A man returns to his family after a 5 year odyssey following his wife’s sudden death. 2008 Bonnie and Clyde Productions
I scored this short film in 2008. The score consists of mainly 12 string acoustic guitar and clarinet with some background sound cut from outtakes of the recordings.
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 a montage that takes place after a secret meeting between the main character and an informant.
Le Destin Raté is a trio for three instruments with dissimilar timbres and in which each melodic line, though able to stand alone, is a part of a more intricate and complex whole. The original solo line by the bass clarinet is augmented by a syncopated line in the viola that is echoed and occasionally ornamented by the flute. As each line moves forward, contrapuntal complexity increases until eventually none of the instruments is playing in rhythmic unison. Then, abruptly, they all come together in a heterophonic texture for a brief climax. The ending is a fleeting restatement of the original motive with all three instruments playing a brief canon. Le Destin Raté is translated “Failed Destiny.”
This recording is from my recital in February 2008. The performers are James Miller, Flute, Christen Blanton, Viola and Annie Huston, bass clarinet in b flat.
This piece explores the concept of taking a melody based on a tonic and deconstructing it until it is completely atonal, further from what is familiar and into the unknown.
The recording is from my recital in the fall of 2007. The piece was performed then by Sarah Evans.
The first piece that I composed in graduate school, reminiscent of Debussy and the impressionistic period of music. It was to be the first of a series of piano sketches. My aim with this piece was to compose something that was simple counterpoint, almost fugal in the beginning, but that would slowly become more textured and chordal. Ultimately, when the texture is thickest, the piece becomes more fluid with an arpeggiated bassline and a more pronounced melody. The restatement of the opening idea is brief, as I generally like restatements to be, with flickers of the arpeggiated texture from the middle section.
A piece written about regret, remorse and moving on. Rich textures in the opening give way to slowly lumbering melodies in a pensive 5/4 meter. Interrupted occasionally by forays into a quicker 6/8 meter, which represents a change of outlook, the 5/4 melodies often return, moving through seemingly random harmonies, as though reflecting on memories and trying to accept the painful necessity of change while simultaneously searching for new understanding.
This recording is one that I commissioned in 2008. The performers are Amanda Hughes, Ashley (White) Baldini, Laura (Pollard) Payne, and David Covert.
Summer days all too quickly pass and leave bittersweet memories. The opening of this piece features a playful, spirited melody and a mingling texture comprised of two overlapping time signatures (9/8 and 4/4). Just as the rhythms are at their most complex, the piece grinds to a halt. September has ended. The piano, alone now, reflects on the passing of that last month of beautiful summer weather. As the violin re-enters the rhythms slowly become more syncopated in an attempt to mimic the opening melody in a new setting as we would reminisce about summer and try to regain those moments.
This is a recording that I commissioned in the summer of 2008. The performers are Michael Cummings, Violin, Matthew Quayle, piano.
A classically trained dancer turned stripper must deal with an unwanted pregnancy and violence at the club where she works. 2007 J. Brandon Johnson
I supplied the theme music for this film, after reading the script and the dance was choreographed to my music before shooting.
A shut-in becomes obsessed with trying to meet his neighbor but he must overcome his fears first. 2009 Munkytown Productions.
I scored three cues in this film, which was later an official selection at the 2010 Hoboken International Film Festival. This scene is a dream sequence that takes place toward the end of the picture.