Zero Sum Game parking garage scene

A political thriller about a Washington D.C. reporter uncovering a conspiracy to eliminate military veterans that leads him to an unlikely North Carolina town. 2008 Out of the Trunk Productions

I scored this film in 2008 in conjunction with Daniel Stine, Caesar Overlio and Mike Mann. This scene is near the beginning of the film when the main character is just getting involved in uncovering a conspiracy.

Kisses and Caroms chase scene

A day in the lifer that chronicles the day after a woman sets up a threesome for her ex boyfriend in attempt to win him back. 2006 PovertyWorks Production

I scored this, my first film score, in 2004 in Raleigh, NC. The score was then sent to Los Angeles, CA where it was edited and finished. Two years later, the movie was released on Warner Home Video. You can currently watch it streaming on Netflix.

This is the chase scene from the middle of the film.

Sides of the Track

I wrote the score to this film which consisted of a short thematic introduction piece and a much longer version of the same which accompanied the end credits. The piece was an amalgamation of different styles and genres with a focus on the traditional Middle Eastern music of the oud, a 10 – 12 string lute like instrument. Also, I used Western instruments like guitar, drums, strings and piano mixed in with several electronic elements, including samples and FM Synthesis, that supported the story line and the setting of the film.

The film takes place 4 years in the future on the New York City Subway as it crosses the Manhattan Bridge. A heated discussion about the country’s politics following a future terrorist attack ensues between a Muslim American woman and a homeless Vietnam Veteran who is pan-handling on the train. Sampled elements included a Muslim Call to Prayer from a famous Imam and sounds of the subway cars screeching and riding along the tracks. In addition, for the opening sequence I used reversed samples of the oud player’s performance to create an ethereal soundscape.

All the elements came together at different times. First, I acquired the samples of the call to prayer which informed the overall key of the piece, along with the subway samples, one of which is a screeching sound that the newer trains make as they are accelerating out of the station. The more obvious first pitch interval in the screech actually itself influenced the chord progression in the strings and guitar. I wrote the thematic material over top of this and then waited until we finally found an oud player who could come up and improvise around the four note theme I wrote. Once his part was complete the piece was ready to be formed and melded with the imagery in the opening timeline animation which you see in this clip.

Moon, Tides, Cycles

This is the recording of the piece as it was created for the dancer/choreographer for whom I wrote it. I will likely post the version from the concert on July 27th at the Metropolitan Room when we have it. Here are the new program notes:

“The moon’s gravity causes the tides on Earth as it orbits the planet, it’s silent forces pulling the great mass of ocean along with it as it circles. These tidal forces are simultaneously affecting the moon, pushing the moon gradually into an ever faster orbit which widens by an extra inch every year. Moon, Tides, Cycles is a piece about this constant back and forth tugging that will, inevitably, in time push the moon ever farther away from us and out of our gravity. In this piece, the piano is miked and processed, the resulting electronic sound swelling and fading as the tides do during the lunar cycle. The electronic sounds are dependent upon the original sound waves coming from the piano, just as the Earth’s tides are dependent upon the gravity of the moon. The improvisatory and free form nature of the piece, as the two elements, electronics and piano, operate on each other in tandem, is an analogue to the delicate dance of the moon and the Earth in space, a beautiful dependency that cannot last forever, just as a child must leave its mother, a bird must fly from the nest.”

Wherever you Go

The text for this piece comes from Ruth 1:16. I used a combination of different wordings from different translations of the Bible so as to get the lines that flowed best. The text is as follows:

“Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Don’t ask me to leave and to turn back from following.”

The piece consists of a simple refrain on the lines, “wherever you go…etc” that is answered by another melody on the line “Your people will be my people…etc.” After the full choir sings a harmony on the refrain and the answer, a transition occurs with full harmony and luscious suspensions that ultimately resolve into a haunting tone cluster. When the refrain lyrics return, the males sing the main melody while a fragmented version of the counter melody is laid over top of the original lines. For the answer to the refrain, the opposite occurs. The women sing the melody for the answer while the refrain’s melody is fragmented and sung by the men. The line “Don’t ask me to leave and to turn back from following,” is the climactic point of the piece, sung over a reharmonized version of the answer’s melody. This is originally the first line in the Bible verse, but I chose to put it at the end of the piece for greater emphasis. The refrain in full harmony is sung again to close the piece, with a thicker piano accompaniment and ultimately the song closes on another haunting and more dissonant tone cluster.

The score on Sibeliusmusic.com.

The Porchlight


A story about a young girl coming to terms with her boyfriend’s suicide. 2005 Karishma Gurtu Productions

I scored this film in 2005, my first year in graduate school, for my good friend Karishma Gurtu. This scene was one of the wordless portions of a narrated short.

Kisses and Caroms

A day in the lifer that chronicles the day after a woman sets up a threesome for her ex boyfriend in attempt to win him back. 2006 PovertyWorks Production

I scored this, my first film score, in 2004 in Raleigh, NC. The score was then sent to Los Angeles, CA where it was edited and finished. Two years later, the movie was released on Warner Home Video. You can currently watch it streaming on Netflix.

This scene is at the end of the film when one of the main characters is trying to convince his friend to take back his ex girlfriend.