Soprano and Piano

My second setting of Grace Andrews’ poetry:  This one is a zany acrostic poem titled “ABC” that features a visitor from the future, a banana, and world domination.  The action is presented as recitative.  The harmony features a different chord for each of the 26 lines of text, including harmony based on all 24 major and minor triads.

All he said was, “I’m
Back from the future and I
Can prove it.”
Did he think I needed
Evidence?
Frankly, being an avid
Geek when your talking Doctor Who or Jules Verne,
How could I not believe
In time travel?
Just as I was offering him a
Kumquat,
Lithely he slipped through the door and behind
Me,
Not taking the kumquat
Opening the kitchen door
Peeling a banana
Quietly chomping precisely to the middle of it.
“Really,” he says,
“Science fiction is more like fact
Than you would like to believe.
Under the fantasy of
Verne and
Who,
X-men and
Yoda, lie
Zealous, earnest plots for world domination.”

Soprano and Piano

This setting was commissioned by soprano Madeline Jolley and premiered on her Spring 2018 recital at Belhaven University. It features two hymn tunes written by Maddi’s ancestor, C. O. Hartsfield.

Soprano and Piano

This set was the result of a collaboration with soprano Angela Case. The texts are selections from Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. 

Female Voice and Jazz Combo.

What if I wrote a song voicing my wife’s perspective on our relationship? The lyrics to this song are mine, but the perspective is hers. See the score for the full text.

Soprano and Piano

My third setting of Grace Andrews’ poetry.  This one evokes a conversational spirit of hopeful, joyful anticipation. Like Line, the song looks for what lies beyond the images and experiences that winter heralds.

It’s not just the crunching leaves, you know.
(They don’t come ‘til later.)
It’s not just pumpkinapplehyggescarves.
Boots and marshmallows are only part of the story.
It’s not even the red-orange-yellow glory—
                 Though that’s getting closer.

Fall scuttles hope along the asphalt.
The hell of summer is past—or, at least, fading.
Perhaps it’s not resurrection, but it’s freedom.
The oppressors are driven back and
Winter’s gentle invitation stands.

Awake from your lethargy, you stultified soul!
Take rest, weary one.
Feel the snap of adventure and look at the yellow day.
                   It will be winter again.

Voice and Piano

Line is both an aphoristic commentary on Grace Andrews’s lyrics and an embodiment of the creative process her poetry brings so vividly and intimately to life. For the technically-minded, the piece draws on a preoccupation with doubly-chromatic mediants and their intersection with symmetrical scales. The expressive aim of the piece, though, is a distilled evocation of artistic concentration, persistent effort, and surprised wonder.

Line
By line,
Structured grid,
Strict perfection,
Strong order—
This is
Not complete.

Try to fit in this shoebox,
Squeeze coffee from a lemon,
Flatten the color wheel to a graphite ladder.
Calm. Control.

Complex.
Lines criss-cross,
Grids become webs,
Perfection grows deep,
Light now refracts.
Order, now
Complicated.
Craning toward completion?

Soprano and Piano

These are settings of five folksong lullabies in five different languages, rendered as art songs. Composed for soprano Roberta Duhs, based on her Master’s research into the charming and fearful ways mothers might sing their children to sleep. 

Soprano, Vibraphone, and Piano

This atmospheric journey along the Oregon coast sets a text by my sister, Jane Gibson. The music is entirely preoccupied with the sensual beauty of the story and its images.  The vibraphone adds atmospheric depth and “stillness” to the scene.