Compositions

This page is a list of things I've composed and am composing.

KEY: 
  • Class: Is it a composition, an arrangement, or once in a while, a transcription? Also, is it commissioned?
  • Type: What kind of music?
      • (Electronic music should be a category but it intersects all of these types)
    • Chamber (solo & ensemble)
    • Concert (choir/orchestra/wind ensemble)
    • Marching (battery/pit/horns)
    • Soundtrack (videogame/film)
  • Demand [not soundtrack] ... in terms of scholastic level:
    • 1 is middle school or elementary
    • 2 is an average high school
    • 3 is an exceptional high school
    • 4 is college
    • 5 is professional, or drum corps

Works in Progress

Marmaduke!
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Percussion Trio for 6 Woodblocks and Then Some
Demand: 4
Description: This is a woodblock trio. Seeing as it is a woodblock trio, it is also comical in nature, but also very groove oriented. One of the most distinguishing themes is the innate nature of the split-apart sequence of woodblocks to create pictures of rhythm distinct from what is written on the page and which emerge in varying light depending heavily on the woodblocks used and the rhythmic stress given. This principle of wholeness, rhythmic drive, and a sense of humor give the piece its purpose. It is named for the 2009 Madison Scouts, who understand.
Status: v0.75 - Completely notated. Revisions to be made still, also unperformed. (Are you a percussionist?)
Length: 5'00"

Rave Master (imaginary) Original Sound Track Project
Class: Composition
Type: Soundtrack - VGM
Description: This is a series of electronic music projects that double as practice for creating musical scores to video games. "Rave Master" is a manga by Hiro Mashima that, being a graphic novel, has no music set with it. As such, I interpret the story and action of the novels as a video game form and provide the music that would be appropriate to an imaginary RPG made from the story.
Link:


Toccata (name under review)
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Marimba Quartet
Demand: 4.3
Description: This piece is largely about auditory illusions. From listening to the piece, one gets the sense that the instruments are playing something very different. The voice leading and crossing leads to the ear naturally getting pulled many various directions.
Link: sequenced with VDL2.5 http://soundcloud.com/joshua-link/toccata
Status: v0.70 - Completely notated. Moderate to heavy revisions to be made to middle and ending. Also unperformed. (Are you a marimbist? Are you four marimbists?)
Length: 2'30" - 3'00"

(Untitled as of yet)
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Bassoon Quartet
Demand: 3.5
Description: This is a bassoon quartet. "Really?!" Really. It takes a lot of influence from video game music, specifically the style of Yasunori Mitsuda, and has a bit of a middle-Eastern fantasy adventure feel to it.
Link: None (no connected version exists yet)
Status: v0.60 - Has a beginning, has an ending. Middle section is still coming into its own.
Length: 3'30" ?

Biaxident
Class: Arrangement
Type: Marching
Instrumentation: Indoor drumline (battery, pit)
Demand: 4
Description: This is an fragmented attempt to arrange Biaxident for a WGI percussion-type group.
Link: None
Status: v0.15 - Fragmented, incomplete.
Length: Around 5', maybe?

PH4SE - solid:liquid:vapor:plasma
Class: Composition
Type: Marching
Instrumentation: Marching band (inc. battery, pit)
Demand: 3 [adjustable on demand]
Description: This will be my first marching band show. It is about the four phases of matter, and goes through them in order.
Link: no link
Status: v0.20 - Movement 1 is completely sketched out, needs to be orchestrated in the pit and horns. Movement 2 is beginning to take shape.
Length: 7'30" - 8'00"

Gungnir
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Percussion quintet (maybe same as Mjolnir)
Demand: 3.5?
Description: "Sequel" to Mjolnir.
Link: nope
Status: v.05 - Just ideas.
Length: ?!

Completed Works


Mjolnir
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Percussion Quintet (mouseover to see full)
Demand: 3.5
Description: This piece is named after Thor's Hammer, and depicts aggression and dynamics. Other than reasons thought of after naming it halfway through creating it, there are few other storytelling associations to be made. It is essentially just a percussion ensemble, as is made to be enjoyed.
Link: sequenced in VDL2.5 - http://www.soundcloud.com/joshua-link/mjolnir
Status: v1.0 - Complete. Performed by the Webster University Percussion Ensemble and Sam Shilts of the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. 
Length: 4'30" (with extended section of improvisation, so +/- 15" on average)



Peace on Earth
Class: Composition
Type: Concert
Instrumentation: SATB choir, at least 3 per part
Demand: 4
Description: This is a choral piece written for my third semester project in composition. It is based off of a poem by William Carlos Williams, which is barely in the public domain, luckily for me. The subject of the poem is, implicitly, the constellations in the night sky. The true meaning of the poem, however, as in all Imagist poetry, lies in the subliminal communication in carefully arranged word order, diction, and rhythmic language.
Link: None
Status: v0.90 - Complete, but unperformed. 
Length: 3'45"


Schadenfreude
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Viola, 'Cello
Demand: 4.3
Description: Schadenfreude is a term for the taking of pleasure in others' sufferings. Schadenfreude is a sardonic back-and-forth argument between the viola and 'cello about concepts through the entire movement, complete with reversal of roles, mockery, crass abrasiveness and drastic changes in mood.
Status: v0.90 - Complete, but unperformed.
Length: 4'00"


Wingsong
Class: Composition
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Flugelhorn solo with piano accompaniment
Demand: 2 [3 for pianist]
Description: This piece is influenced largely by video game music in terms of harmony and form. It is another piece without overt story to it. It is extremely tonal.
Link: sequenced with GPO http://soundcloud.com/joshua-link/wingsong
Status: v0.80 - Notation complete, still to be played and reviewed. (nothing planned... are you a flugelhornist?)
Length: 4'00"

Singing Mountain
Class: Arrangement
Type: Chamber
Instrumentation: Piano solo
Demand: 2.5
Derivative work(s): "Singing Mountain" by Yasunori Mitsuda, from Chrono Trigger. Quote of "At the Bottom of the Night" by Nobuo Uematsu (attributed to Mitsuda), from Chrono Trigger.
Description: This takes the two themes of Singing Mountain and presents them in various different ways. It can be seen in that way as a theme in variations. It also has a bit of a story - after the mood-setting opening section, the first and second theme are presented timidly at a low volume, and then the first theme is presented in a very grand, final way. But the second theme fails to follow at the grand level, and veers on a separate course. From there, the themes are twisted into triple time, shoved in contrast with a quote from another track ("At the Bottom of the Night"), and wander from there until eventually the second theme finally reaches its Nirvana in the same way as the first theme.
Status: v0.80 - Completely notated, unperformed, unreviewed.
Length: 3'45"

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Class: Arrangement
Type: Marching
Instrumentation: [Indoor] Front ensemble
Demand: 4
Description: This is an arrangement of the Power Rangers theme for indoor front ensemble. 
Link: sequenced in VDL 2.5 and with MIDI - http://soundcloud.com/joshua-link/mmpr
Status: v0.80 - Completely notated, unperformed, unreviewed.
Length: 1'20"

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