Something simple that I made sure I used only three little ideas, and to have it done it just an hour or so…

Beating a heat wave by writing is always a good idea. Something light, simple, and airy. So, a woodwind trio with piano!

The challenge - write, in the space of less than 24 hours, a percussion-only piece of music. I wanted to do something with lots of energy and the title "Assault" fits that pretty well. Imagine storming an enemy stronghold, or intense one-on-one combat.

A fun little idea that feels modern yet classical at the same time. I started to write this in the afternoon, and decided to be happy with what I could do in that evening. I'm very happy with the result!

Using an interesting text written by author Matthew Stover (one of my favorite writers) as a narration to an atonal quartet music that attempts to give a musical point of view to the words.

For Narrator and String Quartet or Brass Quartet (both advanced level). Requires a conductor.

This five movement cycle was, for the most part, written on a trip to Evansville, Indiana. Consisting of most of the membership of the Beta Sigma chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (from the University of Idaho), we journeyed over 2,000 miles, one way, to the National Headquarters of the fraternity, located at a place called “Lyrecrest”. ‘LyreQuest’ was the title we gave to the trip – it was that epic!

Each movement attempts to establish a mood, connected to how I was feeling as we moved through each state. The final movement (Arrival!) represents the attainment of our goal, Evansville and the headquarters at Lyrecrest. I skipped some states that we traveled through (Idaho, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota), not out of spite or anything – I just wanted to keep the suite shorter.

I took on a commission for a friend to write the theme music for their webcomic, which was set in the "Halo" video game universe. It required me to match the style of the composer of the games' music, which was a fun challenge!