Quality Over Opinion

Laughing in Her Sleep

Recorded by the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra on November 9, 2022; conducted by Alan Kay. Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University. Soli Deo Gloria.

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Program Notes:

To plod is "to move or walk heavily or laboriously" or "to work or act perseveringly or monotonously." In any kind of art, it's tempting to wait until inspiration strikes before we get to work, but for most of us, this would mean that we accomplish little at all. Most days, we need to get up, keep our noses to the grindstone, and hope something happens that's worth keeping. This piece is a meditation on the commitment to plod along in whatever work we have in front of us. One step at a time, often a laborious step, is all we can do, but we must persevere in the pursuit of beauty.

Plod — for orchestra (2022)

Harrietlehre for Orchestra (Excerpt)

Some Unused Songs

End of The Night

Disappear Again

Other Pines, IV. The Pines As Refuge (Parco Del Pineto)

nothing

High Five

A Pill in the Sea

Watch the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNhlEgql4yA

Brian Mangrum, horn
Alexander Ramazanov, trumpet
Cameron Kerl, trombone
Caitlin Mehrtens, harp
Graeme Francis, percussion
Jacob Schafer, violin
Cindy Ahn, violin
Sergein Yap, viola
Chris Ellis, cello
Max Winningham, double bass
Craig Hauschildt, conductor

Recorded in Cole Hall at Stephen F. Austin State University, March 8, 2024. Music recorded by Byron Reinhardt, Katharyn Phillips, Sophia Nunez, and Sound Recording Services at SFASU. Recording session assistance by Blake Buehler and JJ Bartley.

Environmental video and audio soundscapes recorded by Ben Morris using a Canon M50 and Zoom H3-VR at Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary, Boykin Springs at Angelina National Forest, Kisatchie National Forest, Big Thicket National Preserve Sundew and Turkey Creek Units, and Stephen F. Austin State University Native Plant Center.

Additional archival footage and audio:
Smokey Bear PSAs from the U.S. Forest Service, released via the Internet Archive (archive.org) 
Selected bird calls from the Cornell Macaulay Library (https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/)
Historical logging footage from Texas Archive of the Moving Image (https://texasarchive.org/) 
Historical photographs from the East Texas Digital Archives at Stephen F. Austin State University (https://digital.sfasu.edu/) 
Pond5 and Adobe Stock

This project is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the states arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts, The Nature Conservancy in Texas, Stephen F. Austin State University Cole Fine Arts Faculty Excellence and School of Music Professional Development Grants, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the City of Houston.

Featuring Shawn Benedict and Pedro Hernandez of the Nature Conservancy’s Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary.

Special Thanks to Jenny Sanders and the Texas Longleaf Team, MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston), and Nathan Nabb and Dean Gary Wurtz at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Arts and Culture Texas Feature: http://artsandculturetx.com/fire-music-loop38-makes-an-impact-with-new-music-for-our-times/

Longleaf

Time Machines (2025) Live Performance
Commissioned by the Bowling Green University Wind Symphony

Premiered on April 17, 2025 by the BGSU Wind Symphony
Dr. Kenneth Thompson, Conductor
© 2025 Harriet Steinke

Time Machines (Live April 2025 @ Bowling Green)

Bergen

Ben Morris is a composer whose music tells unconventional stories and crosses genre boundaries. He is Assistant Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University.