Will you dance for me Vashti?
Made in Hungary
Marjorie Hanft and I collaborated on this poetry-with-interludes project in 1996. I recently found the music, and made an updated and revised score.
I wrote this as a set of interludes to be played between poems, but was pleased to find that it also works quite well to read the poetry yourself while listening to the music.
Two Little Night Pieces for Three Violas d'amore
I. The Moon is a Cracked Dinner Plate
II. Toys in the Attic
You can listen to it here, and find the music on this page of the IMSLP.
Transcription: Mozart Piano Sonata K545 for String Quintet or String Orchestra
You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP (via the transcription tab).
The Year, a New Year's Greeting for 2023
You can find the music for medium voice here (there's also a version for high voice). You can listen to the medium voice version here, and you can find the music for both on this page of the IMSLP.
Film Noir for Piano Trio
You can find the score and parts on this page of the IMSLP. You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.
Arrangement: Sinfonia after the Bach Flute Sonata BWV 1033
You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.
Arrangement: Ika Peyron Gavotte et Chansonette, Opus 1
She wrote songs, music for violin, and mostly music for piano. Altogether we know of forty pieces.
This charming Gavotte et Chansonette, her Opus 1, works very nicely for strings. A PDF of this arrangement (as well as the piano original) is available on this page of the IMSLP. You can also find the music here.
You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.
Arrangement: Irving Berlin's "All by Myself"
Arrangement: Dvorak Humoresque for 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, and strings
This is an arragement I made for a friend in Columbia earlier this year. You can find it on this page of the IMSLP under the transcription tab, and you can hear a performance at the 43:00 mark of this video.
Hope and I
You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP, and you can listen to a computer-generated recording here.
This is Susan Coolidge's complete poem. You can find out more about her here. It had been sitting on my computer for a year or so, and had been sitting on my desk for several months. It helped me a great deal to make my way emotionally through yesterday and today to work on it. And it helps to be able to share it right away.
"In the Balance" and "Lacunae" for Mezzo Soprano and Piano
Arrangement: Elgar Pomp and Circumstance for String Quartet (otherwise known as "Land of Hope and Glory")
You can find the score and parts on this page of the IMSLP. This is useful for all circumstances, though it is mostly played at graduations.
Adventures with Alice
I. How doth the little crocodile
II. Beautiful Soup
III. I sing this song for your delight
You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP.
Advanced Violin Scale Studies
Although the practice of scales is essential to building and maintaining strength, technique, tone, and agility—it is very easy to slip into the habit of playing them automatically, without paying attention to how they sound or even being aware of what scale we are playing. The 29 single-page studies in this book are designed to combat that tendency as they are musically, intellectually, and rhythmically challenging. The first 24 studies proceeded through the circle of fifths and address all minor and relative major keys; the last 5 pieces were individually conceived, i.e., apart from the circle of fifths. Occasional fingerings or position guides are suggested but these are largely left to the student or their teachers. No metronome indications are given so that the etudes can be played at individually comfortable tempos—with or without a metronome, or freely as concert etudes. It is the stepwise motion and octave leaps of the etudes that makes the intervals between pitches easy to hear, even in keys with numerous flats or sharps. Just as in Elaine Fine’s more basic scale etude book, Violin Scale Tales, the names of the etudes herein refer to various animals that have scales, including insects, fish, birds, reptiles, a few species of squirrels with scales on their tails, and the solitary pangolin, the only known mammal whose entire body is covered with scales. Again, the author hopes that in addition to experiencing more enjoyable scale practice, students will be inspired to learn more about these amazing creatures, or even write scale studies of their own.It is available here, as an e-book as well as a print book.
Violin Scale Tales
From the Mel Bay Website:
The etudes in this book offer students a musically and intellectually satisfying means of practicing scales in all major and minor keys, even while remaining in first position. Although presented in the traditional order of the circle of fifths, this is where similarities to other violin scale-oriented books end. Of course, the etudes can be played using a mixture of positions by more advanced students. The studies also resonate very well on the viola if played at pitch. These are instructive etudes and can be played as appealing solo pieces. The stepwise motion in the etudes makes intervals between pitches easy to hear, even in keys with many flats or sharps. Both the book and etude titles refer to names of animals that have scales, so you will see natural and harmonic minor scales named after various moths, and major scales named for unusual reptiles, birds, and mammals throughout. The author hopes that in addition to experiencing more enjoyable scale practice, students will be inspired to learn more about these amazing animals or even write scale studies of their own.
It is available as an e-book as well as a print book.
You can find both on this page of the Mel Bay website.
Here's a link to a YouTube playlist that has the first ten pieces.
Rock Crystal for Solo Viola
The music is available on this page of the IMSLP, and you can listen to Paul Cortese's excellent recording here.
You can read a little "backstory" about this piece here.
I am also fond of lonely islands for solo viola
You can listen to Paul Cortese play this piece here (on YouTube). And you can find the music on this page of the IMSLP, and it is streaminig on various formats:
Two Passages from Moby Dick for Two Trumpets
Three Short Pieces for Trumpet and Piano
These are intended as teaching pieces for "entry level" trumpet players, but they can be played by advanced players too.
I also made a transposed version that can be played by "entry level" violinists and violists. You can find the music for both the original and the transcriptions on this page of the IMSLP.
New Year's Greeting for 2022
I like to make these New Year's Greetings modular, so this one has versions for clarinet and viola, two violas, and two violins. I also made an arrangement of it for harpsichord or piano solo (you can see the music below)
You can listen to a performance by clarinetist Angus Deeth and violist Momoko Nagayama here:
You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP. I also made a transcription for harpsichord or piano.
Music for Viola in the IMSLP
I have been keeping most of my music and arrangements in the IMSLP since 2006, and in celebration of this tremendous resource I have made a list of all my solo music and chamber music there that includes viola. You can find everything on this list through this page, as well as through links to other pages in this cataloog on the sidebar.
You can find a larger (or at least zoom-in-able) version of this list here.
Dancing on the Fingerboard
The first eight pieces in this set use guiding fingers to help shift between first and third position. “Cloud Nine,” introduces harmonics in order to remind the hand and arm of the physical distance from first to fourth position. “Second Hand,” and “What’s on Second” explore second position, and “Who’s on Third?” incorporates third, and re-introduces the harmonic. “Fourth Dimension,” “Can I Have a Little More,” and “Second Chance,” use the first four positions.
“Fifth Business I” and “Fifth Business II,” marked “Serioso” and “Scherzando,” introduce fifth position. The titles refer to the Robertson Davies novel with the same name, and the character (tempo) markings suggest masks of tragedy and comedy. “Sixth Sense” and “Six degrees of Separation” introduce sixth position and a little bit of half position. “At Sixes and Sevens,” is a transposed version of “Six of One,” the first piece in “Half a Dozen of the Other.” It introduces seventh position, and is ironically calm in character.
You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP.
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