"Tooth Necklace" 
composed by: Stephen Ryan Jackson
performed by: Catchfire Collective

www.stephenryanjackson.com

gnawing || chewing || tearing || grinding || consuming
{this piece is meant to recreate that distinct sensation}

Tooth Necklace takes inspiration in the act of consumption (both metaphorical and literal). The rhythms and timbres are taken from transcribing source recordings of chewing and swallowing and the resultant texture is orchestrated almost hocket-like throughout the ensemble. The unrelenting nature of the music creates this image in my mind where the ensemble functions as some imaginary creature or being that is consuming the audience.

"Tooth Necklace" was commissioned by Catchfire Collective and was performed and recorded at Tennessee Tech University on April 1, 2021.

©2021 Stephen Ryan Jackson

Tooth Necklace (2020) - for chamber ensemble [Catchfire Collective]

James & James

Panic is the first movement of a larger work, "Freefall."

Freefall, for chamber ensemble, is a programmatic work about an unexpected skydive. For the piece, I crafted a story about a plane falling apart, leaving it's pilot adrift in the air. 

Panic is meant to be unnerving.  The body of the plane is falling apart, and the engine is failing, which contradicts all expectations for how the flight was supposed to go. The music is meant to convey the experience of despair, at having one’s plans so violently changed. 

image - http://www.skydivecny.com/images/top10.jpg

I. Panic

Dillon Hirsch, Tenor Saxophone
Program Notes: Left Shark is a piece that speaks to universal themes of identity, passion, and selfhood. This programmatic work brings us through Left Shark's journey to become the dancer he was meant to be. Left Shark's oddysey is told through three movements - Shark Attack, Shark Lament, and Shark Dance. 

Photo Cred: Shelly Hillman

3. Shark Dance

Original Composition for Two Violas. Performed live at Houghton College by Kira Browning and Anna Philbrick.

Turning Page

Written for Chad Sell, and premiered in October 2016 in Lakeland, Florida. 

Thunder captures both the turbulence, and intense beauty of a storm. After a suspenseful calm, the atmospheric forces are shown in the form of powerful cluster chords and driving rhythms. Dancing wind and rain find themselves overshadowed by the mighty forces of the storm, which confront and change everything in its path.

"Your voice it thunders
The ground is shaking
The mighty mountains now are trembling
Creation sees You
And starts composing
The fields and trees they start rejoicing."

- Gungor, "The Earth is Yours"

Cello: Chad Sell
Piano: Robin McLaughlin

Photo by Lane Pearman usable by Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/fireboatks/18970323232

Thunder

My overall goal for this composition was to simulate a real drum shed. This is achieved by utilizing an improvisatory and aleatoric approach, which enables the performers to add freely to the session. In keeping with the tradition of a typical drum shed, the performers have not rehearsed beforehand. Again, this experience is supposed to be improvisatory and “in the moment.” Most natural drum sheds are not planned and happens sporadically. This simulation attempts to capture this idea. Before a traditional drum shed session, the facilitator states something along the following:

“Okay, there’s been no rehearsal, we gonna shed—like a real shed. There will be no retakes. No do overs…”

Drum Shed

Performed at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Chamber Music Institute by the Charles Faulkner Brass, June 2017

Charles Faulkner brass is:
Chris Doty, Taylor Robinson - trumpets
Maria Anita Long - Horn
Andrew Wyrick - Trombone
Jalen Talley - Tuba

Uncontacted Peoples

Composed by Matthew Lyon Hazzard.

Winner of the 2014 William and Eleanor Greatbatch Endowed Choral Composition Prize.

Premiered at Houghton College on April 10th, 2015 by the Houghton College Choir. Conducted by Dr. Adam Leubke.

Choral Recordings

Angele Dei (SATB - Houghton College Choir)

"Time and I have quarreled. All hours are midnight now. I had a clock and a watch but destroyed them both. I could not bear the way they mocked me." - Susanna Clarke

Against Time was premiered by NEC musicians as part of the Tuesday Night New Music concert series.

Against Time (2017) - for chamber ensemble

Emerging composer Robin McLaughlin has had works performed throughout the United States, and has been recognized by ASCAP numerous times for her music. Twice a finalist for the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, she has had work performed by ensembles such as the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, and the Fresno State New Music Ensemble. 

Robin has been a fellow at the Norfolk New Music Workshop hosted by the Yale School of Music, and has also been invited to Composition Intensive at St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana. She has had numerous works presented at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Houghton College, highlights of which include her saxophone quartet On this day performed by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, and her orchestral work The Joy of my Spirit by the Houghton College Philharmonia as a winner in Houghton’s 2015 Concerto Competition. 

Enthusiastic about music education, Robin currently serves in an administrative position in University of North Carolina-Greensboro’s Community Arts Collaborative. As a pianist, McLaughlin has performed at the Kennedy Center, and has also been soloist for the Houghton College Symphonic Wind Ensemble. While at Houghton she studied with Bill John Newbrough, and she is a frequent collaborator, accompanist, and instructor. She has also studied conducting with Janette LaBarre, and guest conducted the Houghton College Wind Ensemble in April 2016.

Robin recently completed a Bachelors Degree at Houghton College in Music Composition and Music Education, and is now pursuing her Masters at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in Music Composition. She has studied composition with Mark Enbegretson, Sarah Hutchings, and David Horace Davies. She has had additional studies and masterclasses with Eric Ewazen, Martin Bresnick, Kristin Kuster, Cameron Britt, Zae Munn, Michael Schelle, and Jay Batzner. 

Upcoming performances of her music include her trio Two Halves of a Whole at the Music by Women Festival at the Mississippi University for Women, and her chamber piece Unbound at the SCI Region IV Conference to be held at University of North Carolina-Greensboro. The violin and piano version of The Joy of my Spirit will also be included in an upcoming CD being put out by World Oceans Music.