Symphony for Wind Ensemble
I.   Fractured (Allegro)
II.  Dance Tune (Scherzo)
III. Color Turns (Moderato)
IV. Fray (Gigue)

	Symphony is a composition for Wind Ensemble loosely based on the form of the classical symphony.  The first movement, ‘Fractured’, is a series of sporadic and often teasing gestures; these gestures behave like a series of questions that never arrive at satisfactory conclusions. “Dance Tune” is playful and energetic.  This movement inherits dance characteristics ranging from progressive rock, waltzes, and bebop that are eventually interrupted by a strong brass unison.  “Color Turns” begins to churn instrumental colors around the pitch B natural.  The title “Color Turns” references both the ‘turn’ ornament as well as the rotating of colors on a Rubik’s Cube.  In “Fray”, the harmonies in the previous movements are combined and then rhythmically developed. These rhythms build into a vibrant texture of complex rhythmic layers.
	This materials used to compose this piece arrive from two distinct processes.  The first involved a Rubik’s Cube.  After much experimentation, I created a series of four pitches that was both musically interesting and held the properties necessary to map onto a three-dimensional surface.  This pitch set was then turned into a matrix which I literally pasted onto a Rubik’s Cube and used for manipulating pitch sets, solving the cube as I composed the piece.  The second process is a technique I developed after reading Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, a novel that deals with encryption and information. One of the methods described in the book involves using deck of cards to encrypt messages which I adapted to embed text into musical notation. In no instance does this piece function as only a series of processes but they were important tools in creating the piece. 


Symphony for Wind Ensemble

RITUAL ON MEMORY

written for:
3 FLUTES, QUARTER-TUNED AND 2 TRUMPETS, QUARTER-TUNED

I.	INTROIT
II.	TRIPLUM
III.	DUPLUM
IV.	HAEC DIES
V.	RESERVATA
VI.	POSTLUDE


Triplum

March! (2021) - Jennifer Jolley

Commissioned by Madeleine Shapiro and newEar, 2006

Life is crazy...filled with stimulation junkies, short attention spans and bombardments of sensory overload. Vastly Shrinking Space is about finding equilibrium between the wildness of a mechanized culture and a calm that comes from discovering peace inside ones own spiritual place. The interior world calls out, asking for attention: to be nurtured in the face of these assaults. The body keeps count of a spirit struggling for air...as the exterior world arouses claustrophobia...closes in on physical space...internal personal space expands to compensate. “God” is not out there, but in here...harmony is in the balance.


Vastly Shrinking Space

Drac Takes A Walk

Ryan Oldham (b. 1977) is an active composer and performer in Kansas City, Missouri.  He holds a D.M.A. from the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (2008), a M.M. from the University of Louisville (2002), and a B.A. from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1999).   Oldham's music has received numerous performances in the United States, Sweden, and Mexico.  Recently, his opera "Numera" received 5 performances in 3 different U.S. venues. 

In addition to composition, Oldham is the trumpeter for the Ensemble of Irreproducible Outcomes (E.I.O.) and sings in the Te Deum choir in Kansas City. 

Triplum

ryan-oldham

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