hurry as I leave early to get a good parking space near the elevator.
  • I don't have that much hair anymore.
  • That cool European backpack lasted about 10 minutes and has been replaced by one worthy of Kilimanjaro as these textbooks are heavy.
  • Skirts are worn by a wide variety of people around here ~ don't make assumptions.
  • There are trees and long, long, infernally long sidewalks on campus ~ so that's true.
  • The music building looks like a post-industrial operating room where Stepford wives are built. It doesn't look like a cute school house.

Here's some compositions I've created while taking classes. Not the dumb stuff, but the reasonably okay stuff. In music school, we're actively engaged in creating music that sounds ridiculous and takes explaining. I'm trying to minimize the stupidness of it all, but gosh it's alluring to put wrong notes and goofy rhythms down on paper.

Pretty Good Stuff

My composition professor David Farrell was kind enough to have three professionals play our string trios in class. Here's my treatment of Emily Dickinson's poem called Before the Ice.


An Old Lawnmower: Percussion PDF

Before the Ice: String Trio PDF

Bill's Sonnet No. 2: Saxophone, Piano and Voice PDF

Dying of the Light: Symphony PDF Guitar PDF

Four Trumpets: Brass PDF

Lost Waltz: Piano & Voice PDF

Sparks of Octarine: Guitar PDF

Other Amusements

A Handsome Little Sum Theory II Project 1: Voice PDF

Smarmy Theory 1 Project 2: Piano PDF

Wear a Hat When You Go Outside Theory II Project 2: Voice PDF

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