Performed and recorded on April 28, 2019 by the Crossroads Quartet:
Kevin Arbogast, soprano sax
Mariah Goulet, alto sax
Vince Buzzelli, bari sax
Colin Brown, tenor sax

Doppler Effect

Performed and recorded on April 28, 2019 by Emily Boone (violin) and Joshua Draves-Kellerman (bassoon)

I started composing the North Wind’s hibernal emissaries last November, as the first winter snow was falling. Each delicate snowflake danced gracefully on the bitter breeze, and little by little the storm redeemed the gloomy, greyish landscape with a blanket of glitter. Winters can be long and dark, but few sights are as beautiful as the first snow. It is as though the North Wind has sent little fairies across the land to deliver a message: It is time for sleep.

the North Wind's hibernal emissaries

Performed and recorded on April 28, 2019 by Kameron Sheffield (bari sax)

Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in New York City and the setting for the poem “Harlem Sweeties,” by Langston Hughes. The rhythm and contour of each musical phrase in this bari saxophone solo are based on specific lines from the poem, and the performer moves freely from one section to the next. This gives the piece a relaxed, conversational quality that helps listeners take a deep breath while they close their eyes and imagine walking around Sugar Hill.

Sugar Hill Serenade

Louie's Piano

Recorded on April 27, 2019 by Gabbi Roderer (flute), Audrey Herren (cello), Derek Frank (percussion), and Isaac Brinberg (conductor).

Dedicated to my parents, Bill and Jan Whitney. Go to prairieplains.org to learn more about their decades of work as visionary ecologists, conservationists, and outdoor educators in Nebraska.

Platte River Kayak

Evil Brain from Outer Space is a 1964 sci-fi film starring Ken Utsui. This is my re-score for the opening credits, composed in 2015.

Evil Brain from Outer Space (re-score to opening credits of 1964 film)

Performed and recorded on April 28, 2019 by Andrew Stadler (Bb trumpet) and David Witter (trombone).

In this collection of miniatures, I have attempted to musically represent the following frighteningly common rhetorical fallacies.

I. False Dichotomy: An argument that assumes two opposite and mutually exclusive options, when in reality there is at least a third option, if not an infinite, complex
web of other possibilities.

Olivier Messiaen’s 2nd mode, the octatonic scale, has three possible transpositions. In this argument, the trumpet stays strictly within one transposition, while the trombone adheres to another. The third transposition goes unacknowledged.

II. Circulum ad probando: A fallacy in which the premise and the conclusion of an argument depend on each other as proof; it is not so much a failure of logic as it is a failure to acknowledge that the premise is not universally accepted.

While the trumpet forges ahead with a clear line, the trombone refuses to budge from its dizzying trek around and around the circle of 5ths.

III. Argumentum ad populum: The assertion that something must be true because many people believe it is true.

The trombone makes an unverified report. The trumpet repeats what it heard, or at least something like it. A familiar pattern emerges: “Many people are saying…”

IV. Straw Man: A deliberate effort to abandon the topic in question and build one's argument around a different, easier topic that in no way supports the first argument; a manipulative tactic that simultaneously distracts from the original question and creates the illusion of having the upper hand in the debate.

The trombone is the patient voice of reason in this debate, but the trumpet is relentless in its effort to derail the conversation and get the last word. If you listen closely, you’ll hear a voice say, “but what about all her E-mails?”

V. Tu quoque: An appeal to hypocrisy. An attempt to invalidate the question at hand by asserting that the opponent's alleged guilt diminishes or neutralizes one's own guilt.

A scoundrel grows desperate and seeks shelter behind a laughably flawed defense. 

“Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?”

Fallacy Suite: Five Fundamentally Flawed Arguments for Trumpet and Trombone

Premiered August 10, 2019 at the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy.

This trio is a small constellation of Ensemble +47, based in Oslo, Norway.

Andreas Angell, free bass button accordion
Gabriel Elfberg, cello
Victoria Stokland, violin

Safe Passage (2019)

Premiered by Katsiaryna Shapochka on August 14, 2019 at the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy.

Wait for the River to Freeze (2019)

Laura Whitney-Johnson is a composer based in Kansas City. Her music has been called “neat!” by her dad.

Laura Whitney-Johnson

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