Category: Musical Compositions

Second Suite

This set of four pieces was written between 2008 and 2020, and includes a salute to a bright morning, a string piece with a piano as percussion, a mystery, and finally, an untitled orchestral piece I wrote in 2008. Have a good time!

Theme 136: One Bright Morning Early
Theme 59: Strings with a piano as percussion
Theme 147: Mystery in Fminor
Theme 2: An orchestral piece

Ontogeny Suite

The following pieces track the ontogeny of a butterfly, from the magnificent egg through the busy larval and anticipatory pupal stages, to the flying and mating adult, and finally the memory of a life well lived. These pieces come from my archives, from 2008 through 2020. The last (Theme 1) was the first piece of instrumental music I ever wrote on GarageBand. Enjoy.

The magnificent Egg (Theme 101)
Anticipation: The Pupa (Theme 157)
The Single-minded Larva (Theme 7)
The Butterfly Takes Wing (Theme 44)
Remembering a Life Well Lived (Theme 1)

Songs! Like, with lyrics!

Here is a song I wrote in about 1974, commemorating a pilgrimage some friends and I took to Los Alamos, NM on August 6-9 to call attention to (and address and bemoan) the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We were a rag-tag group, walking from Taos to Los Alamos through Santa Fe, sleeping in fields, and carrying signs. The inspiration was from Saint Francis, who walked about similarly, calling people to join the “new madness.” We met with the director of the Los Alamos laboratory, who assured us of the necessity of building earth-destroying bombs that he hoped we’d never have to use again. After I recorded this, a friend sent it to Joan Baez, who, I hope, had a chuckle.

Santa Fe

And, a while later, after hiking and camping along the Conejos River in southern Colorado, I wrote this peaceful song. I recorded it recently, and I can’t sing so well anymore, so…

The River Conejos

More soon. Thanks for listening!