The tuba is often the root of an ensemble. It usually carries the foundational bass line and often supplies harmony with a solid tonic tone at the end of a phrase or at the end of a piece (referred to as the "root" of the chord).  For these reasons the tuba (its look and sound) has always had a paternal connotation to me.  So, when I was asked to compose this work for Ken Heinlein and the Akron Symphony, this idea was immediately the image my mind dreamed up.  Coincidentally, Ken became a father during the planning stages for the work… it all seemed to be a bit serendipitous. 

The work is cast in two movements and explores themes of the parent as the sage (movement I) and as the storyteller (movement II). The work opens with the soloist's transformation to parenthood followed by a series of growth moments between the imagined child and parent. To underscore this idea of growth, the tuba first interacts with a violin soloist, then a viola, and finally the cello.  I imagine the drama in the music (sometimes patient, sometimes assertive, sometimes supportive) mirroring my experience with the joys, anxiety, and exhaustion of raising children.  For the second movement, I recalled listening to my own parents tell me stories about their childhood adventures. These stories always seemed so fantastical, and I can only imagine my children experiencing my storytelling in the same way.

Vox Paterna, Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra

Clint Needham: Free Radicals
Recorded live 9/22/23
Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Droste, conductor

Clint Needham: Free Radicals

Premiered by brass and percussion members from the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra that opened the concert on October 31st, 2014.


Conductor: Octavio Más-Arocas
Trumpet 1: Isaac Hopkins
Trumpet 2: Julissa Shinsky
Horn 1: Josiah Bullach
Horn 2: Rana Jurjus
Trombone: Julia Dennis
Tuba: Keith Alcius
Percussion: Ben Shaheen

October Fanfare (Live Premiere), by Gregory Good, Octavio Más-Arocas, Conductor

A piece conceived and written for the 2015 Baldwin Wallace Fyoo zh en dance concert.  An aural representation of the stress and anxiety of PTSD and of the idea that "nobody just snaps".  Premiered March 19th at the Kleist Center for Art and Drama

Choreographer: Ian Smith
Dancers:  Ian Smith, Callee Miles

Snap

Performers 

Sidney Perelman - soprano
Kevin Thompson - piano
Jackson Brothers - violin
Maya Johnson - viola
Abby Miles - cello
Greg Good - conductor

Lyrics derived from Rumi's poem translated to english called "A Moment of Happiness"

A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden's beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth, you and I
in a timeless sweet land.

A Moment Of Happiness (Feat. Sidney Perelman)

https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/half-acre-print-g9898

Arranged for SATB choir, piano, and cello, this piece was performed on tour by the Baldwin Wallace Motet Choir, under the direction of Dirk Garner.

Baldwin Wallace University Con

Half Acre (written by Dan Messe, arranged for chorus by Greg Good)

My final composition as a student at Baldwin Wallace.  Generations is a concept piece that uses solo instrumental lines to represent different generations and ideological thinking of a family over time.  A recurring chorale represents the love and unity of a family that overcomes these evolving life perspectives.

Generations (for String Quartet)

Lightenings (2016)
for violin, clarinet, percussion and piano

Lightenings

Falling Up (2015)
for flute, English horn, clarinet, violin and cello

Falling Up

Clint Needham

Action:Inaction

for flauto d'amore, violin, viola, cello and bass

Ginevra Petrucci, flauto d'amore
Suliman Tekalli, violin
Meagan Turner, viola
Clare Monfredo, cello
Keenan Zach, bass

Premiered at Greenwich House, Manhattan, NY on February 8, 2020

www.flautodamore.com

Clint Needham / Action:Inaction

Written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Motet Choir and Duo Amaral.

Cradle My Heart - BW Motet Choir, Dirk Garner, conductor, Duo Amaral, guitars

The music of Clint Needham has been described as “wildly entertaining” and “stunning, brilliantly orchestrated” by the New York Times, as well as “well-crafted and arresting... riveting” by the Herald Times. He has served as the Mellon Composer/Educator in Residence and Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer in Residence with the Albany Symphony, and the Knight Foundation Composer in Residence with the Akron Symphony. 

Clint has received commissions and performances by leading orchestras across the country including the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Omaha Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players, among others. Chamber ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, the American Brass Quintet, Chicago Pro Musica, Da Capo Chamber Players, Factory Seconds Brass Trio, Fifth House Ensemble, Hawthorne String Quartet, Hub New Music, and the President’s Own Marine Band Brass Quintet have given performances of his music across the country as well as in Europe, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia. 

Clint’s music has been recognized with numerous awards including the Barlow Prize, Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Aspen Music Festival Jacob Druckman Prize, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the William Schuman Prize/BMI Composer Award, and the Heckscher & Walter Beeler Prizes from Ithaca College. He has also been the recipient of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Project 440 Commission and the Underwood New Music Commission from the American Composers Orchestra. 

As an educator, Clint serves as Composer in Residence and Professor of Composition at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. He holds degrees from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music (BM) and Indiana University (MM, DM). He has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival as a Susan and Ford Schumann composition fellow and at the Wellesley Composers Conference. 

Clint’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company, Manhattan Beach Music, and Triplo Press. Recordings of his works can be found on the Summit Records, New Focus Recordings, Beauport Classics, and Mark Masters labels as well as on recordings by the United States Air Force Band of the West, trumpeter Jack Sutte, and the American Composers Orchestra Digital Release Series.

https://www.clintneedhamcomposer.com

Vox Paterna, Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra

Clint Needham

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