Sleeping Bear (2021)
This piece is inspired by an Ojibwe legend telling of the formation of the North and South Manitou Islands off the Western coast of Michigan. This legend tells of a mother bear and her two cubs on the Wisconsin shore (I. Mishe Mokwa and Her Cubs), driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire (II. Fire Escape). The bears swim for many hours, but eventually the cubs tire and lag behind. Mother bear reaches the shore and climbs to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drown within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou creates two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear (III. The Rise of the Manitou Islands). The site of this solitary dune is now known as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The melodic material for all three movements is derived from the Anishinaabe Spirit Bear Song. For the Anishinaabe natives, the bear represents courage. Sleeping Bear was commissioned by Scott and Patricia Card and premiered at the 2021 International Clarinet Association Virtual ClarinetFest.

This live performance recording from October 8, 2021 at Sam Houston State University features Patricia Card, clarinet; Scott Card, cello; and Kyle Kindred, piano.

Unknown album (10/31/2021 1:44:34 PM)

The Rise of the Manitou Islands

Fire Escape

Mishe Mokwa and Her Cubs

A new work of short pieces for solo piano, Gaymer (2022) is inspired by queer gaming perspectives from the 1980s to the present. A whole generation of queer and active gamers have reached middle age whilst new generations of gamers continue to join the fold. As gaming and games continue to evolve, these gaymers see changes in approaches to gender roles, sexual identity, gender identity, and social acceptance in their video game experiences. Each piece in this set aims to explore or evoke a new queer gaming concept or perspective.

Unknown album (3/7/2022 9:43:49 AM)

IV. Boss

III. Spouse

Ruffled Flourishes: A New Musical 
                                      2022 SHSU Cast Recording
Book & Lyrics - Peter Roussel
Music & Lyrics - Kyle Kindred
Directed by Penny Hasekoester
Musical Director & Workshop Pianist - Kyle Kindred
Stage Manager - Grace Wacker
Recording/Mastering - Ruairi O'Brien

                                                       CAST
Caden Casey............................................................Reporter 2, Buster Yikes
Cara DeGaish....................................................................................Flaxen Day
German Garay.............................Demonstrator 2, Solider, TV Operator 1
Elliet Hanes....................................................................Reporter 3, Operator
Macy Herrera...............................Demonstrator 3, Quad Sands, Operator
Paige Klase......................Sparta St. James, Lead White House Operator
Gabriel Mullen..............................................................................Sox St. Louis
Carolina Ornelas.....................................Demonstrator 4, A Nun, Staffer 1, 
          TV Operator 2, Operator, Buddy
David Quiroz..................................Demonstrator 1, President Carl Crayon, 
          A Man in Lafayette Park
Saroa-Dwayne Sasa....................................Reporter 1, J.Y. Katy, Operator
Emily Smith...............................................Reporter 4, A Cardinal, Operator

23 Hooray It's A Lid For The Day Part 1

22 You Have Nothing For Us

21 Give Us A Quote Part 6

20 A Life In - Between - Time To Move Reprise

19 The Best Free Show In Town Part 4

18 The Best Free Show In Town Part 3

11 Give Us A Quote Part 4

10 Time To Move

09 Always There

08 Give Us A Quote Part 3

07 Give Us A Quote Part 2

06 Give Us A Quote Part 1

05 A Life In - Between Part 2

04 A Life In - Between Part 1

03 Let It Spin

02 What's The White House Saying

01 Act One Overture

12 On The Record Part 1

13 On The Record Part 2

14 Give Us A Quote Part 5 (Act One Finale)

16 The Best Free Show In Town Part 1

15 Act Two Overture

17 The Best Free Show In Town Part 2

24 Hooray It's A Lid For The Day Part 2

The main inspiration for “Princess” is the traditional use of tropes such as the “princess that needs rescuing” or the “brave male hero that needs to rescue a princess.” My goal is to show in this piece an appreciation for the fact that video game creators have made efforts to use a more diverse array of heroes and characters with regard to gender and romantic interests. The first third of the piece uses a texture of dyads that are all fifths to represent the more homogenous traditional approach to gender roles in video game stories. As the piece progresses, other types of dyads (seconds, sixths, fourths, and thirds) assert themselves and are eventually “accepted” into a quasi-recapitulation of the opening music. While the opening music has an appealing sound, the more diverse restatement at the end is much richer in terms of sonority and harmony.

I. Princess

Sam Houston State University Wind Ensemble; Matthew McInturf, conductor

Symphony No. 1: The Remnant (2021 American Prize Winner - Professional Band Composers Division)

Some giant stars like those we see in our night’s sky end their astronomically long lives with a large explosion called a supernova. After the matter clears from this large event, a “dead” version of the star, known as a pulsar, may exist in the place of the former living star. A pulsar is a highly-magnetized spinning neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation from its poles as it rotates, gradually expending its energy over billions of years until it finally disappears.1 Symphony No. 1: The Remnant is a four-movement work that celebrates the “creation, life, and destruction” of a pulsar. Throughout the symphony, fragments of the melody from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star are freely used along with pulsating figures mimicking the repeating patterns in a pulsar’s movements. In addition to the music’s connection with programmatic elements, each of the first three movements is inspired in part and dedicated to a different friend of mine that has recently passed away.

I. Introduction and Supernova
II. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Pulsar
III. Disco Sprach Zarathustra
IV. Lux Aeterna

For purchase information, visit www.murphymusicpress.com/products/w-204

Sam Houston State University Wind Ensemble; Matthew McInturf, conductor

Symphony No. 1: The Remnant for Winds and Percussion

Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1998) by Kyle Kindred

Jean Lansing, saxophone
Kyle Kindred, piano

Jean Lansing, saxophone; Kyle Kindred, piano

III. Finale: Vivace from Sonata for Saxophone and Piano (1998)

Recent winner of the American Prize (Professional Band Composers Division), Kyle Kindred (b.1978 - he/him) is Professor and Director of Composition Studies at the Sam Houston State University School of Music. His melodramatic and occasionally theatrical musical works have been performed throughout the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and South America. Kindred’s original music currently serves as the score for the LEGO Harry Potter and the Transgender Witch series available on YouTube. Other recent projects include Symphony No. 1 for Winds and Percussion: The Remnant (2021 American Prize Winner) and a trio for clarinet, cello, and piano called Sleeping Bear which was premiered at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest 2021. 

Kindred is currently developing a full-length musical, Ruffled Flourishes, with former Deputy White House Spokesman Peter Roussel (based on Roussel’s novel of the same name). He is a featured composer in the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series as well as a contributing author for GIA Publications’ Composers on Composing for Band, Volume 4, edited by Mark Camphouse.

Kyle Kindred

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