Wall of Thorns for solo horn, performed by David Byrd-Marrow (ICE ensemble). Score available on my website, www.jocmusic.com

www.davidbyrdmarrow.com

Wall Of Thorns (2020)

A recording from Duxbury Wind Ensemble at the Exchange Concert 1/15.

About the piece:

This piece is truly an experiment that I conducted to see if I could blend two seemingly opposite styles of music together: wind band music and heavy metal (progressive metal, to be specific). The music starts with low winds playing the main “riff”, which features a unique rhythmic drive and and serves as an unmistakably progressive introduction. As the work develops further, more and more aspects of rock begin to appear. The clearest hint is the snare and ride cymbal groove that starts in the second half of the song, and that’s also where the music starts to get crazy with the time changes. There’s even some moments with polymetric patterns that are a clear hail to progressive metal. And finally, the piece concludes with a wailing clarinet solo over the main riff of the song. There’s plenty of pitch bending and all sorts of shredding to properly emulate a metal guitar solo. An Experiment for Winds and Percussion makes it clear just how well the musical elements of rock and metal can translate to the wind band tradition.

I’d call this experiment a success.


Enjoy!

~Jake

An Experiment for Winds and Percussion (2014)

Out in the mindless void the daemon bore me,
Past the bright clusters of dimensioned space,
Till neither time nor matter stretched before me,
But only Chaos, without form or place.
Here the vast Lord of All in darkness muttered
Things he had dreamed but could not understand,
While near him shapeless bat-things flopped and fluttered
In idiot vortices that ray-streams fanned.
They danced insanely to the high, thin whining
Of a cracked flute clutched in a monstrous paw,
Whence flow the aimless waves whose chance combining
Gives each frail cosmos its eternal law.
“I am His Messenger,” the daemon said,
As in contempt he struck his Master’s head.
-H.P. Lovecraft

Elizabeth Stamerra, voice
Claire Park, flute
Griffin Charyn, bass clarinet 
Julia Plato and Anna Lugbill, violin 
Maria Dupree, viola
Malachi Brown, cello
Joon Sang Ko, piano 
Dan Syvret, percussion

The Lovecraft Cycle - VII. Azathoth

My piece Nemo for bassoon amplified with a plethora of effects via guitar pedals such as distortion, overdrive, and a suboctave. The piece is heavily inspired by my love of progressive metal.

Performed by David Resig.

Nemo for amplified bassoon

A short fanfare written for Ithaca College's graduation ceremony. It is a heartfelt dedication to IC's class of 2019.

Aleyna Ashenfarb, Peter Gehres, Kristen Warnokowski, trumpet
Kurt Eide, Eric Coughlin, Sean Bessette, trombone

Professionally recorded in my pocket during a rehearsal with my phone's voice memos.

For Those Who Prevail (2019)

A piece for bass clarinet totally inspired by progressive metal. Performed by Bryan Filetto.

Nemo (2017) for bass clarinet

The strange and the perfect

Composer of contemporary music. Heavily influenced by prog metal. 

www.jocmusic.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkD_BiP9kW3pagkOrAzIC9Q

Jake O'Connor

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