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3 Preludes on St Anne for solo piano plus for organ with brass descants

Mov. 1 — Prelude

Mov. 2 — Offertory

Mov. 3 — Postlude

All three were composed during the height of the pandemic. The video of Mov. 2 was recorded at that time. The videos of Mov. 1 and Mov. 3 were recorded recently. The video below with the organ and brass descants was also composed and recorded during the pandemic as part of online services during lockdown.

The hymn tune on which the above three preludes are based is called St. Anne. Hymn tunes have names which aren’t necessarily related to the words, since hymnals in the old days only gave the words. Hymn texts were sung to any tune that had a metrical scheme that fit the text.

St. Anne is most commonly associated these days with the words to O God, Our Help in Ages Past, by the hymnodist Issac Watts. The tune, St. Anne, was written by William Croft (1677-1727) when Croft was organist at St Anne’s Church in Soho. Croft’s musical mentor was John Blow.

Even people who are church goers aren’t often familiar with classical hymn tunes unless they’re members of a denomination which retains that tradition. Even if they do maintain the classical hymn tune tradition, many churches don’t even have hymnals anymore, using only projections . That’s why I’ve include the following video. Hopefully, you’ll hear ghosts of the hymn tune in my three preludes based on it.

If you’re afflicted with the music theory virus, and have to “figure things out” in the realm of words and ideas (instead of sound), the tune in the postlude (mov. 3) is in the left hand of the pianissimo passages. (I’ll let you figure out what’s happening in the forte passages on your own.)

In the Offertory (mov. 2), in the first half, the tune is in the thumb of the left hand; in the second half, it’s in the pinkie finger of the right hand.

In the prelude (mov. 1)…damned if I know where it is, but I can feel it’s there somewhere!

Sheet Music available at the following links

Complete (best deal)
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1084639/Product.aspx
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/3-preludes-on-st-anne-o-god-our-help-in-ages-past-for-solo-piano-digital-sheet-music/21972220

mov 1
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1084641/Product.aspx
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/3-preludes-on-st-anne-mov-1-prelude-digital-sheet-music/21981075

mov 2
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1084642/Product.aspx
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/3-preludes-on-st-anne-mov-2-offertory-digital-sheet-music/21981077

mov 3
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1084643/Product.aspx
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/3-preludes-on-st-anne-mov-3-postlude-digital-sheet-music/21981078

A “legit” piano sonata

I’m in the final month of my tenure as music director at the Lakewood UnitedaChurch of Christ, the best church job I’ve ever had, the one most in alignment with my personal values and beliefs (although mine are decidedly more metaphysical than traditional). I’ve been there so long I can’t even remember how long. I know it’s more than 15 years.

But now, as one by one, my different career roles (first the university, then the commercial music director, and now church musician) have given way to a single focus, I’ll be spending my creative efforts on just my music composition (and related activites, such as self-publishing, making videos, and finding appropriate intimate venues to play some of my music live).

That last related activity means practicing to play what amounts to recitals again. Playing recitals isn’t a walk in the park; it’s hard work. As part of that, I’m practicing, practicing, practicing! My endurance is improving.

If you think you have the endurance to listen to all four movements in a row of this new piano sonata, A Random Day, here’s the four different movement videos stitched together into one video.

If not, I definitely understand! (When practicing all four in a row I grow weary myself.) If all you have time for is just the new movement, here it is (movement #3, Conversing with Trees and Their Friends While Walking at First Light). I’ve posted movements 1, 2, and 4 before.

Within a week, the sheet music will be available at sheetmusicdirect and sheetmusicplus for the seperate individual movements or, if desired, for all four as the complete piece (all four movements). I’ll add those links to this post when available.

In case you’re curious what the titles are about, they’re all about not particularly profound common occurrences/memories that might occur in any random day that, although mundane events, sometimes lead to mystical experiences almost as if my accident.

Fantasy for Harp and Chamber Orchestra

Way, way back pre-1999…I don’t even remember the exact date, probably early 90s, maybe late 80s, I wrote a piece call Caprice for Piano and Chamber Orchestra. It was performed at USF, Teresa Rose, pianist. In discussing the composition’s future with my friend and USF faculty colleague, Robert Helps, he wisely said that short concerti for piano are seldom performed for a variety of reasons.

So, the piece lay dormant in the proverbial drawer and I didn’t pursue it. But sometime around 2016 I decided to resurrect it as a piece for harp and chamber orchestra. That resulted in this computer generated performance.

Now in my 80s, I’m tidying up the musical efforts of my life. Hence posting that here.

Most of the YouTube stuff I’ve done recently has been my short piano pieces and arrangements. They’ve sold a bit on the Hal Leonard self-publishing sites. For at least a decade I’ve not written for anything that wasn’t “useful,” short pieces playable by mere mortals and choral music for the choir at Lakewood UCC where I’m the music director.

Listening to this old computer generated orchestral piece has encouraged me to start writing “useless” music again—music that’s unlikely to ever be performed. I will probably start with orchestrating some of my piano pieces. Orchestration is fun.

Sitting in One Kitchen Amid Echoes of Others

This is the final movement of a short, 4-movement piece, entitled A Random Day, that starts with The Little Room Under the Stairs followed by A Memory Discovered in the Pocket of a Coat Long Unworn. There’ll be one more movement between Coat Long Unworn and this piece, Sitting in One Kitchen Amid Echoes of Others.

A Random Day along with two other short multiple movement pieces are intended for another BandCamp digital album that I’ll discuss in a later post.

I’ve sat in so many kitchens. Seemingly countless others. It’s the heart of any home.

A Memory Discovered in the Pocket of a Coat Long Unworn

As an undergraduate at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, my composition teacher was Stanworth Beckler. I learned so much from him. As with all real learning it’s not the information that’s presented in lessons and lectures, it’s the off-hand comment, almost in passing that sticks with you and guides and comforts you decades later. Several of his stick with me to this day.

Beckler taught a course one semester that was the result of his own in-depth study and analysis of ALL of the compositions of Igor Stravinsky. What a course! For the longest time I carefully kept his handouts. But…life. I no longer have them. If there’s any Beckler students out there who have those notes I will happily pay for their duplication and postage. They’re priceless.

Anyway…After listening to the complete works of Stravinsky over a semester and hearing Beckler’s analyses, one day I had the distinct impression that Stravinsky’s oeuvre is his own self-instruction in how to write music. That may seem like a peculiar observation for someone who wrote The Rite of Spring; he knew how to write music! But, alas, you have to learn all over again, every piece, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, ever since we entered the non-common-practice period (pretty much post Wagner to the present day).

I too am still trying to figure out how to compose and each piece I try to chip away at a new skill a little bit. (No, I won’t tell which skill it is for this piece.)

Resignation (solo piano, live 2021)

I’m finishing up posting a digital album on BandCamp of piano solo arrangements of some of my favorite Appalachian/British/Irish folk hymns. I’m able to able to post videos of my playing the tunes on BandCamp that are also available there as well as mp3 files/albums for download and streaming.

This video is from 2021, we were in the latter stages of the pandemic. I was 55 pounds heavier than I am now, but I love this particular performance so much, it’s the one I wanted to use for this new digital album (The River Strong). More about that album soon.

Ancient history…

In 1969, I became the first composition teacher at USF (also teaching theory courses and comp related courses such as orchestration). I created USF’s electronic music studio. Before, at Eastman, I had been the 1st graduate assistant assigned to build Eastman’s electronic music studio under my major professor and director of the studio, Wayne Barlow. Back in those olden days, my parent’s day (Leon Theremin, Tod Dockstader, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, Edgard Varèse) and then, in my day (Morton Subotnick, Wendy Carlos and others post the advent of synthesizers), it was all called “electronic music.”

Quite aside from the fact that all my current recordings use only sampled sounds, I would not consider it electronic music in the aforementioned sense. Mainly because I only use electronic sounds in lieu of acoustic instruments. I’m really writing for acoustic instruments that I can’t afford to record, so I use samples which I can.

I haven’t written any real electronic music since way back in the last century, about 1993. I’m trying to organize all the stuff I’ve written over the past years, and I keep uncovering things I’ve forgotten.

This post shares a digital album of “electronica” (see further discussion of terminology further down the post) I’d forgotten I’d done: Tales of the Laughing Wizards. That link will take you to BandCamp where you can listen to the tracks a few times free of charge. Also, I’ve given the links to the separate tracks below.

  1. Iliru
  2. Seusur
  3. Janarnkarr
  4. Calulaith
  5. Gahnende
  6. Homuro
  7. M’urneng
  8. Alrareven
  9. Lorserathathgha

Above, I referred to Tales of the Laughing Wizards as “electronica.” These days of precise music marketing terms (which is such a bother), the term “electronic music” has come to mean club music: music you can dance to. Another term, “electronica” has come to mean music produced by electronic means that is not intended as dance music. It’s music to be listened to (ambient, theatrical, contemplative, melodic, music for listening to, etc.). So, Tales of the Laughing Wizards is electronica.

Holy Manna (solo piano)

You may have noticed an acoustic piano in the background of my recordings. A couple years ago I bought what’s called a “studio upright” from the Clearwater Steinway Gallery. It’s a Boston, which is made in Asia but designed by Steinway, and a model with no plastic parts. The entire action is wood. I’m very happy with it.

I mention this because people may wonder why I don’t use that for my videos. Aside from not being a good enough pianist to record flawless videos head to tail without needing to splice together different video takes (keyboard recording permits occasional error correction…more on that in a moment), recording an acoustic piano is to my ear one of the hardest things to do well, especially for a classical sound.

The best of that I’ve ever experience was the audio engineer, John Stephan, when I recorded some of my pieces at his studio, Springs Theatre Arts & Recording, before he retired. I’ve worked in a lot of studios across the US, none compared to his technique, microphone placement, and audio environment. There’s no way I could duplicate that sound at home. I’ve got a few things I’m snobish about: authentic key lime pie, New York style cheesecake, fried fish, banana pudding, grits, and recorded piano sound.

As I mentioned above, recording tracks from a keyboard allows for a certain amount of editing without having to edit the video itself. If you look at about 00:42 from the beginning of the track, you’ll see my right hand momentarily “panic!” I had a momentary lapse of concentration. I mention this because non-musicians (unfortunately some musicians LOL) don’t know what’s going on in a performer’s head when performing.

When a musician (singers especially, but also brass instruments, pianists, conductor, everyone actually) plays/sings a note s/he must literally, mentally hear–in advance of actually playing the note–the note they’re going to play a moment later.

And if it’s a polyphonic instrumentalist like a pianist or organist or conductor all the notes being player together at that moment must be “pre-heard.” This is true even for solo instrumentalists in an orchestra. My favorite trumpet player, Don Own, talked to me once about playing in an orchestra, how an orchestra player hears their part as if they were in the audience, not from just their chair.

As you might imagine. That’s all quite a task. More than anything as I’ve aged, it’s the momentary lapses of concentration that get to me as a performer. I do silent meditation a lot. The focus required for performing music is like that. It’s why being a musician is so addictive. Few things match the rush.

Reblog of my sister’s Father’s Day post!

Wendeyaho (solo piano) 2026

This Native-American melody is so awesome. It’s indelible. I hope my arrangement does it justice.

The solo piano sheet music (that I’m playing from in the above video) is available at https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1084679/Product.aspx and https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/wendeyaho-for-solo-piano-digital-sheet-music/22102384 .

The description there reads: I’ve given this Native-American morning song a reverential treat, with four statements, each with a different musical texture corresponding to the directions east, west, north, and south. For the student learning this piece, the issues to be confronted are controlling the interpretive dynamic and tempo arch of each of the four statements and of the four as a unit. The third statement also presents the opportunity to learn how to distribute the notes of the melodic line between to two hands in order to have three contrapuntal lines.

I also published a choral version of this published May 12, 2023, available at https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1327199/Product.aspx and https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/wendeyaho-digital-sheet-music/22502871. It’s for 2-part mixed choir (treble voices and baritone voices) with keyboard accompaniment. It’s extremely easy, to be filed under “Emergency Anthem for when less than half the choir shows up on Sunday morning.”

My first release of this was 12/7/21, on the digital album, simple songs (https://open.spotify.com/track/6OVBCYsivHznjvMnNZ0CQ3?si=f3e58d42d1d447e1) as a solo piano with orchestrated background. (Please let me know if that link doesn’t work! LOL)