Once again, I have a new acoustic solo track. This time, it’s “Vincent” by Don McLean. A student recently asked if I’d help her learn it, and I very quickly developed an interest in trying my hand at arranging it.… Continue Reading
I’ve been a Fleetwood Mac fan since I was 8 years old and digging for treasure in my father’s record collection. This selection might risk being over-hyped, yet for a reason. It’s simply brilliant. It’s also one of the songs… Continue Reading
Here’s the latest from my practice sessions — an arrangement of the standard “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” for guitar, using block chords. Block Chords are chords that move in rhythmic unison. This technique is pretty common among… Continue Reading
I know I haven’t posted in a long time, but here’s what has been consuming my time: Peace on Earth: Soft Christmas Classics, now available via iTunes: I know it’s very close to Christmas day, but there’s still time to pick… Continue Reading
This is a brief serialist work I wrote in college. Once again, if any guitarists wish to perform it, please just let me know, and send a recording if you create one. Arietta
In Part 1, I described how I devised an overall strategy for the arrangement, then transcribed the verse parts. In Part 2, we examined the keyboard part in the chorus. Today, I shall conclude by summarizing the other rhythm parts… Continue Reading
In a recent post discussing the problems with traditional head/solo/head arrangements, I said I would share an original piece that challenges this tradition. Here it is, a revision of something I wrote a while ago for a jazz combo: “Phobos”… Continue Reading
I mentioned in a recent tweet that I just finished arranging a tune for my new group — “Sofa no. 1,” by Frank Zappa. Here is page one: I’ll keep posting updates so you can share in the process of… Continue Reading
“Fred Goes to the Races” is a short song for mezzo soprano and piano. The text is based on the caption of a comic by B. Kliban, from his posthumous Advanced Cartooning and Other Drawings, a collection of surreal single-page… Continue Reading
Calculator Revised Landmine is a Csound score, which is an adaptation of an early project of mine, intended to be a suite for General MIDI, but never completed. This is a 24-tone serial piece. If you have Csound, you can render the… Continue Reading