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Compositions
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Based on the folk song melody entitled "Turtle Dove," this anthem for organ and mixed choir is appropriate for Good Friday or late Lenten services. The melody has the attitude of a lament, drawing focus to Christ's ultimate gift leading to the Easter celebration.
With words and melody by a then twelve-year old New Mexico daughter, this rousing, almost madrigalesque, secular choral work was arranged for the 2013 "Hey Mozart! New Mexico Child Composer Project."
The traditional sacred Christmas melody and text "Personent Hodie" is drawn from the mid-16th century Swedish collection "Piae Cantiones." Often set in a straight 2-beat measure fashion, this new SATB setting embraces the natural mixed meter nature of the text.
On a Sunday morning after a service, a young, 6 year old girl handed me a piece of paper with the text for this anthem. First written as a solo song, this melody and text have now become an accessible 2-part children's choir anthem with piano and flute or oboe obligato.
Based on a short poem by American poet Henry Van Dyke, this new work for alto soloist and a cappella choir reflects on the definition of "time" and how, in varying life circumstamces, each person's experience can be uniquely interpreted.
This is the first of three pieces that make up the set entitled "Sea Dreams." It is based on the poem "Pirate Song" by Robert Louis Stevenson, famous for his novel Treasure Island. Though this can be accompanied by piano, the cello and violin parts are particularly effective.
This second of three pieces belonging to the set entitled "Sea Dreams" is based on the poem "Requiem" also by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is engraved on his own headstone on the island of Samoa.
This final song from "Sea Dreams" is a setting of the well-known tune "Sing A Song of Sixpence" the text of which is thought to have been a secret advertisement to help lure perspective pirates into the dreaded pirate Blackbeard's employ.
Based on the traditional Magnificat (Song of Mary) text found in the Anglican book of common prayer, this a cappella setting creatively makes use of the evocative Advent/Christmas text and can now be paired with the brief Nunc Dimittis setting available from the composer.
This little known poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes has been set for four part a cappella treble chorus. Accessible for mature high school voices and older, this secular text would be appropriate for programs focusing on remembrance or nature.
The text for this emotional spiritual is a commentary on the biblical passage: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher. (John 20:11) Though the melody and first verse are from the traditional spiritual, additional verses from the 1852 Sacred Harp hymn "Weeping Mary" have been incorporated.