This set is a collection of my music from the last twenty years. For more information, including licensing and scores/parts, please visit http://www.billryanmusic.com

Compositions by Bill Ryan

North is based on my experience of running the 2019 North Face Endurance Challenge, an ultramarathon in the Marin Headlands surrounding San Francisco. This 51-mile trail race traveled through redwood forests, down to ocean beaches, and over numerous mountains and overlooks, all with visually stunning views with over 10,000 feet of elevation change. To put it mildly, it was a challenge for me. 

One of the strategies when running long distances is to just keep moving forward. I tried to convey that in North by having a continual motor of sorts, that propels the music forward at all times. The different sections of the composition reflect some of the course sections I ran through, with varying degrees of energy, including Tennessee Valley, Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, and the Dipsea Trail. The most unforgettable moment for me was towards the end when I caught a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge from the mountains high above. This is reflected in the climax of North, which then sustains this energy to the end, much like when I made my way down the mountains and over the bridge with a sense of renewed energy. 

I did manage to finish the race, in the dark, after a grueling twelve-plus hours (12:23:12 to be exact) on the course. I hope that North is not nearly as long and painful for the audience and performers, and instead conjures visions of traveling through beautiful and wondrous landscapes.

North

Commissioned by the International Beethoven Project, a subtle, skeletal work based on a theme of Beethoven. Performance by Sookkyung Cho.

A Delicate Bagatelle on a theme of Beethoven

Commissioned by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, based on Georges Seurat's 1884 painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." The work was premiered in 2014, but legally I can't use the recording :(

Her Secret

Breath remembers back to first conversations with daughters: our
first adventures with them; our first laughs with them; our first cries with them. Daughters are miracles that take your breath away, make you hold it at times, and show you the meaning of life every single day.

Andy Hudson, clarinets
Nick Photinos, cellos

For more information, including performance options and materials, please visit www.billryanmusic.com

Breath

Performed by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, commissioned by Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers.

Kaitlyn Huisjen, flute
Kaci Seager, clarinet, 
Krista Visnovsky, violin
Kevin Flynn, cello
Dutcher Snedeker, piano
Bailey Groendyke, percussion
Wade Selkirk, percussion
John Jansen & Nate Bliton, recording engineers

Play

A MIDI realization of my new saxophone quartet. Real performers coming soon!

Program Note: When I was growing up I listened emphatically to Maynard Ferguson, Bill Chase, Buddy Rich, Tower of Power, and any band with a horn section. I loved how their lines punctuated the melody and harmony of the music, and especially loved how they served as an extension of the rhythm section. Whatever was played, the horn material was always the most interesting thing going on to me. Since I started composing, the energy of this music has always been a part of my own writing in various degrees. Hard Line brings this not-so-subtle world to the classical saxophone quartet⎯always driving forward, intensely rhythmic, often in extreme registers, screaming loud, and very fast. 

Hard Line

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 1)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 1. Cog

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 2)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 2. Gear

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 3)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 3. Bearing

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 4)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 4. Torque

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 5)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines 5. Pulley

Tiny Machines: 6. Lever

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 7)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 7. RPM

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 8)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 8. Spindle

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 9)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 9. Belt

Note: This is an electronic realization of the saxophone quartet edition (movement 10)

Tiny Machines was inspired by a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. It is a collection of ten miniature musical “machines.” Through carefully constructed interlocking parts and gestures, each movement is an energy-filled study of musical mechanisms. 

Tiny Machines: 10. Turbine

Dig Deep, composed by Bill Ryan
released 1.30.25 on all streaming platforms

Andy Hudson, bass clarinet
Michael Lowenstern, bass clarinet
Zack Dubay, drums

Dig Deep (excerpt)

A composition inspired by a hike through the beautiful Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. 

Jennifer Symons: clarinet
Olivia Kieffer: vibraphone
Greg Secor: crotales, glockenspiel

Field recording courtesy of Gordon Hempton, The Sound Tracker®. Excerpted from his Hoh Rainforest recording One Square Inch of Silence.

For sheet music, visit www.billryanmusic.com
For more information about the forest soundscape, visit www.soundtracker.com

Secret Forest

flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, marimba

Far Away

Composition for piano four-hands in five movements.

1. Torque
2. Spindle
3. Cog
4. Idle
5. Turbine

Sookkyung Cho and Dana Van Dyke perform Tiny Machines, composed for the Grand Valley State University 20th/21st Century Piano Festival.

Tiny Machines

Bill composes, produces events, conducts, and teaches. He's a dad. He cooks. He backpacks. He climbs mountains. He has run marathons and ultra marathons very slowly. He uses a Mac. He takes photographs. He owns many power tools. He loves baseball. He spends way too much time online.

Compositions by Bill Ryan

Bill Ryan Music