First draft of my entry for the 2015 72-hour composition challenge. For Organ and horn.

Fanfare for a (Composition) Festival demo

Midi realization of the first two movements of my chamber symphony.

Chamber Symphony, 1-2

My first electronic composition/video game demo

Module1 Demo

In 1837 John Clare entered into care at the High Beach Asylum. Already a prominent English poet, Clare continued writing and completed over two thousands poems before his death in the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum 26 years later. While committed, Clare’s poems shifted in focus from nature to his own isolation, ultimately coming to the conclusion that all he knew for sure and all that he could find 
consistent in life was the fact that he existed. This Cycle begins and ends with this idea of isolation and explores Clare’s relationships with his imagination in the three central movements. 

Recorded at the 2015 SCI Region VI Conference at Henderson State University. 

Baritone, Jared Swope; Clarinet, Shawn Vomund; Violin, Caleb Haymes; Cello, Jessica Hunt.

Asylum Songs - SCI Region VI conference

Blue Sheets of Spray was written in the fall of 2014 for pianist and friend Zhong Xin Chan. It was inspired by the John Q. Hammons Fountain on the Missouri State University campus and attempts to slowly trace the initial flow of water when the fountain is first turned on in the spring. The title derives from Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel: “In summer, a tall spire blown in blue sheets of spray. When they turned it down, it wilted.”

Performed by Vikki Chen

Blue Sheets Of Spray (2014)

The Vaulted Sky was written over a weekend for the 2014 MSU Composition Festival 72-Hour Composition Challenge. The piece won second place in the competition and it’s still one of my favorite short pieces. The title comes from John Clare’s “I Am,” which you just heard in Asylum Songs and relates to the simple peace that Clare dreams for. The B section contrasts the opening and closing sections section and emulates a Shostakovich-esque treatment of melody, harmony, and counterpoint using motives from the outer sections.

Christa Lenau, flute; Amanda Murphree-Roberts, violin; Jeremy Cuebas, piano

The Vaulted Sky (2014)

1. White Walls
2. Hot Ham Water
3. Scherzo for Gerbils
4. Elegy: for the Victims of Bach
5. Bag of Cats
6. Is it Over Yet?

Violin Duets was one of the first pieces I wrote when I came to Missouri State, and the first that I wrote under the guidance of Dr. Michael F. Murray. This collection of duets was meant to let me experiment with octatonic collections and quartal harmony in the familiar environment of my main instrument, while also giving me a chance to experiment with motives and contrasting styles in a short form.
The movements and their titles are meant to be humorous, sarcastic, and light hearted. They comment on endless practicing, trying to find time for a decent meal, stumbling through gen. ed. classes, finding time to sleep, fighting for first chair, tripping over friends because you have to run across campus for rehearsal, anxiety, stress, relief, and, of course avoiding parallel 5ths.

Violin: Hu Xiao, Jeremy Cuebas

Violin Duets on the Lives of Music Students (2012)

1. I Am
2. An invite to Eternity
3. It is the Evening Hour
4. Say, Maiden
5. I Only Know I Am

In the summer of 1837, John Clare entered voluntarily into care at the High Beach Asylum near London. Already a prominent English poet, he continued writing while interred and completed over two thousands poems before his death in the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum 26 years later. While committed, Clare’s poems shifted in focus from nature to his own isolation, ultimately coming to the conclusion that all he knew for sure and all that he could find consistent in life was the fact that he existed. I was drawn to these poems, written in his asylum years, because of how strangely lucid they are for a man in such splintered mental health. Described by his doctor at the asylum: 
“He has never been able to obtain in conversation, nor even in writing prose, the appearance of sanity for two minutes or two lines together, and yet there is no indication of insanity in any of his poetry.”
The cycle begins and ends with Clare’s isolation, coming to the conclusion that his existence is all he knows for sure at both the opening and closing of the piece. The three inner movements explore his imagination, contrasting the frenzied, desperate pleading of “An Invite to Eternity” and “Say, Maiden” with the tender, intimate reminiscence of “It is the Evening Hour.”

Jared Swope, baritone;
Shawn Vomund, clarinet;
Caleb Haymes, violin;
Jessica Hunt, cello

Asylum Songs - text by John Clare, (2012-14)

The Chamber Symphony is by far the largest scale piece that I have written. This piece was my huge senior project and was inspired my many different things during its year-long composition: initially by Shoenberg’s Chamber Symphony and Michael Hersch’s 2nd symphony, but in it the listener can also find touches of Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 and Verdi’s Requiem in the second and third movements.
The first movement is in a ternary (ABA’) form. It utilizes a scale made of alternating half-steps and minor thirds, which lends itself to dissonant half-step and augmented harmonies in the A sections while also allowing for the use of traditional triadic chords in the contrasting B section. 
The Second movement is slow and uses the augmented harmonies from the first movement, but in a much different context. The movement is based on descending whole steps, emphasizing the unique qualities of the whole-tone scale, while also focusing on rhythmic and timbral gestures in the orchestra.
The Third movement is based on the octatonic collection found extensively in the Violin Duets and in Asylum Songs and continues to experiment with timbres in the orchestra, with an emphasis on instrument families. This movement is a quasi-Theme and Variations with an emphasis more on changes in context and color than on melodic development.

Jeremy Cuebas, conductor; Abigail Helton, flute; Grant Simms, oboe; Shawn Vomund, clarinet; Sean Mallow, bassoon; Scott Mayo and Luke Lyons, horn; Elisa Wren, trumpet; Kody Hartman, trombone; Alex Alfaro, percussion; Vikki Chen, piano; Caleb Haymes and Amanda Murphree-Roberts, violin; Regan DeRossett, viola; David Orlando Pira, cello; Rebecca Iedema, bass

JeremyCuebas