Moon tonight | 2023
^{SATB choir with divisi and piano | 6'}

Someday | rev. 2024
^{[3(pic)33(bc)2/4331/timp.3perc/hp.cel.pf/str] | 4'}

Another procrastination | 2023
^{to Mr. Liability | 3'}

Moon tonight | 2023
^{SATB choir with divisi and piano | 6'}

Someday | rev. 2024
^{[3(pic)33(bc)2/4331/timp.3perc/hp.cel.pf/str] | 4'}

Another procrastination | 2023
^{to Mr. Liability | 3'}

Texas 2 ½ step | 2022
^{[Fl | Ob | Cl | ASax | Euph | Bn] 5'}

Take a breath | 2023
^{bass clarinet & marimba (5 oct) | 5'}

After | 2023
^{cor anglais & piano | 5'}

Echoes | 2023
^{hammered dulcimer (20/19 tuning) | 6'}

Flow 1 | 2022
^{[Fl | Ob | Cl | Hn | Bn] 9'}

Someday | rev. 2024
^{[3(pic)33(bc)2/4331/timp.3perc/hp.cel.pf/str] | 4'}

Ganbatte!〚頑張って！〛| 2024
^{piano quartet | 4'}

Moon tonight | 2024
^{SATB choir with divisi and piano | 6'}

There is a bird in the poplars– | 2023
^{SSAA choir with divisi and piano | 5'}

A Light Exists in Spring | rev. 2021
^{SSAA choir with piano | 5'}

Another procrastination | 2023
^{to Mr. Liability | 3'}

a procrastination. | 2022
^{to a certain astronaut | 6'}

Thoughts | 2021
^9'

Nocturne | 2019
^6'

Fantasia | 2013
^4'

Resonance | 2024
^{handbells ([5]-6+ oct.) | 5'}

Prelude en Ré♭ arr. L. Boulanger | 2023
^{handbells (6 oct.) | 4'}

Moon tonight,
Beloved . . .
When twilight
Has gathered together
The ends
Of her soft robe
And the last bird-call
Has died.
Moon tonight—
Cool as a forgotten dream,
Dearer than lost twilights
Among trees where birds sing
No more.~Gwendolyn Bennett
(1926)

^{for SSAA choir with divisi and piano}

Gwendolyn Bennett was a poet, artist, writer, and journalist involved in the Harlem Renaissance. She was born in Texas in 1902, but she was kidnapped by her father in a custody battle and spent much of her childhood moving around the East Coast. Some high school stability in New York sparked her creative juices, and she spent the 1920s moving between Harlem, DC, and Paris; writing, painting, hosting the biggest cultural figures, and reporting on the movement at the time.After the 1920s, she rarely wrote, instead staying involved in culture through various arts administration posts. Unsubstantiated Red Scare FBI investigations put a further damper on her arts efforts, leading her to fully exit the public eye.I discovered this poem from poets.org's Poem-A-Day service. I was not familiar with Ms. Bennett, but her words captured my attention and quickly became one of my favorite poems. There's a melancholy, longing transience, and beautiful imagery within such a short space that I hope I was able to capture in my setting.Dedicated to my first composition teacher, Ms. Julie Harris – a mentor, inspiration, and poetry lover.

Resonance was written for the Trinity University Handbell Ensemble in Dr. Diane Persellin's last year as director.The piece is dedicated to Dr. Persellin's resonating impact on Trinity's music department, the handbell ensemble, and every student she's taught or conducted. Resonant chords in the bass, singing bells and large melodic shapes lend an air of timelessness that handbells excel at.

[video coming soon]

In Spring 2022, I won a competition and was given the golden opportunity to write a wind quintet to be workshopped by the Air Force Band of the West. Unfortunately, the turnaround time was quite short, and I was spending well too much of my time writing reports for fluid mechanics lab, a bear of a class that I was taking that semester. Running out of time to get notes on the page, I decided to try combining the two projects, and the initial resulting ideas quickly became Major Headloss, Esq.The title of the suite, Flow 1, was inspired jointly by fluids and the notation software Dorico's default title for a movement. Flow is an obvious link between music and fluids, which I strived to emphasize throughout the work.

The introit, One morning, is a serene walk. The sun's out, the birds are chirping, but even these remind you of fluid mechanics. The birds swirl and dive aerodynamically, the wind wafts waves of convective heat, but you take a deep breath and try to be present. The theme passed between clarinet, bassoon, and horn at m.38 should be played sweetly at times and almost dolefully at others.The centerpiece of the suite, Major Headloss, Esq. is a reference to the fluid mechanics concept of frictional energy loss through horizontal pipes: major headloss. As a result, the main theme is a scalar figure that compresses vertically, losing energy, through the phrase.I can neither confirm nor deny that the name may also refer to a certain... passionate professor I had for fluid mechanics lab.Special care should be paid to execute articulation, note length, and dynamics with brilliant, arresting clarity, just like his lectures. Absolute precision, to the point of diminishing returns, is what he would expect. The stratospheric punctuated trills in the flute and Bb3s in the oboe should veritably scream. The whole movement should nearly burst with neurotic, quick-twitch energy.

^{for wind quintet}

a procrastination. just kind of appeared on the page in Spring 2022, when I was supposed to be writing the wind quintet that turned into Flow 1. It was a profile of my then-roommate’s spacey style of procrastination, and a very convenient excuse to procrastinate myself on a much more important project.It begins with an insipid but endearing little non-theme, representing the task at hand, that meanders, drags, rushes, and never quite resolves. In between distractions and dread, we meander into some rabbit-holes, daydreams, mud-trudging, and a little caffeine rush. No progress is made: it just meanders away for another day.

^{solo piano}

Another procrastination is the second installment of the series I started with a procrastination. two years ago. Both were written while grappling with larger, more important projects, and they aim to capture the vibrant personalities and questionable work habits of current and former roommates.This piece was written in honor of/in solidarity with my current roommate. It begins with a peppy groove and foundational polyrhythm (percussionist's sensibility) that belie a delicate balancing act between the hands: a sign of more juggling to come. It’s short but dramatic, restlessly flitting between the easy opening groove, doleful laments of calamity, an unwatched simmer boiling over, and a final boss-like bassline inspired by his impressive Steam collection. The unsustainable juggling act crash-lands into a frenetic finish.

Essentially, I wanted to write a dance, but I can’t dance. Texas 2 ½ step is a fun, lively, vigorous dance with lopsided rocking motion that throws everything a little off-kilter. Warm lines soar over the pulsating rhythmic groove, and stiller sections represent almost freeze-frames of internal contemplation. Vibrant energy courses throughout, as crisp rhythmic precision swirls together with colorful solo virtuosity.The piece is dedicated to one of several friends who made valiant but futile efforts to teach me how to two-step when I first arrived in Texas.

[Fl | Ob | Cl | ASax | Euph | Bn]
January 2022
San Antonio, TX

Take a breath was premiered by bass clarinet & marimba duo Transient Canvas at the 2023 Alba Music Festival in Italy. The piece serves as a reminder - to take a moment; to take a breath - that we all need at one point or another.

^{[score video coming soon]}

There is a bird in the poplars—
It is the sun!
The leaves are little yellow fish
Swimming in the river;
The bird skims above them—
Day is on his wings.
Phoenix!
It is he that is making
The great gleam among the poplars.
It is his singing
Outshines the noise
Of leaves clashing in the wind.~William Carlos Williams (1915)

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was an innovative poet and prose author associated with the Imagist movement. Metric Figure, one of his early poems, was published as part of a 5-poem collection called Root Buds in the May 1915 issue of Poetry magazine.Dedicated to Mrs. Vicki Oehling, longtime accompanist of the Raleigh Boychoir.

Expedited is a hard-charging, energetic showpiece for handbells that features and challenges nearly every ringer in its 6 octave range. Premiered in April 2022 by the Trinity University Handbell Ensemble led by Dr. Diane Persellin. A suggested bass chime part is also available upon request.

[score video coming soon]