If you have a connection speed that enables you to download 11 megs in a reasonable amount of time (unlike me!), check out this link:
It’s Brian Bondari’s recent Carnegie Hall premiere, for flute and piano. The opening, by the way, is piano strings plucked with guitar picks, and a fist on low strings. WAY cool!
For the record: There are now a couple new pages in the list over on the right: A page about commissioning works, and a page of new music in print.
It seems like most of the time when someone “hears” that I’ll write pieces for commission, they’re surprised and interested. So I’m posting the basic info on that page.
The “New Music In Print” page will (hopefully) be a place where new releases are organized for easy viewing all in one place, instead of combing through blog entries.
Any suggestions for other pages would be most appreciated!
If you’re familiar with Hosanna from Words From Paradise, then you might want to check out this link; I’ve been spoofed! Never mind that Hosanna has an intensely spiritual meaning (Save Now!). It’s been converted, by someone with too much time on their hands, into an anthem exalting tropical fruit!
Ok, Andy, honestly, I have to admit: I laughed out loud! 
Well, school is back in session once again in the sunny Midwest. I’m teaching Theory III this fall- I’m really enjoying looking at Neapolitans and Aug 6 chords instead of teaching fundamentals- a nice change of pace!
I recently compiled this list elsewhere, and decided I’d post it here, at the risk of making a few enemies: Here is a list of advantages of Sibelius, over Finale, that were gleaned just from reading the Sibelius “handbook”. Last time I actually opened Sibelius, played around with it, and read the actual Reference Manual in more depth, my list increased exponentially. But here’s a list for starters. Perhaps some of these items will reveal my ignorance with Finale…but then again, perhaps any ignorances of mine regarding Finale will reveal something about the difficulty of learning it or finding things in the Help section!
I have to say, familiarity breeds contempt- it’s possible that if I was a dedicated Sibelius user, I’d be aware of a lot more problems. But right now, all that’s keeping me from switching full-time is the fact that all my publishers use Finale.
One interesting observation is that both Finale and Sibelius claim Hal Leonard as an example of how leading publishers use THEIR software…kinda funny.
Anyway, here’s the list…
The school year is about to begin! Lord willing, this will be my last year of being a student, EVER. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to it being done! But I’m going to try to learn as much as possible while I’m still an official student, and I don’t plan to ever stop learning.
Compositionally, I’ve been busy with putting together “Kids 4 Truth Songs”, a songbook for Kids 4 Truth that contains the 12 songs I wrote (Eileen Berry texts) the last couple summers, as well as 24 hymns related to the K4T doctrinal themes. I also recorded the piano accompaniment CD recently. Both will be available soon from K4T.
Arise Shine is mostly done. I’m waiting to buy Finale 2007 to let it create parts for me, instead of manually extracting them…hopefully. The West Valley commissioned piece is starting to gain some hints of a skeleton, at least, and I’m gearing up the more artsy side of my brain to write it. De Profundis is on the front burner as well. I’m trying to sort through mediocre ideas to find the absolute best ideas I can get. We’ll see…
Pedagogically, I’m teaching MTHC 205 this fall- that’s sophomore theory instead of freshman- I’m really looking forward to teaching some chromatic anomalies instead of music fundamentals.
Other than that, I’m keeping busy proofing pieces for various publishers, and starting preliminary plans for our move back to Greenville- only 9 months away now!
Newly in print: First, the children’s Christmas program that Addy and I collaborated on, “Tell Me The Story Of Jesus.” Soundforth did a beautiful job putting it together- it’s really nicely done.
Also, for the FIRST TIME EVER: there is now EASY Dan Forrest sacred piano music in print. (Pianists, don’t die of shock!) Volume One of Easy Seasonal Piano Arrangements is now in print- it includes Thanksgiving and Christmas music, suitable for first or second year students. There’s actually a “range” of “easy” throughout the book. Several include optional duet parts, and there’s a nice list of teacher’s focus points in the back. Now I have something to hand to people who squawk at me for easy arrangements!
