Spring 2012 Residencies
Another full semester of guest composer residencies, world premieres, and even a little conducting in Orchestra Hall in Chicago. The festivities begin… NOW!
JANUARY
- 28-29 [Baltimore, MD]: Peabody Conservatory – David Vickerman’s Digital Embrace, featuring Christopher Stark’s Augenblick, Jason Gerraughty’s TWEAK, and my Ecstatic Waters – a full concert of works for winds, percussion, and electronics.
FEBRUARY
- 8-10 [San Antonio, TX]: At TMEA for Baylor Wind Ensemble’s performance of Mvts. III and V from my Concerto for Wind Ensemble
- 17-19 [Muncie, IN]: Ball State University conducting workshop, featuring the world premiere of Paean: Chant and Triumph
- FEB 29-MAR 1 [Indianapolis, IN]: American Bandmasters Convention. Three performances in two days: Paean: Chant and Triumph by Ball State, followed immediately by Purdue University performing Anthem. The following evening (Mar 1st), Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony perform Mvt V from the Concerto for Wind Ensemble
MARCH
- 15-16 [Chicago, IL]: John Hersey HS Wind Ensemble gives their premiere of Paean: Chant and Triumph at Orchestra Hall. I’ll also conduct A Million Suns at Midnight! (yes, I’m conducting in Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Crazy.)
APRIL
- 4-5 [Harrisonburg, VA]: Stephen Bolstad and the James Madison University Wind Symphony perform Ecstatic Waters
- 12-15 [Denton, TX]: Pamela Mia Paul and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony premiere my Concerto for Piano, and then record it that weekend.
- 20-22 [Boca Raton, FL]: Kyle Prescott and the Florida Atlantic University Wind Ensemble perform Ecstatic Waters
MAY
- 10, 19 [RDU, NC]: WORLD PREMIERE of my new (as yet untitled) work for young band + electronics. More details TBA!
Spring, 2012 – Three World Premieres
THREE WORLD PREMIERES in Spring 2012:
I’m fortunate to have yet another very busy season to kick off 2012, including the world premieres of three new works:
FEBRUARY 19th (Ball State Univ.), MARCH 1st (ABA Convention), MARCH 16th (Orchestra Hall, Chicago): Paean: Chant and Triumph, a new work for the Ball State University Wind Ensemble in a consortium with John Hersey HS, Lockport Township HS, and the Coastal Communities Concert Band.
APRIL 12th: Concerto for Piano and Winds & Percussion – Pamela Mia Paul and the Univ. of North Texas Wind Symphony, Eugene Corporon conducting. The work is scored for Piano and orchestral winds and percussion, and will be recorded the weekend following the performance. The work will be available to any interested ensemble on April 13th – please contact me for details!
MAY 10th: new work for young band + electronics (roughly grade 3, in EDU music-speak) commissioned by a consortium of high schools and middle schools in North Carolina, led by Arris Golden. I look forward to bringing what I’ve learned with Ecstatic Waters to younger ensembles.
More about each of these shortly!
W. Francis McBeth 1933-2012
Steven Bryant, Ron Bryant, Francis McBeth - April, 1994
My mentor, first composition teacher, and friend, Dr. Francis McBeth passed away on Jan. 6th. He was a great teacher – funny, wise, sharp as a tack, with strong opinions on how music should sound. Every note I’ve written in the past 21 years bears his mark in some way, and it’s no exaggeration to say he was the most influential composition teacher I’ve had. In fact, his impact on my life goes back before my birth – my mom played flute in the Smackover HS Band as one of the first groups to ever play Chant and Jubilo in 1962, and my father played trumpet in the Arkansas Symphony under McBeth’s baton in the early 1970s.
I had the great fortune of visiting “Dr. Mac” and Mary this past November. The stroke he’d suffered two years prior made it difficult to communicate at times, but he surprised me repeatedly with specific, clear, accurate memories of all sorts of things from when I was his student, including specifics about some of the pieces I wrote at the time. The bright spark of his intellect and wit still shone through.
I also got his permission to quote Chant and Jubilo as part of a new work, Paean – a tribute to him and that influential piece, which coincidentally celebrated its 50th anniversary one week ago. Though I finished it a couple of weeks ago, he never had a chance to hear it. I hope I’ve done his legacy justice.
RIP Dr. Mac.
Once again, I’m fortunate to have a lot of groups performing my music (particularly Ecstatic Waters and the Concerto for Wind Ensemble) and bringing me in to work with them this Fall. Below is the party bus tour schedule. If you’re in any of these areas, please come by!
SEPTEMBER
- 12-14 [Athens, GA]: University of Georgia – John Lynch’s group continues the consortium premiere series of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble
- 27 [Greensboro, NC]: UNCG New Music Festival; lecture presentation at 1pm
- 29 [Greensboro, NC]: UNCG New Music Festival; 7:30pm performance of my very first electroacoustic piece, Dancing Around the Cathode Campfire
OCTOBER
- 4 [Raleigh, NC]: Sanderson High School rehearsal of Dusk
- 18 [Raleigh, NC]: Sanderson High School concert – conducting Dusk
- 23-26 [East Lansing, MI]: Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony continues the consortium premiere series of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble
NOVEMBER
- 2-3 [Arkadelphia, AR]: Guest residency at my alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University. Lecture presentation on 11/2, concert with Craig Hamilton and the OBU Wind Ensemble the night of 11/3 (including Ecstatic Waters and several other works).
- 17-19 [Indianapolis, IN]: In residence with James Spinnazola and the University of Indianapolis bands and symphony orchestras
- 20-23 [Miami, FL]: Gray Green and the University of Miami Wind Ensemble continue the consortium premiere series of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble
- 11/30-12/3 [Gettysburg, PA]: Sunderman Conservatory – Gettysburg College residency – Russell McCutcheon and the Wind Ensemble perform Ecstatic Waters, Dusk, MetaMarch, and ImPercynations
DECEMBER
- 4-6 [Lubbock, TX]: Texas Tech Bands and Orchestras perform Ecstatic Waters and Loose Id for Orchestra
Somewhere in there I need to finish the Piano Concerto for Pamela Mia Paul, write a work for Ball State University (in a consortium with John Hersey HS), and a piece for young band + electronics for a consortium of schools in North Carolina!
All My Music (almost): SoundCloud
I’ve posted complete recordings of (almost) all of my music on SoundCloud. Leave a comment at your favorite moment in a piece (or not-so-favorite moment…).
BTW, these are my favorite recordings of each of my works (in some cases, I’ve posted multiple versions), so please start here if you want to hear any of my music. Several of the recordings are also freely downloadable. These same recordings are also embedded on their respective pages on my website, along with updated PDF scores for each work. Free recordings and perusal scores by the truckload!
Dusk – video score
I just posted a “video score” version of a great recording of Dusk by the Police Band of Munich, Germany, on YouTube. This is one of the best commercially recorded versions of the piece out there, so far.
Texas Prescribed Music List
Many (all?) states in the US have a “list” of music for school bands, orchestras, and choirs to choose from when performing at state-sanctioned contests. The biggest of these is the Texas Prescribed Music List (everything’s bigger in Texas…), and many other states simply copy this list for their own use. After 12 years of submitting my music for consideration, I’m happy to announce that three of my band works are now included: Dusk, Stampede, and Suite Dreams.
Given that there are somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000,000 school bands in Texas, I should probably print a few more copies of these pieces…
NOTE: I’ve posted recordings of all three works on my website, or you can listen to them right here:
Texas Prescribed Music List by stevenbryant
Anthem mp3 and score
Anthem is finally posted! This is the live premiere at Purdue University, conducted by Jay Gephart, last April. I conducted 6 of my other works with their bands while I was there, but told Jay I couldn’t conduct the premiere of a brand new piece – I really wanted to sit in the audience and hear it. 
BTW, if it sounds like there’s an excessive amount of reverb, that’s because they perform in a Elliot Hall, which seats SIX THOUSAND AND FIVE. I think nearly 1000 people came to the performance, and it still felt empty. I think they could the hold the whole Midwest Clinic in this hall.
If you want to hear Anthem live (and who doesn’t?), the next performance(s) will be July 15th and 16th, by WYWOP, at the MidEurope Festival in Bischofshofen and Schladming, Austria. So, if you happen to be in the Austrian Alps and have a free evening, come by. Also, bring lighters to wave in the air (or your cellphone, I guess). The WYWOP is always a great ensemble and gives a fantastic performance. BTW, if you’re 30 or under, and want to play in it in the future, apply! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Besides making great music, you get to spend a week in the Alps drinking excellent beer with brand new friends from around the world.
Self-publishing – nuts and bolts
My fellow composers and I have written a number of times about self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, covering everything from copyright to licensing to notation. However, I don’t recall that we have actually demonstrated, in simple steps, the physical process of making of the paper product, so I shot a video here in my home studio/office to take any remaining mystery out of the process.
There are two areas this doesn’t address:
1) Hiring out large print runs of works, which I do for pieces that may (hopefully) sell hundreds of copies, such as Dusk (both the band and the orchestra version))
2) Distribution of music via PDF / download. I’ve distributed more sets of Ecstatic Waters via PDF than via paper at this point, so perhaps that would be a good topic for a future post.
For now, I just want to show you the basics of making your own scores and parts at home:
Watch in glorious HD at my YouTube channel
As a handy reference, here are some links to other discussions of publishing, copyright, notation, MIDI etc., useful for composers, emerging and emerged:
John Mackey:
Eric Whitacre’s Advice for the Emerging Composer
Jonathan Newman
- Steal This Blog (excellently-written copyright post)
- Discussion and arguments as a result of the above at Sequenza21
Related discussions over at the BCM International Forum:
- Self-publishing – printing, paper sizes, etc.
- Self-publishing
- Intellectual Copyright: a composer’s Bill of Rights
…and my own post illustrating the differences between MIDI mock-ups and the Real Thing:
Studio Tour
I made a short video tour of my home studio. It’s not Jerry Bruckheimer material, but I invite anyone with FX skills to add lasers and explosions.