Euphonium and Electronics

ALIEN LOOP DE LOOPS for solo instrument and electronic recording by Howard J. Buss is a playful and capricious fantasy piece designed to appeal to a wide range of audiences. The title refers to both programmatic and technical elements in the composition. The composer envisioned a performer outside in an open area during an air show by an alien craft. During the opening section he/she is playing unaccompanied, but then is joined by the recording which contains sounds generated by traditional instruments as well as an "alien" voice, the spacecraft, and various electronic effects. Technically, the title refers to how the recording was made. It consists of numerous sound loops combined to form an imaginative and picturesque sonic tapestry. The publication includes the sheet music and a CD (attached to the inside of the back cover) that contains a performance track and the accompaniment track. Learn More

with downloadable backing track

Composer Josh Oxford says, “This piece is in the style of Kenny G. The title comes from Airika (Friedman)’s frequent usage of that word. One can add even more embellishments than the ones already written. The accompaniment was mixed by Colleen Harwood.”

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with downloadable elctronic back track

Exit the Foundry was originally commissioned for euphonium by Matthew Turek, a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire student completing a research project that explored the psychological experience of composition. Turek commissioned works from seven student composers, offering them very few guidelines save the inclusion of his instrument, euphonium. Hase’s contribution, Exit the Foundry, incorporates three contrasting sonic elements. The first element, recorded and sampled mechanical sounds, includes various metallic hits, blowtorches, saws, fans, and other industrial noises. The second element, synthetic electronic instruments, consists of synth pads, leads, arpeggios, and an electronic drum ket. The third element is a low/mid register acoustic instrument that offers a contrastingly natural tone and lyrical voice. Hase produced the accompaniment track for Exit the Foundry in a computer based digital audio workstation, and included a multiphonic passage in the live instrument line to offer an aural bridge between the smooth timbre of a live instrument and the sometimes rough and piercing wanderings of the synthetic and mechanical sounds. At the start of the piece, each element battles for its place in the foreground, but inevitably a compromise is reached and all three elements meld into one coherent musical voice.

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with looping pedal

These etudes were written to familiarize people with the choreography and nomenclature associated with a looping pedal. They were written with the Boss RC-30 in mind, but should be compatible on any similar device. On the RC-30, one can hold the tap tempo button simultaneously while inserting a quarter-inch cable to allow selection of which looping mode (RP or RD) the pedal is in.

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Benoit Mandelbrot was a mathematician known for his ideas about "the art of roughness," or chaos in nature. He is more widely known today for his fractal images, which have gone on to inspire many amazing works of math-art. I've personally been drawn to fractal imagery for a number of years, and as I listened to this nameless piece during the writing process, my inner-eye kept being drawn back to shifting, flowing fractals. Mandelbrot’s Dream is written in three continuous sections:

1. Catch You On The Flip Side

2. And Goodbye

3. Fractus Metallum

The first section is a chilled-out stroll through an urban, fractal cityscape, displaying the euphonium’s agility. The second section uses elements of jazz and rock in a slightly cinematic style, inspired by the works of composer Marty O’Donnell. In the final section (translating from Latin to ‘Fractal Metal’) features rhythmic and melodic elements of metal. In keeping with the celebration of Mandelbrot's work in chaos, the piece climaxes into aural chaos, the bass trailing off like the final spiraling wisp of some kaleidoscopic dream…

Commissioned By X Gail Robertson, Jesse Orth, Preston Light, Irving Ray, Anthony Achille, AJ Miller, James Green, Ian Lester, Pat Stuckemeyer, Micah Everett, Adam Frey, David Salomon Galan Jr., Erik Lundquist, Will Hess, Bo Atlas, Richard Concepcion, Bente Illevold, Jason Gilliam, Zach Eberle, Amanda Cardwell, Seth Fletcher, Chasse Duplantis, Fernando Zuniga, Phil Beatty, Aaron Tindall, Danny Helseth, Bryan Cole, Chris Buckley.

 

 

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with downloadable backing track

Monolith was composed during the most tempestuous year in my lifetime. Daily headlines were something out of a dystopian or science fiction movie.

One such headline addressed Monoliths mysteriously appearing around the world. Some speculated aliens and others, vigilante artists. Either way, it was the rare headline that brought a bit of wonder and brevity to a emotionally draining year of pandemics and social unrest. My former colleague and friend, Kyle Millsap approached me in the fall of 2020 about writing a piece for an upcoming album of his that would feature music for solo trumpet with fixed media. Because of the pandemic, I had spent many more hours than usual in front of a computer with new, to me, software like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro so I thought, “sure, why not?”

The result of that collaboration was “Monolith.” Kyle is a towering figure in his own right standing at an impressive 6 feet 8 inches tall and a fan of popular science fiction shows like Dr. Who and Star Trek. Monolith is programmatic in nature and meant to depict towering Monoliths falling from the sky and crash landing on Earth and asking the age-old question: does extraterrestrial life exist? If so, can it co-exist with humanity?

- Matt Hightower

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For Euphonium and Fixed Media (electronics), “Necroterror” was inspired by the synth-heavy soundtracks of 1980's zombie movies. I have always been a fan of horror movies and the soundtracks that help bring them to life. The first one to grab my attention was George A. Romero's Day of the Dead (1985). This is my homage to horror movies along with George A. Romero, who passed away in 2017. Learn More

With Fixed Media: Written In 2019 for SSG Irving Ray of the United States “Pershing’s Own” Army Band and premiered at Sam Houston State University in February of 2020, Neon Dream is a work for solo euphonium and Fixed Media/CD. It draws inspiration from laser tag arenas and attempts to convey the excitement and adventure that comes with them, as well as the nostalgia experienced by adults who grew up going to these establishments. The piece is divided into six parts, each dealing with a particular aspect of laser tag or term associated with the activity. Learn More

with downloadable elctronic back track

“This work was written for the Canadian euphonium player Carina Lam. The piece is set outside of the earth’s atmosphere, in space. It explores the idea of a person being completely detached from anything ( Set Adrift ) and having no human contact. There are three sections in this piece, each with their own emotional ranges. The opening section has a feeling of loneliness, while the middle section has a feeling of enjoyment, tangled with cries for help with the introduction of the S.O.S. rhythm. In the final section we return to a feeling of loneliness, which turns to despair as the piece fades out into the dark, unending universe.”- Thomas Kelly

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with downloadable backing track

Josh Oxford says, “This piece attempts to bridge the gap between ‘dance’ music and ‘concert’ music. It is music that can work in a club or recital. This was inspired by the Michael Jackson hit ‘PYT’. The accompaniment was mixed by Colleen Harwood.”

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