Farwell My Good I. Forever

September 19, 2010

Update: Dec 2011 Farwell My Good I. Forever was recorded by Acacia Ensemble for ABC Classic FM radio in December 2011. I was asked to provide a program note for the on-air announcements so I wrote this: Farwell My Good I. Forever was composed across 2006-7, and it’s my farewell to a part of myself, […]

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Forever #1 and Forever #13 from Solo Piano

August 31, 2010

I’m overjoyed to say that at this year’s Sydney Chamber Music Festival, the wonderful Australian pianist Benjamin Martin will be playing two brief excerpts from my work Solo Piano. The concert happens to be on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I explain the relevance of this to Forever #1 and Forever #13 […]

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Harrison Ford on success

August 16, 2010

A newspaper clipping that I cherish, from the Ocala Star Banner, Dec 26, 1988. I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the […]

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Two upcoming speaking appearances

August 13, 2010

How we store time in our body, and how to use the idea of the future Keith Howes has been running a provocative program for the Theosophical Society of Sydney called ‘Toward 3012’. For the final week, he has invited me to join him to present and lead discussion based on my essay The Role […]

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“Krematisten”

July 5, 2010

It’s with some amusement that I’m posting this. My article on chrematism has attracted a large number of visitors since I posted it in August 2009 on my original website. What I didn’t know in my naïvety was that I was one of very few people to use this word. Possibly one of only two: […]

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Two excerpts from ‘Harp and Wind Quintet’

June 21, 2010

Like all my pieces, Harp and Wind Quintet is a single-movement open-form work. I constantly add passages, so it’s a perpetual work-in-progress. Currently it’s just under 1 hour long, but I have a feeling it’ll bloom to the length of my longest works, Solo Piano and String Quartet, each of which is over 3 hours in duration.

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Nachtstück from ‘Solo Piano’

May 29, 2010

This piece is a tribute to my friend Tom and the memory of our friendship. I met him in 1986 at a Roman Catholic church called St Paul’s in Madison, Wisconsin. Tom was the organist and I was the pianist. One of the first things Tom said to me was, “I don’t consider you a […]

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The role of the future

April 21, 2010

Does living fully in the present moment mean we should never think about the future? Is it possible to reconcile being fully present with future-based ideas like goal-setting or making appointments?
The question that best sums it up for me is this:
“What is the role of the future for someone who lives fully in the present moment?”
And the answer I’ve arrived at is this:
“The future is simply a tool that we can use to create a joyful experience of the present moment.”

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A free forum on commissioning classical music

April 7, 2010

I am speaking at the first-ever Commissioners’ Circle meeting organized by chronology arts. This is designed to educate interested people and organizations on exactly what’s involved in the exciting process of commissioning a new piece of music. I will be joined by composer Ross Edwards, artistic director Roland Peelman and composers/entrepreneurs Andrew Batt-Rawden and Alex […]

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A birthday drawing from my niece

March 31, 2010

My niece Shannon, who is 6, drew this for me on my birthday last month. She is a precocious, artistic soul. I find myself wondering, if I had children, how would I raise them? I’ve been thinking about formal education recently. As my friend Sean Rasmussen is fond of saying, we don’t stop playing because […]

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