budaful music

Just want to make you aware that I am accompanying for a violin recital this next week. On Tuesday (9/9) I will be collaborating with my friend Meg Johnson. As you can see on the poster below, Meg will be playing a sacred violin solo that I wrote a few years back entitled “Fairest Lord Jesus.” Originally for viola, I re-transcribed it for violin. It is a beautiful arrangement that lends itself easily to weddings and other special occasions.

The other pieces in the program are as follows: Allegretto from Sonata No. 15 in B-flat Major, K.454 by Mozart; very zippy, it took several practices before it finally came together. Violin Concerto No. 2, Op.63, mvt. 2 by Prokofiev; this piece is so cool, it’s an orchestral reduction so there’s lots of impossible passages but other than that it’s great piece. And finally, Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, mvt.2 by Bruch, another allegro piece that turns the piano into an orchestra. My sacred solo will close the recital.

Here is a picture of me sitting at the piano at the Help at Home Live show. I’m being interviewed by Gary Moore, the shows host.

Today marks the first day of classes at school but since non of my classes or lessons fall on Wednesday, I just continued my work like normal. Thursday will be a different story however, as I have the majority of my classes on the TTH days. I’m taking Renaissance music history which I am looking forward to as well as a graded choirs class, both 2 credit courses.

That accounts for my “classes.” Not very much, you may say, until you factor in the other 4 credits I’m taking. 4 one on one lessons: Composition, Set Theory, Piano and Percussion lessons. Oh yeah, did I mention that I’m in choir as well? Yep, it’ll be a busy semester.

Well, the show went well. It was very thrilling to be a part of a live satellite broadcast. I’ll detail what went on tonight:

First, the Help at Home Live (H@HL) started with Gary Moore, the H@HL show host, interviewing Craig Hartman of Shalom Ministries. Dr. Hartman, a frequent Bible Conference speaker here in Greenville, brought many interesting religious Jewish pieces of clothing and had fun dressing Gary up with them as he explained the various purposes of the clothing. He also brought a large rams horn and Gary blew it, pretty well, I might add.

After a brief commercial break, it was my turn and I played on the piano two Rumanian Folk Dances by Béla Bartók. They were:

After I played, a short collection of intro’s and videos that I worked on were shown, and I got an opportunity to talk with Gary for a few minutes about them and about my work here at BJ Distance Learning. I had a good time but I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t nervous. I’ve posted several of the audio clips in a previous post, feel free to listen to them.

Last on of all, but definitely not least, Randy Miller, or the Critter Keeper, came on for the duration of the show and talked about and showed some very interesting insects and reptiles. My favorite was the foot long, 1 inch thick centipede. I still find it hard to believe that they grow to be that big. I’m glad they don’t grow that size here in the US.

I could kick myself for not knowing this before but those of you who don’t have BJLINC satellite could have watched it live as well on sermonaudio.com. It was a live video feed broadcast online. The show will be rebroadcast several more times over satellite according the the H@HL website but unfortunately, not online.

Next Friday is a special time at BJU Press/Distance Learning, where I work. The TV show HELP at Home Live will be aired and I am one of the interviewees. Gary Moore, the shows host, will interview me and we’ll talk about the varios things I do at BJU Press/Distance Learning. They will also be showing several little video clips that I was involved with composing the music for. Below is a link that details information about the show. I’m looking forward to this exiting event.

HELP at Home Live

Here is a small sampling of music that I have written for the Distance Learning division of BJU Press.

This cue is taken from “Mice of the Herring Bone,” an audiobook turned animated video put out by JourneyForth Books. I scored the majority of the film, adding short cues here and there to add to the drama. It was a really neat experience, one that I hope will come soon again. Click here to listen: MBH DVD menu

Much of what my work consists of is coming up with small little ditties, or what the commercial world calls jingles, for the various needs of the classes. “We need a ditty to go with this PowerPoint animation.” “This section is boring, we need a ditty to liven it up.” Ditties vary in length from 1-30 seconds. Here are two examples: ditty16, ditty44

This final track was taken from the end credits of a project called “Beyond the Canvas,” a video series about the arts produced by BJU’s own Museum and Gallery. BTC-endcredits

Enjoy and thanks for listening.

p.s. I’d like to know what you think. If you like, go ahead and leave a comment.

My good friend and co-worker Paulo Santos has posted some videos that he and I worked on together. He’s the graphic designer and video producer and I, the composer.

Here’s the link: www.paulowilliams.com

The videos can be seen in Paulo’s portfolio. Thanks Paulo!

In anticipation for a extremely busy semester, including choir, piano and percussion lessons, I’ve been composing music for my recital this summer. At this point, I am thinking that it will be divided into 3 sections, one of which I’m just finishing up writing.

While working on precomposition aspects of a different part of the recital I had an idea for a song cycle for baritone voice and piano. In case you aren’t aware, a song cycle is a grouping of several individual songs intended to be sung together as a whole, unified by a poet or as in my case, a topic or theme.

It is now nearly finished while the my other idea is still within the far reaches of my brain. Precomposition is now almost complete and it is time to write out what I have been thinking of for almost 2 years. School is looming ahead and there isn’t much time.

I recently (Okay, not really that recently) accompanied for a wedding ceremony here in Greenville SC. The couple that got married was my good friends, Lincoln and Abby Mullen on May 6. I was the pianist for the prelude, the wedding ceremony, as well as the postlude. I was able to play several of my own arrangements some of which already existed and others which were inspiration for several new hymn arrangements that I wrote down after the event. Abby commissioned me to compose music for a text that she wrote. It was used for the lighting of the unity candle. It is called “Wedding Prayer,” written for two voices, piano, and violin.

Here’s a picture of me at the wedding; that’s me in the background with the violinist, Meg.

Looks different than when you last visited, huh? yeah, well, I had to change my theme so that I could post several pages of content. I’m keeping my eyes open for a better one but for now we’re stuck with this “Light” theme.

I’ve just added some new pages, basic stuff for now, that will eventually grow. I still have far to go in getting this site more functional.

Wow, the upcoming school year is fast approaching. One thing that I will be posting quite frequently is my composition recital for which the set dat is March 21, 2009. I have been mulling over several ideas this summer and have also written a few pieces that are possible entries into said recital. I’ll try and document my work as time permits. This next semester, I’ll be finishing up the writing of my recital (whether I want to or not) and will then begin the laborious process of gathering people to perform my work and rehearsing with them. It will be an exiting year.