Pieces

Shortly before writing this piece I discovered that my mother has the neurological condition Synesthesia, which is when one sensory reaction triggers another. In my mother’s case she sees colors when she hears music. I’ve encountered this specific neurological combination before and have been curious of its affects on the listener. After researching what affects the colors they see, I discovered that each person’s synesthesia was unique, and that often no two listeners with this condition saw the same image. So in this piece I strived to initiate as many colors as possible through changing orchestration, harmony, melody, moods, and utilizing the enormous range of the saxophone ensemble. Colors was written for Zach Shemon and the University of Missouri – Kansas City Saxophone Ensemble in the fall of 2013 and was performed at the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance Conference in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.

Colors

Crossroads Fanfare is inspired by the actual crossroads of downtown Kansas City, Missouri; which at its height was one of the main transportation centers in the United States. Flourishing woodwinds, driving low brass, screaming horns, and a variety of musical ideas whiz in and out throughout the piece, emulating traffic moving through an intersection in one direction and another. Crossroads Fanfare was written for Steven Davis and the University of Missouri – Kansas City Wind Symphony in Summer 2014, and premiered October 23.

Crossroads Fanfare

Written for Duke Sullivan in April 2014, Winter’s Summer is inspired by his poem Re-Blooming, most notably the last phrase:

But,

in the depth of winter
I had an invincible summer
to feed the buds
     a chance to bloom again.

The last phrase is emulated with shifts between a winter soundscape, still and quiet; and summer one, bright and active. The Alto Saxophone and fixed media are often intertwined with each other, as the fixed media was written almost entirely with filtered sounds and techniques on saxophone. Winter’s Summer begins with a winter soundscape of melancholic phrases in the Alto while being accompanied by a cold, empty wind in the fixed media. Several interruptions in the fixed media foreshadow the arrival of summer, which contrasts winter with fast, rhythmic, and jazz-like gestures. Summer gradually fades away and returns following the climax of the piece. However, at winter’s return the Alto is no longer melancholic. Having had the opportunity to “bloom” in the brief summer of this piece, the Alto waits once more for winter to fade away, and is given one final reminder of summer in the fixed media before the winds of winter finally let go.


Winter's Summer (excerpts)

Soundtrack of an Open Road describes the pursuit for sanctuary, in the form of a calm and open road. From 2011-2013 I found myself driving more and more, and it was during these drives, especially those going cross-country, I was able to find a kind of mental clarity. Since then the sounds of a car and the road have been ingrained in me. 

The piece starts aggressively, depicting elements of road rage and anxiety. Gradually the journey becomes calmer, and the sounds of cars eventually fade away, leaving the cellist in a moment of solitude and sanctuary in the form of a cadenza. This moment or clarity is brief as the drive turns around to return home, bringing back the chaos of earlier. The fixed media is comprised of recorded sounds from cars, inside and out, as well as the materials they are built from (i.e. glass, metal). Soundtrack of an Open Road was written in 2014 and early 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri for Tiffany Bell, and premiered and recorded in March 2015.

Soundtrack of an Open Road

"200 Cars," originally a piece for electronics and improvisers written for Mnemosyne Quartet, is a work with little narrative that explores soundscapes created by the sounds of cars, trains, and a rather noisy generator motor. The title is taken from the only words spoken in the fixed media (There's like 200 cars, man!) around 58" and the very end of the piece. This version of 200 Cars is an expansion - although shorter in duration - that adds more electronics to the original fixed media tracks. For a recording of the original, check out one of Mnemosyne's live performances: https://soundcloud.com/mnemosyne-quartet/200-cars

200 Cars

Premiere performance, October 3, 2015, The Hart School of Music Symphony Band.

Wanderings on the Divide is a very biographical piece that is tied to a time of my life in which I felt lost as composer and musician. Having moved from the Palouse in eastern Washington State (a region with a population below 100,000 people) to the D.C. metro, I longed for the flowing, expansive hills that I had come to call home for two years. Feeling lost and alone, I turned to my new surroundings. I would walk through the streets of Washington, D.C. with little or no direction, attempting to familiarize myself with the city; and on mountain trails in the Shenandoah Valley and George Washington Forest parks, looking for an escape from the developed world. I soon became fascinated by the extreme differences and similarities of both environments, and came to call these two a “digital” and a “natural” world. 

Soon after, I began to write what is now this piece with these two worlds in mind, but without any idea what it would ultimately become. Wanderings was written on-and-off for the next two years, and the original idea of two separate environments was eventually abandoned as a narrative. However, it is still possible to hear the digital sound - bright active, and highly rhythmic; and the natural – slow, meditative, and pensive. As the direction for the piece changed, I let the material come intuitively rather than systematically, just as in my own wanderings, resulting in sections of the piece that will lead the listener confidently forward, while others will do just the opposite and create confusion. 

Ultimately, Wanderings on the Divide recalls much of the natural and man-made surroundings of my time in Washington State and Washington, D.C., and delves in the introspective nature of self-discovery that many share in their young-adulthood. Lastly, during this time I was reading quite a lot of poetry. One line by Walt Whitman particularly resonated with me: “Forever forward, Forever alive.”


Wanderings on the Divide

For many years the incredible colors and shapes that the sky and clouds can create have fascinated me. Between Glimpses of Blue is a collage of memories and impressions of the different types of clouds while in the air and from the ground. Written for Wind Ensemble and Fixed Media; frequency/pitch, orchestration, and field recordings from planes, rain, and storms emulate characteristics of Cirrus, Cumulus, and Nimbocumulus clouds while also blending electronic and acoustic forces. 

Between Glimpses of Blue was commissioned in 2016 by a consortium of 15 university and high school wind ensembles headed by Danh Pham and the Washington State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. It was premiered by Joe Parisi and the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory Wind Ensemble in April 2017, and are featured in this recording as well.


Photo: Somewhere above Japan/South Korea, July 2016

Between Glimpses of Blue

A record player is called to life to tell its story of a computer’s rebellion against its creator, and how it destroys the world. 

Life and Death on a Spinning Disk was written for Matthew Russo in 2016. Recorded and work-shopped by Gavin Carney on Trombone, and recorded by Christina Butera.

Life And Death On A Spinning Disk

A live recording of Slap, probably my best performance yet.

Slap (11/7/11)

Reflections Through Green and Gold is inspired by my fiancé Brittany's eyes. Green and hazel, these colors swirl around her iris, mixing with the reflections of the world she sees. This work is a short tone poem that weaves melodic ideas with lush harmonies across the wind ensemble to emulate this effect. “Green” sections will have darker or murkier qualities, and will be contrasted by the brighter Gold sections. Reflections Through Green and Gold was commissioned in 2017 by Dr. Adam Fontana and the Bethel College Wind Ensemble, and I am forever grateful for them for this opportunity.

Live performance at the 2018 Kansas Music Educators Association conference on February 22nd by the Bethel Wind Ensemble and Adam Fontana.

KMEA 2018 Bethel College Wind Ensemble

Reflections through Green and Gold

Blue River Breakdown is a fanfare for band that blends two motivic gestures: a typical brass fanfare and a high-energy big band shout chorus. It was written for and is dedicated to the directors of the UMKC Bands Steven Davis and Joseph Parisi for their continuous support of new music by UMKC’s student composers.

Premiered by the UMKC Wind Ensemble and Eric Scott, Conductor, April 25, 2018 at the Folly Theater in downtown Kansas City.

Blue River Breakdown

This piece explores the different notions of "pushing and "pulling." There are sections of free, cadenza-like ideas contrasted by strict rhythmic sections. Dynamics and intensity also emulate the push and pull motion moving to and from contrasting points. Written for solo B-flat Clarinet and commissioned by Graham Dart. 

Push and Pull

Written for the Mnemosyne Quartet, this piece utilizes four found objects from a thrift store. These objects - which include a toy phone, a plastic cup, a metal bowl, and a toy elephant - are used as tools in the quartet's improvisation. Live electronics create new possibilities with each object, eventually morphing into a fixed track over which the quartet improvises with. This recording is from Mnemosyne's live performance on KKFI on May 1st, 2019.

Suite for Four Items From a Thrift Shop (KKFI 5-1-19)

Ted King-Smith (b.1988) is a composer, educator, and saxophonist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a composer he is interested in the combination of acoustic and electronic forces in music, and emphasizes virtuosity and improvisation in his works. Recent recognition for his music has come from The National Band Association, I Care if You Listen, the American Prize, and BMI. Ted’s music has been featured at numerous conferences and festivals as well as Late Night at National Sawdust, and WFMT and WKCR radio stations. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music, Washington State University, and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Ted is a full-time instructor in Audio Engineering at the Milwaukee Area Technical College where he teaches courses in music technology and recording. He is also an active performer with the Mnemosyne Quartet, and founded the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival in 2017 with the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.