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Large Ensemble / Orchestral |
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La-Ti-Da for Tap Dancer, Soprano, and Sinfonietta . La-Ti-Da was premiered by the Eastman Composers Sinfonietta on March 18, 2011 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music. La-Ti-Da featured Tap Dancer Alex Dugdale and Soprano Jennifer Bellor. Premiere was conducted by Geoffrey Pope..
Notes After watching the 1954 film "White Christmas" for the gazillionth time over theholidays, I was inspired to write a piece that featured a singer and a dancer with an orchestra.I loved the many scenes in that film that showcased singing and dancing, especially Vera-Ellen's tap dance number,"Choreography." In this scene,the character Phil Davis plays the serious modern dancer/choreographer accompanied by "modern" music and dance with dark costumes and artsy choreography that issupposed to portray this "new" genre against the character Judy Haynes tap dancing to lively "fun" music with a lavish bright costume. Relating this scene with contrasting identities to my piece, I wanted to throw together in one piece the identity of the tap dancer, the coloratura soprano, and small orchestra to see what happens. The tap dancer part--rhythmically notated in the first movement andasked to improvise freely in the second--has certain sections where it's all about the dancer, but then in other sections, he takes on the identity of a dancingpercussionist with the percussion section. The soprano part does not have any text, except for "La-Ti-Da" thrown in here and there, and so uses scat syllables throughout. The first movement, she contrasts between singing jazzy parts doubling with the marimba and other instruments to having more soloistic moments in theend of the first movement, and especially the second movement.
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Splash for Big band: 5 saxaphone: 1 soprano sax, 1 alto sax/flute, 2 tenor sax, 1 bari sax; 4 trumpet, 4 trombone including bass trombone, vibraphone, piano, synth, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drumset Splash was premiered by the New Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dave Rivello in Eastman Kodak Theatre April 12, 2011. Notes |
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Uprising for Wind Ensemble: 1 piccolo, 3 flutes, 4 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets in Bb, 1 bass clarinet, 4 saxophones: 2 alto, 1 tenor, 1 baritone, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 tuba, 1 timpani, 4 percussionists, piano, and contrabass.
Reading by Mark Scatterday and the Eastman Wind Ensemble Notes Uprising began as a jazz ensemble piece. Throughout the piece, there are groups of instruments that rise out of the wind ensemble texture, similar to that of soloists improving in a jazz band. |
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Overdrive for Big band: 5 saxaphone: 1soprano sax, 1 alto sax/flute, 2 tenor sax, 1 bari sax; 4 trumpet, 4 trombone including bass trombone, vibraphone, piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drumset
Commissioned by Dave Rivello and the New Jazz Ensemble at Eastman School of Music Notes Dave Rivello approached me over the summer about writing a new piece for the New Jazz ensemble at Eastman that was different from most of the repertoire he chooses for that group. For this piece, I was inspired by the Grunge aesthetic. According to one description of Grunge I found on the internet, The aesthetic is characterized by a layer of abrasive filth which roughens an underlying source of beauty to soften its presence and make it more palatable to a jaded audience. True beauty can be hard to look at or listen to directly, because it has been homogenized through repetition in modern mass media. A contrasting grunge facade can enhance the artistic experience by providing a yin to the yang of a gratingly pleasant image or tune. For Overdrive, I combine beautiful sounds from the winds and vibraphone with the harsh distortion of the guitar, bass guitar, and intense drumming. This piece could have been written for a classically-trained ensemble, but I wanted to capture the rawness and inhibitions of a group of players who are used to taking risks with each other improvising and working off one another. |
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Ekho's Lament for string orchestra
Commissioned by Reuben Blundell and the Millersville University orchestra. |
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Dance! for orchestra Reading by the Eastman Philharmonia April '09 |
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Bell Song for French Horn and Sinfonietta Premiered by Sophia Goluses and members of the Composers' Sinfonietta on Nov. 25, 2008 at Eastman Composers' Sinfonietta concert |
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Hosanna for SAB a cappella choir Premiered by choir members of St. Francis of Assisi, Bridgeport, NY in April, 2007 |
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Chimera for orchestra
Reading by Buffalo Philharmonic at the Young Composer's Forum, February 2007 |
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O Magnum Mysterium for SATB a cappella choir
Reading by Eastman Chorale on April 2008 |
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Remember Me SSA choir and piano accompaniment Premiered in April 2006 at Syracuse University |
Chamber Music |
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Heat for marimba solo Commissioned and premiered by percussionist Sean Connors on March 18, 2011 at Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music. I titled the piece Heat for marimba beforeI was asked to write music to accompany the process of glass creation at R.I.T..During that performance, I decided to use this piece as a template over which percussionists improvised over some of my material at different stages of the glass creation. I realized after that performance, that the entire piece Heat could musically depict the processes of the creation of glass, and so I subtitled it "The Rite of Glassblowing." However, the process going into the creation of glasscould also be related to other ritualistic activities that involve the building up of steam, the "busy work" required to properly shape the mould in preparationfor the "dance of fire," and in effect, the "release" (hopefully!)…like composing, or cooking, of course./p> |
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A Walk at Dusk for trumpet, bass guitar, and drumset
Written for the Cuong Vu Trio at the Eastman Composer's Benson Forum of Creativity |
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On Tap (Just Tap It!) for tap dancer and three percussionists: vibraphone, bongos, marimba and drumset
Commissioned by Ossia organization at Eastman School of Music Notes Serendipity is often the silent partner in the practice of music composition. Memory and longing are also known to knock on the door of the practice room, eager to make their way into the music. For my piece On Tap (Just Tap It!) both played a prominent role. Part One: Serendipity. Imagine a frenetic composition student, third coffee half-drunk in her hand, feverishly trying to finish a piece for solo piano in the space of one hour. This is not a hard scene to imagine. I was at Java's last March where I had the good fortune to meet Alex Dugdale through our mutual friend Matt Podd. Matt joked that I should enlist Alex's tap dance talents in my writing. What a fantastic idea! I started visualizing and hearing a dancing percussionist as the rhythmic backdrop to a lyrical piano piece based on Babbit's time-point system. Part Two: Memory and Longing. As a child, my mother put me through a spinning wheel of activities. I would learn to love one activity only to have the experience come to an end at traditional demarcations--the end of the school year, the end of the summer, etc. I still rue the day back in first grade when I had to turn in my tap shoes for figure skates. Clearly, the choice was not a bad one on my parents' part: you are not reading about my gold medal win at the Winter Olympics, are you? That tap, tap, tap has always been in my brain though... On Tap (Just Tap It!) is the culmination of a year spent exploring prominent percussive and theatrical elements in my writing. Proposing a piece to OSSIA for percussion quartet with a tap dancer as a member of that quartet was a perfect way to play with both elements. When writing On Tap (Just Tap it!), I envisioned a group of musicians casually jamming in a jazz lounge. I find the relaxed atmosphere evoked by bands improvising together energizing: each band member works off another's ideas, making music not only dance off the page, but run wild to wherever the musicians' creativity will take it. With the exception of the tap cadenza near the end, all rhythms and timbres indicated in the non-pitched parts were written out, with the understanding that they may be elaborated upon. I gave Alex the freedom to incorporate his own ideas for a solo, drawing upon rhythmic material from the piece. The piece concludes with the tap dancer, bongos, drum set and marimba improvising on previously introduced thematic material. It was a pleasure to work with the Volta Trio (Chris, Erik & Jonny), and with Alex, a dancer with talent and creativity. I welcome partnerships with you all again in the future. -Jennifer Bellor |
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Going Under for soprano and organ
Commissioned by Emily Mills |
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Celestial Surroundings for organ, brass sextet, organ, glockenspiel
Commissioned by Nicole Marane at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA |
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Das Ornaments and Secret of the Marquise for soprano sax and vibraphone
Scored for the animated film Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens (1919), and commercial Das Geheimnis der Marguise, both created by Lotte Reiniger. |
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Put Out My Eyes for flute, clarinet, violin, and piano in four movements
Based on the poem Put out My Eyes by Rainer Maria Rilke, and the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. |
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Link for Flute, Clarinet, Tap dancer
Commissioned by the Society for New Music for the Vision of Sound series. |
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Between Realities for Mezzo-Soprano flute, clarinet, string quartet, harp, piano
Commissioned by Quinn Patrick Ankrum, mezzo-soprano |
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"Drink Me" for soprano and percussion quartet
text by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
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Stars for soprano and marimba
text by Emily Bronte |
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Between the Earth and Skies for Baritone, soprano, alto flute and piccolo, Bb and bass clarinet, vibraphone, percussion, violin, cello, and piano
Text setting of John Donne's Holy Sonnets I, II, IV and VI |
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Air and Angels for mezzo- soprano and piano or soprano, flute, clarinet, harp, piano, and string quartet
Text by John Donne |
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à la momentum for piano solo Premiered by pianist Symeon Lee Waseen at Eastman School of Music Composer's Forum on December 2009 |
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My Play's Last Scene for tenor and piano
Commissioned by Society for New Music for Summer Rising Stars Concert |
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Soliloquy for cello solo
Premiered by cellist Caroline Stinson at Syracuse University on Octover 24, 2008 |
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O My Black Soul for baritone, soprano sax, violin, cello, and vibraphone Premiered by baritone Malcolm Merriweather and performers at Syracuse University on April 15, 2007 |
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Duet for soprano sax and flute Premiered by Elizabeth Lyons Ames and Kevin Ames on April 15, 2007 at Syracuse University |
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In Time for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, vibraphone and marimba Premiered by the Syracuse Contemporary Ensemble on November, 2006 |
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Four Images of Women who have Issues for string quartet, four movements
Premiered on April 15, 2007 at Syracuse University |
Electronic / Electroacoustic |
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Fliegen for cello and interactive electronics Premiered by Ignacy Grzelazka on Eastman Computer Music Center concert on May, 2009 |
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Arkansas Bear electronic music cues for children's play Commissioned by the Hangar Theatre, Ithaca, NY for summer 2007 performances |
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Frog Prince electronic music cues for children's play Commissioned by the Hangar Theatre Ithaca, NY for performances in summer 2006 |
