Neon Lights over Desert Skies 
for flute, alto flute and bassoon

Martin J. Van Klompenberg - Neon Lights Over Desert Skies (MIDI Realization)

The Paradise Winds Reed Quintet at the 2022 International Double Reed Ensemble
Tiffany Pan, oboe
Joshua Gardner, clarinet
Patrick Murphy, saxophone
Stefanie Harger Gardner, bass clarinet
Joseph Kluesener, bassoon

Unequal Measure • Paradise Winds

Prof. Anthony Costa conducts the Penn State Clarinet Choir, live in concert (November 2024), in Daniel Dorff's SLIPPERY SLOPES

Daniel Dorff: SLIPPERY SLOPES for Clarinet Choir

Into the Blue is about embracing the turning chapters within our lives. As we finish our current chapter and enter the next we are often met with 2 opposing emotions; anxiety, and excitement. We can choose to be overwhelmed with fear and doubts about the unknown. Or, we can choose to embrace change, living with the excitement that maybe what we haven’t experienced yet, will be a good surprise. Into the Blue emulates the duality of change; anxiety and excitement, fear and courage, doubt and hope. This is not a battle of emotions, but rather a balance. These pairings will always be two sides of the same coin, and that’s okay. I hope this piece can help listeners embrace and celebrate the ever-turning chapters in their lives. 

“Sometimes it feels like I got a war in my mind
I wanna get off, but I keep riding the ride
I never really noticed that I had to decide
To play someone’s game, or live my own life
And now I do,
I wanna move
Out of the black (out of the black)
Into the blue (into the blue)” - Get Free by Lana Del Rey
	
Commissioned by the Le Mars High School Concert Band, to honor the retirement of Mary Kay Benton, whose passion, dedication, and unwavering leadership, shaped countless musicians.

Into the Blue - Performed by the Le Mars High School Concert Band

Performed by the Hillsdale Faculty Woodwind Quintet


They Were Verbs

Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs), commissioned by Dover String Quartet, is a modern Chickasaw composition about woodland animals from our Southeastern homelands. Our traditional woodland animals are so revered that our family clans are named after them. My family is Shawi' Iksa', Raccoon Clan. Each woodland animal has a special ethos and there are many traditional stories about them. In this work, five woodland animals are represented: Squirrel, Bird, Deer, Fish and Raccoon. Each movement is like an epitome - a deep, dramatic and rhapsodic expression of my feelings of being a Chickasaw man from a beautiful and robust culture. I love our animals, and I love composing works about them.

Abokkoli' Taloowa' is full of Chickasaw melodies, rhythms and musical structure. Sometimes these elements appear very clearly, where the melody may romantically soar above the ensemble. Sometimes they are abstracted into the texture of the quartet and hidden inside the spirit of the animal. I allow myself to fluidly dance between cultural clarity and modern expressionism. I am deeply inspired by our modern Native artists, choreographers, authors and film makers - each proudly expressing their individual identity within rich ancestry. I encourage each listener to create their own emotional story of each animal and imprint these legends into their hearts.

Fani' (Squirrel)
Bakbak (Woodpecker)
Issi' (Deer)
Nani' (Fish)
Shawi' (Raccoon)

Martin J. Van Klompenberg - Neon Lights Over Desert Skies (MIDI Realization)

Martin VanKlompenberg

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