Music

Here are some personal originals and arrangements I've made over the years.



A Look in the Hold

Original, ensemble - April '10

Like my piece Corporate Ladder, this was read by eighth blackbird, the ensemble-in-residence at my university. I wanted to try a film score this semester, so my composition teacher suggested I choose a scene from an old silent movie. I ended up choosing this creepy scene from the 1922 film Nosferatu. It was a lot of fun, and it was another big confidence boost.


Rhumba Rumble

Arrangement, electro island? - April '10

This was completed shortly after Rare Respite. Most of the project's tracks had been completed, but nobody had chosen to work on this one, Steel Drum Rhumba. I took this one a lot less seriously than Rare Respite, and it shows. I'm still happy with it, though.


Rare Respite

Arrangement, Celtic - April '10

This was completed about a year ago for the Serious Monkey Business album organized at OCRemix.org. The original tune is Jib Jig from Donkey Kong Country 2. I actually played a work-in-progress of this during my college interview. It must have done the trick.


Bamboo Bungalow

Original, Pop-ish - August '09

This is my second attempt at lyrics/singing. The vocals continue to be the most difficult part of the song for me; unlike with Overcast, I couldn't resist the urge to use some pitch correction on this one. Despite the challenge, I enjoy the end result quite a bit.


Corporate Ladder

Original, Ensemble Piece - April '09

My university is fortunate to have Eighth Blackbird, a Grammy Award winning sextet, as our ensemble-in-residence. Here is the recording of them sight reading my piece. This is for flute, bass clarinet, piano, violin, and cello.


Overcast

Original, Ballad - Dec '08

Here I record myself singing for the first time, but I continue my obsession with water/rain effects. I hope to do much more of this in the future. Merry Christmas, Journey.


Big Sisters

Original, Electronic - Oct '08

This piece was written with my two sisters in mind. There are two main ideas in different keys, so it makes some sense, albeit in a shameless, superficial kind of way. This was a much needed unwind during a busy semester in college.


Blue Moon

Arrangement, Guitar solo - Aug '08

This is a video of my guitar cover of Tommy Emmanuel's arrangement of Blue Moon. I was fortunate to be able to play this for Tommy himself at the 2009 TommyFest in Elizabethtown, KY. Click here for the high quality audio.


Weather Bot

Original, Electronic - Nov '07

This is about a mad scientist and his weather bot. I tend to be somewhat blocky in my arranging, but I use it to my advantage in this piece. It's still a bit of a patchwork, but it turned out well.


Sizzlin' Solitude

Arrangement, Elctronic/Orchestral - Jan '07

This is the Lava level music from Donkey Kong Country 2 (Super Nintendo) written by Dave Wise. I particularly enjoyed making this one because I didn't let myself obsess over any part of it. Everything from the sequencing to the guitar to the mixing moved along continuously and deliberately.


Revisiting the Ruins

Arrangement, Electronic/Acoustic - Sept '06

This is another arrangement of the same Underwater Ruins theme from Donkey Kong Land (GameBoy) written by Dave Wise & Graeme Norgate. This started out after I was playing around with a jazzy little chord progression on the piano (found at 1:20 in the song). It all flowed from there.


Noname

Original, Guitar Solo - 2006

This guitar piece is named after a cat my family had a long time ago. We had another cat named Tsunami, and, as we could not think of a name for this one, we called him Noname, rhyming it with tsunami. This has been one of my most well-received songs.


Walking on Water

Arrangement, Electronic - Feb '06

This is an arrangement of the Muda Kingdom music from Super Mario Land (GameBoy) written by Hirokazu Tanaka. The theme is twisted around into a minor sonority with a synth guitar. Check out the whole tone fun at the end.


Raindance in the Ruins

Arrangement, Electronic - 2005

An arrangement of one of the Underwater Ruins themes from Donkey Kong Land (GameBoy) written by Dave Wise & Graeme Norgate. I have a love affair with this theme, and despite having squeezed most of the nostalgic juices out of it, every once and a while I still get that old feeling from it.


Mine Infested Waters

Arrangement, Guitar solo - 2004

This is an arrangement of the water level music and world map music from Wario Land (GameBoy) written by Kozue Ishikawa and Ryohji Yoshitomi. I remember being up at 4AM sitting in front of my old iMac playing this through a little Griffin iMic.