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!
Tag: Musical Compositions
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.
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.
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…
More soon. Thanks for listening!
First and Latest Songs
Here is the first song I ever wrote, at age 18, after visiting a ghost town and hearing a lame Windex ad. I used the first four notes of the Windex tune and wrote a couple verses, since slightly revised. Here’s “Tumble Down Shack.”
And my latest song, January 2021, Theme 152, titled “What’s Ours Today.”
New Music
Theme 137, using trombone and bassoon solo instruments to make little arpeggios and colors. Two minutes and forty-three seconds of bliss. More on the way to, someday, a symphony. Hmmm.
And, as always, a poem to keep you thinking.

Musings on a Winter Day
Theme 142 for a change of pace.
Theme 132
This is to help cheer you through 2020. As always, use headphones or good speakers!
Nursery Rhymes and Songs
Here are a couple pieces, followed by a new version of Humpy Dumpty. Enjoy.
Humpty Dumpty: The Real Story


New Music
Here are Theme 101 and Theme 102, two parts of a small suite. Hope you like them.
Two New Compositions and a Ballad
The first composition, below, Theme 52, is probably the first “song” I ever wrote, assisted by Bruce Markkula, when I was about 18 years old. A guitar duet, I recreated it with garage band pianos. The second is Theme 74, which I call “Turn Around” because the tiny first line, which recurs, sounds like that.
