Gone is about loss and the emotions and process of healing and learning to move on after a life-changing event. This unique composition challenges the musicians and the audience to experience the music in a meditative and prayerful way. My goal was to draw memories of loss and comfort for those who experience this composition.

Gone, String Orchestra, Percussion, Harp, and Piano

For You is inspired by TikTok. This work emulates the fast-changing, eclectic nature of this platform. Composed for the Florida All-State Band, McAllister weaves musical inspirations from the time he was in high school as a member of the Florida All-State Band which played music by Holst, Grainger, Mahler, and Bartok. Modern influences such as Charli XCX, Justin Bieber, video game music, iconic TikTok themes like “Oh No,” and a few fragments of McAllister’s own compositions connect the music with quick bites of sounds within traditional compositional structure. 

For You-A TikTok Fantasy

Death and Disfigurations

Mercury on the Moon is a “concept” symphony for wind ensemble. Like a concept album, each element of this work
contributes to an overall theme or story. Fear and the hate that generates from fear is the apex of this large work for the wind
band. I have discovered that throughout my own life experiences and observations that most of the destructive forces in
human culture stem from fear. In this work I use some examples of text and music that I have created to weave a path through
fear and hate in hopes of illuminating and igniting conversations and awareness.

Mercury on the Moon

Pimpin'

Pistol Packin' Mamma

SPARKLE was commissioned by former students of Cheryl Floyd and the greater Westlake community in celebration of her 25 years as band director at Hill Country Middle School in Austin, Texas

Sparkle (Young Band Level 3)

Black Dog is a rhapsody for solo clarinet and wind ensemble. The work is inspired by classic hard rock music, particularly Led Zeppelin’s rhapsodic-style song Black Dog. The clarinet solo takes the role of the lead singer in a hard rock band with its extreme range and emotions juxtaposed with the pyrotechnic solos in true “Hendrix” fashion. The rhapsody begins with a long solo cadenza which introduces most of the material in the work. The middle section is a very slow, upward, “Stairway to Heaven” gesture. The last section of Black Dog concludes with a “head-banging” ostinato pattern that leads to the final fiery cadenza.

Black Dog

Black Dog (Wind Ensemble Version)

H-O-L-D  F-A-S-T is  a work inspired by sailors who would tattoo the words “Hold Fast” on their fingers as they gripped the rails before a storm or battle.  I was moved by this image and reminded that everyone goes through storms and battles in life.  If we “Hold Fast”, we will survive and grow from those experiences.  This work is dedicated to three close friends who have inspired me as they have survived a tragic event and continue to “Hold Fast”.  Dedicated to Payton, Trevor and Tanner.

Hold Fast (Young Band Level 3)

ZING! was commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma at Baylor University. ZING! is the first work in a series of short band pieces that are inspired by catchphrases of different band directors who influenced the composer in high school and college. These phrases were used often during rehearsals to illuminate an image in order to create a specific sound. Jim Croft, retired Director of Bands at Florida State University, inspired ZING! Fanfare-like motives juxtaposed with lyrical melodic lines and “shiny” colors emulate this catchphrase.

ZING (Young Band Level 3/4)

Popcopy is a work in three movements that is inspired by famous catchphrases. The work’s title in itself is also a catchphrase from a Dave Chappelle skit that deals with a local copy center, to which every composer can relate. The first movement, “More Cowbell!”, is based on the popular “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring Will Ferrell as a fictional cowbell player for the band Blue Öyster Cult. Ferrell’s character, Gene Frenkle, fervently tells the band that since there are no songs that feature the cowbell, he would be doing a disservice to himself and the band if he didn’t “play the hell out of this” cowbell. The producer then coins the famous phrase: “Guess what?! I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is… more cowbell!” In this movement, four cowbell parts surround the band to emulate the struggle of balance between the band and the cowbells, but the cowbells also help in keeping the band together during complex rhythmic sections.

The second movement, “One Time at Band Camp,” is a catchphrase from the movie American Pie. The character Michelle Flaherty is an eccentric nerd who tells many annoying stories about her experiences at band camp. The character in the movie plays the flute, so a flute soloist is featured. This movement portrays reminiscences of summer love found and lost.

“Serenity Now” is inspired by an episode from the final season of “Seinfeld.” George’s father, Frank Costanza, is advised to say “serenity now” aloud every time his blood pressure is in danger. Instead of calmly saying the phrase, Frank yells it each time. The character Kramer also uses this catchphrase, but when he finally has a mental meltdown, he discovers that saying this phrase only makes things worse. Like the episode itself, the music deals with the line between sanity and insanity with at least four other story lines going on at the same time. There are multiple band quotes scattered in the music (shrouded tributes to Holst, Hindemith, and Sousa), aleatoric and non-metered sections, and a schizophrenic form to this final movement.

Popcopy (Wind Ensemble Level 6)

Music from the Redneck Songbook II is a multi-movement work inspired by the composers’ childhood memories of growing up in the south. The first movement, Full Pull, emulates the mechanical precision and power of a tractor pull. A “full pull” means when a tractor or other vehicle pulls a given amount of weight to the finish line.

The second movement, In the Pines, is inspired by the southern folk song “In the Pines” that the composer used in his clarinet concerto X and also many other artists have used this tune including Kurt Cobain and Muddy Waters. This movement is in variation form and portrays the story of a mother who found her son’s head deep in the piney woods near a railroad track, but never found his body.

Wilt, the third movement is inspired by the oak wilt disease that has devastated many of the great live oaks in the south. Once the tree gets the fungus it shuts its root system down and by doing so kills itself. An optional pedal steel guitar is used in this movement and the Hank Williams (senior) song, “I’m So Lonesome I could Cry” was a particular influence on this movement.

The last movement Cage Match is inspired by the old WWF wrestling league in the 1970’s and early eighties. The legacy of Rick Flare (Nature Boy) and Dusty Rhodes in a match where a cage is placed over the ring was one of the earliest memories of the composer. The beginning fanfare emulates the over-the-top, flamboyant entrance that Ric Flare would do before a match. Dusty Rhodes was known for his ending blow, the Bionic Elbow move, which the composer uses the first four notes from the old seventies television series, The Six Million Dollar Man to portray this move musically.

Music from The Redneck Songbook II (Wind Ensemble Level 6)

Gone for wind ensemble is a transcription of the sixth movement from my sixty-minute concerto for the clarinet called the Epic Concerto. Each movement of the concerto relates to different pillar moments of my life as a clarinetist. In 1994, my playing career was ended in an automobile accident. Gone is about loss and the emotions and process of healing and learning to move on after a life-changing event.

This unique work in the concerto and the wind ensemble version challenges the musicians and the audience to experience the music in a meditative and prayerful way. My goal was to draw memories of loss and comfort for those who experience this composition.

Gone (Wind Ensemble Level 5)

Black Dog Seattle Symphony

Black Dog (Orchestra Version)

XANADU was commissioned by The Florida State University College of Music for the grand reopening of the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall and the 100th anniversary of the College of Music. XANADU is a work inspired by the 80’s, the era in which the composer attended Florida State University as an undergraduate performance and composition major. Like this composition, the 80’s movie with the same title is inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem was an opium-influenced dream describing a stately palace. This work is influenced by 80’s hip-hop culture, TV themes and other pop culture music of the late 70’s-80’s. The first three notes of the 80’s song Xanadu play an important thematic role in the work. This work also has an optional Turntablist (DJ record scratching) part for the percussion.

XANADU (Wind Ensemvle Level 6)

Much like breakdancing was a benchmark of inner-city culture in the ’80s, a dance movement called krumping is creating its own subculture among teens in Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Compton, South Central, and Watts. Informed equally by hip-hop, African tribal rituals, pantomime and martial arts, krumping is a frenetic, hyper fast-paced dancing style. Dancers gather in school grounds, parking lots, and yards to perform and “battle dance” each other; participants are typically vocal opponents of violence, thus making the krumping scene an alternative to the gang wars that plague the areas where krumping is popular. Theatrical face paint is also worn by the dancers, which gives krumping its other moniker, “clowning.”

Krump is an acronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise. It is a dance form that was pioneered by Tight Eyez (a.k.a. Ceasare Willis) and Li’l C along with a group of others, namely Big Mijo, Slayer, and Hurricane. It is an aggressive and spiritual form of dance with Christian roots. Its movements include Chest Pops, Stomps, Armswings, Syncs, Puzzles, Bangs, and Kill-Offs. There are supposedly three levels to krumping: Krump, Buckness, and Ampness.

This work is inspired by krumping. Fast and fiery music is juxtaposed with free, hymn-like, ethereal slow sections, while instrumental groups and soloists in the ensemble get a chance to “Krump,” emulating the energy and passion of this dance.

Krump (Orchestra Version)

Domains

Krump(Wind Ensemble)

X--3

X--2

X--1

By itself the title, AMP, could denote several different things. In this case it is actually an abbreviation for “amphetamines.” Amphetamines are substances taken to boost energy, mood and confidence, as well as to suppress appetite. AMP was written “in memory of Brian,” who was a much beloved, talented, and accomplished student of the composer who died of a drug overdose. AMP begins with a wall of chaos representing the climax of an addicted episode. Then the first statement of “Brian’s” theme is stated in the clarinets with a two-note motive emulating the two syllables in his name while small cluster chords emulate the constant temptation of addiction. In fact, every time this two-note theme is heard one can readily imagine the emotions behind them. The middle section uses a famous chord progression from Radiohead’s Creep, which was one of Brian’s favorite songs. The second chaotic episode occurs again which is followed by the return of the earlier driving section and leads to the fullest and loudest statement of Brian’s theme using the optional organ part with the full ensemble. The composition ends solemnly with the solo piano (which was Brian’s instrument) stating the theme in its most plain form. AMP was not written for Brian only, but also for “any others suffering from addiction.”

Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio. The composition is based on "Smoke on the Water" and like many of McAllister's works, X3 is influenced by rock and popular music. X3 a wild ride and a standing ovation is guaranteed!

X3 Clarinet, Violin and Piano

POPCOPY (Rated Teen) is a work in three movements inspired by catch phrases and modern teen culture in America. McAllister composed this work partly because of the demand for younger bands wanting to perform the original POPCOPY written in 2007, but because of the technical difficulties of the original it is out of reach of many of these ensembles. Rather than compose a “lighter” version of the original POPCOPY, McAllister decided to compose a brand new POPCOPY for this ensemble. Commissioned by:&#8232;Central Oklahoma Directors Association&#8232;for the 2013 CODA Symphonic Band

1. Bieber Fever Bieber Fever is inspired by the teen craze of Justin Bieber. The use of the six note motive from Bieber’s Baby song is manipulated and repeated hundreds of times during this movement emulating an almost trance-like and annoying (for some) journey. The More Cowbell movement of the original POPCOPY uses the constant annoyance of the cowbell and Bieber Fever does the same with the Baby theme.

2. Molly on the Floor The Second movement Molly on the Floor is about the dangers of a growing drug problem in the teen and college culture of the drug Molly. This serious movement uses the tune from Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore, which is augmented at a very slow tempo and eventually makes its way into a five-part canon.

3. #Twerk #Twerk is a type of dance in which an individual dances to popular music in a provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low squatting stance. Though the term seems to be of uncertain origin with common assumptions suggesting it is a contraction of "footwork" and combination of the words "twist" and "jerk". There is evidence that the term began as street language in New Orleans with the rise of the local hip-hop music known as Bounce. Since the late 1990s, twerking was associated with Bounce music and was disseminated via mainstream hip hop videos and popular video-sharing sites since the mid 2000s. #Twerk emulates this technique many times by doubling the tempo of the hip-hop groove. In the middle of the movement a brief reoccurrence of Bieber Fever interrupts the music and the end of the work Bieber Fever, Molly on the Shore and #Twerk all join together.

#Twerk

Molly on the Floor

BieberFever

Love Songs is a work inspired by three different types of love.  Agape, also called parental love, is one of several Greek words translated into English as love. Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, and thoughtful love. Although the word does not have specific religious connotation, the word has been used by a variety of contemporary and ancient sources, including Biblical authors and Christian authors who explain that this love is the greatest love. Philia is the brotherly love, a love of friendship and one’s love and dedication to a profession. This movement was especially inspirational to the composer and inspired by Philip Wharton, who was McAllister’s high school band director. Eros in Greek mythology was the primordial god of physical love, beauty and chaos. The music emulates fast, wild and disjunct gestures along with a 12-tone theme McAllister used in many works during high school and early college. This work is in one movement starting with the Agape music, Philia, Eros and back to Agape.

CBDNA Southern Division Performance

Love Songs

Winner of the Ladislav Kubik International Prize In Composition Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Harp, Piano, and Percussion

Screaming Azaleas

Winner of the Jacksonville Symphony "Fresh Ink" Composition Competition.
This work is a tone poem reflecting images of America.
Movement 1--Boom
Movement 2--Dancing with Serpents
Movement 3--RAVE
Movement 4--In Silent Thunder
Movement 5--Forever Amber

ScottLydmusic

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