Off to NASA! (no, not that NASA)
<insert lame joke about saxophones in space>
In odd-numbered years, the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) has its regional conferences around the country. At each conference, several dozen people from a few states gather for a weekend to perform for one another and to catch up.
I’ve found the small regional conferences to be really warm, supportive, and largely non-judgmental places to share what you’re up to - often in contrast to the way most musical social media feels - fast-paced, hot takes, humblebrags, highlights only, the “popular” kids in the lime light. You actually get to speak to the people behind the screens, to hear with your whole body the sounds they make, to see how music is much better in its full context than chopped into just the most dazzling bits.
I find I leave these kinds of spaces balanced, refueled for the long run, energized to play and write music, and excited to stay in touch with my new and old friends. Reminded that this is the way the world really is. So I’m off to get my fill, this year in Moscow, ID for a couple of days to celebrate being part of a small but special community - to share, support, and perhaps to be supported.
If you’re reading this and you’ll be there, come say hi! I want to know how you’re doing, musically and otherwise!
An offering for the saxophone world
And I’m excited to share what I’ve been up to with everyone, too: I’ll be performing Breathe, Set, Play with the Portland Saxophone Ensemble on the Friday night chamber music showcase; I’m especially excited to share all the new music I’ve written for our instrument and our community - quartets, saxophone ensembles, reed quintets.
To that end, below I’m sharing a summary of my saxophone-specific catalogue here, both for conference attendees and for other readers who might be on the lookout for new music for saxophone:
Saxophone Ensembles
Breathe, Set, Play (2024)
8’ - SS/AA/TT/BB/Bsx
The phrase Breathe, Set, Play is a mantra for beginning saxophonists to recall the proper sequence for starting a note—take in air, set the embouchure (mouth) around the mouthpiece, let the borrowed air flow. It is a series of steps one undergoes to achieve a desired state or outcome. In this piece, play is that sought state—a sense of exploration, discovery, and wonder where time disappears. Version w/o bass sax upon request.
Morning Comes Always (2024)
18’ - SS/AA/TT/BB/Bsx
Four movements (1. Gloaming, 2. Midnight, 3. (dreams), 4. Morning). Musical character roughly traces pathway from dark to light, exploring depression, negative self-talk, and the chance for renewal. Language is tonal with no extended techniques needed. The last movement can stand alone in performance and lasts 7’30" if duration is a consideration.
After the Bell (2022)
13’ - SS/AA/TT/BB
Five continuous movements (fast-slowish-fast-slow-finale) tracking the highlights of a childhood summer. Musical character ranges from fanfare-ish to retrospective to spirited. Language is tonal with no extended techniques needed. There is also a version of the 3rd movement that is 3'30" and stand-alone called Romp. Playing only the last three movements would make an effective performance, shortening runtime to 8’30” if duration is a consideration.
Romp (2024)
3’30” - SS/AA/TT/BB
Romp (noun): high-spirited, carefree, and boisterous play.
A stand-alone arrangement of the central movement of After the Bell, a rambunctious scherzo that makes a great concert opener or rousing closer.
Saxophone Quartets
Move With Me (2024)
13’ - SATB
Move With Me explores different relationships to movement. The first movement is a big ball of energy, a little chaotic, but Chaotic Good to be sure. The second movement is energy maybe too closely controlled and a little stilted as a result, but, through a different sort of movement, things eventually loosen and blossom, eventually getting somewhere important. And the third movement is a happy middle between joyful movement and structure—a grooving dance.
THS 2 SHLL PSS (under construction)
11’ - SATB
The title (pronounced “this too shall pass”) is a tongue-in-cheek jab at the in-vogue tendency to drop vowels in brand names—just one of the more recent (and silly) trends in a serious and long-term project to extract ever more time, money, and attention (and apparently vowels) from each one of us. We are convinced and compelled to crave and chase what we don’t need, companies happy to manufacture this compulsion and the product that temporarily satisfies it, all the while we lose and forget what makes living possible and worthwhile. Those missing vowels, the important things we’ve lost and lost sight of, what makes us feel rooted and deeply satisfied: face-to-face connection with others, connection to the natural world, seeing ourselves as part of that Something Larger here before us and here after us.
Apocryphal or not, “this too shall pass” is said to be a carefully calibrated answer to the question “What is something that is always true?” Often it is evoked when things are bad—but it cuts both ways, equally true when things are going well. This music recalls some of what matters, its trivialization, and what is being lost, but the center of it is the hollow frenzy, horror, numbness, and dislocation that describes parts of modern existence today. As with the world, the main idea of this music is packaged, repackaged, enhanced, sped up, and piled upon—versions tossed aside at a frightening pace until cycles simply overlap and we find ourselves lost in the storm.
Reed Quintets
A Sunward Tilt (2024)
7’30” - Ob./Cl./ASax/BCl./Bsn
The vigorous musical idea at the heart of the piece was sketched on the summer solstice. It contains all the energy and possibility latent in the 3 months of perfect weather that is summer in the pacific northwest. Amidst the irrepressible summer energy are moments of reflection - at the feet of a mountain, off to the side of an old friend’s wedding, watching a meteor shower streak across the Milky Way. These two moods contrast at first but find a way to coexist by piece’s end.
Suite from a Non-Existent Ballet (2023)
10’ - Ob./Cl./ASax/BCl./Bsn
Music from ballets of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev are consistently an inspiration to me. This suite is a kind pocket ballet, a selection of movements taken from an imaginary (or yet to be written…!) ballet score with major moments from an archetypal ballet story: I. Villian; II. Hero; III. Sidekick; IV. Conflict; V. Apotheosis. The reed quintet is a perfect canvas for this work as its members are the best at personifying distinct characters necessary to drive the drama of a ballet.
After Hours (2023)
11’ - Ob./Cl./SSax/BCl./Bsn
A collection of short characterful movements originally written in a couple of week’s worth of evenings squeezed between work and sleep. I. Wayfarer is an homage to the sci-fi book series of the same name by PNW author Becky Chambers, episodes of soaring heroism flanking a strange waltz; II. Late Spring evokes mixed feelings about the gloomy and soggy weather of my pacific northwest home; III. Talk Back is a moody groove passed around the quintet before traveling somewhere more pastoral; IV. Boss Fight is a short and high-octane finisher reminiscent of the final moments of playing a video game.