Hey everyone! As the school year fast approaches, here is my new concert band music for the 2026/27 year: Feis! Grade 1Duration: 2:00 With something for everyone in the ensemble, this folk setting of two traditional Irish tunes is sure to engage your students. Starting with “Peg Ryan’s Polka,” this Grade 1 piece for concert band moves the melody around the ensemble using accessible rhythm … Continue reading 2027 Concert Band Music
Hey everyone, it’s time to share the new music for 2025-26! 🙂 Prairie Sunset (Grade 1) – “Prairie Sunset” is a lush and introspective work for very young band, capturing the slow transformation of colors in the Canadian prairie sky as the sun sets. To The Skies! (Grade 1.5) – Capture the thrill of soaring through the air, sailing through the azure sky with the clouds spinning … Continue reading 2026 Concert Band Music
In 2020, Disney made a documentary series called Into the Unknown about the making of Frozen 2 and near the end of one of the early episodes, the directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck go into the orchestral recording sessions for documentary’s namesake. If I remember correctly, the process was really chugging at that point and there were many questions and problems stacking up and … Continue reading Arcadia
Today is my 41st birthday and I can’t believe it’s the end of December! It’s been a mostly fabulous year, which I think is a win. Here are some highlights: The year opened with Dr. Nora Wilson’s incredible premiere of Arcadia Trombonica at Brandon University in January. We worked so hard at bringing this project to life and, while we didn’t have every visual or … Continue reading 2024 in Review!
I’m currently away in Saskatoon conducting the 2024 Saskatchewan Senior Honour Band, but I wanted to reflect on a commission that premiered ten years ago today; one that is, quite probably, my wildest commission to date. It was on a warm summer day in 2013 that I was asked to come to meet up with a lady named Janice Arnason, who was had been my … Continue reading Morgun – Ten Years Later
Today is December 31st, 2023 – my 40th birthday. As I wrote at the end of my previous post, I have big dreams for this decade. At Christmas, my father-in-law told me that your forties were when you really bite down on your goals, you get aggressive with taking what you’re doing to the next steps and that’s very much how I feel. I’m ready … Continue reading Four Zero (Looking Ahead)
It’s December 30th, 2023. It’s the day before my 40th birthday. I reflect on things quite a lot – sometimes for good, sometimes to my own detriment – and I find myself thinking back about my last decade, particularly the creative aspects of it. The teaching part was generally really great, but I’m not going to focus on that here. Let’s dig into the decade … Continue reading Four Zero (Looking Back)
In my mind, it was so unlikely that I almost couldn’t believe it when the results were announced. When thinking about competitions, I often remind myself about American composer Eric Whitacre’s blog post about the topic. In short: You won’t win, but throwing your hat in the ring will have other creative, emotional, and professional benefits – but you won’t win. When I got an … Continue reading Winning the WASBE Competition
Hey team, Wow, I’m so happy that I can finally share this recording. This project has been some good months in the making and is really special to me. If you’re wondering why, check out this video below: This recording is done by the premiering ensemble, the Gimli High School Senior Concert Band with guests, directed by the incredible music educator, Rob Chrol. He’s the … Continue reading Black Bear
I am so excited to share that my oldest published piece of music, We Are Stars, is being transcribed for band and will get a premiere from the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute Senior Symphonic Band, under the direction of Mr. Dan Austin. Dan has been a champion of my music for some time now, particularly Filum Vitae, my first published band piece. He’s shared performances … Continue reading “We Are Stars” for Band with GCVI
