Writings

Broad Street Review

2023
27 Nov Bedstraw

2022
1 Nov Driving to Kyiv
19 Jul The House Wren

2020
14 Apr Three Things I Learned from Wagner
19 Oct What I’ve Learned from Pop Lyric Settings
21 Dec What I’ve Learned from Classical Lyric Settings

2019
26 Feb Moving Scenes

2018
24 Jan Driving off a Bridge
7 Mar Adieu, Adieu
7 May Musicopia, Mark Laycock (concert preview in What’s New, What’s Next)
10 Jul Living Dangerously
20 Aug All the Elk in Benezette
23 Oct Let Me Entertain You
23 Dec To Allow for the Curvature of the Earth

2017
8 May How Do You Compose?
1 Aug Hitting a Brick Wall
1 Oct The Oak Tree and the Bird
28 Nov Lift Every Voice
19 Dec A Christmas Tree on Broad Street

2016
26 Jan I Love the Snow
19 Apr Driving on Broad Street
15 May Diners and Concerts: You Just Never Know
26 Jun Three Things I Learned from Being on the Radio
27 Jul All the Hits of the ’60s
23 Aug Three Things I Learned from Gregg Smith
27 Sep Three More Things I Learn from Bach
26 Oct Standing for the National Anthem
29 Nov Beethoven for Breakfast in Phoenix
20 Dec Three Things I Learned from Handel’s Messiah

2015
20 Jan How to Have a Composing Career in 10 Easy Steps
10 Feb Music and Killing
3 Mar Seagulls In This Blue Room
3 Apr Riverside
26 May Memorial Day
23 Jun My Dinner with Beethoven
21 Jul Three Things I Learned from Yes
30 Aug Telling Jokes and Composing
15 Sep Oktoberfest
27 Oct Melody and Myth
17 Nov Patriotism and Music
22 Dec De profundis

2014
2 Jan Composer Intent
21 Jan How Do I Love Thee?
10 Feb Three Things I Learned from the Beatles
19 Feb Provocation
4 Mar Behind the Scenes at All-City
1 Apr How to Finish a Work
6 May Three Things I Learned from David Bowie
20 May Three Things I Learned from Verdi
20 June Three Things I Learned from Maynard Ferguson
15 Jul Are You Famous?
20 Jul Premiere of Gold and Silver in Helena
1 Sep Star Trek and the Dream of Composing
28 Oct Moved to tears
8 Nov Ten ways to lose an argument
16 Dec Merry Christmas to All

2013
21 Jan The Composing of Red-tail and Hummingbird, Part 1
5 Feb The Composing of Red-tail and Hummingbird, Part 2
12 Feb The Composing of Red-tail and Hummingbird, Part 3
19 Feb The Composing of Red-tail and Hummingbird, Part 4
16 Mar Thomas Lloyd’s Bonhoeffer
26 Mar Palm Sunday Drums
30 Apr What’s Better, Sackbut or Trombone?
27 May Komm und singt mit uns
15 Jun A Horse with No Name
21 Jul Crossing Myself
20 Aug Can Christianity Survive the Broad Street Review?
9 Sep Making a Piano Reduction
14 Oct O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
29 Oct Happy Reformation Day!
9 Nov The Symphony Performance
19 Nov Stopping in Mid-Air
14 Dec The First Three Things I Learn from Bach

2012
3 Mar Backbeat
20 Mar Ooh, Child (originally 12 Sep 2010)
10 Apr Slapstick
24 Apr Bach, St. John Passion, Anti-Semitism
22 May Bridges and Early Music
26 Jun Whale-Watching
26 Jul Music Doesn’t Evolve
12 Sep Paul Simon Knows What I’m Talking About
22 Oct How I’m voting?
20 Nov Propinquity
12 Dec Let’s Hang On

2011
8 Feb How I Got Milton Babbitt
26 Apr Gretchaninoff in New Jersey
14 Aug Shakespeare in the Park
13 Sep The Penalty Kick
25 Sep What a Wonderful World
6 Dec Samuel Hsu
31 Dec Etta James, At Last

2010
12 Dec Are Symphonies Dying?

WRTI Arts Desk

2016
28 Aug Rudy Van Gelder: The Engineer and the Human Spirit
29 Feb When Prokofiev and Stalin Died the Same Day
22 Feb 99 Years Ago, What Monumental Event Happened in Jazz?
8 Feb The 2016 Classical GRAMMY Awards, Part 2
1 Feb Who Are the 2016 Classical GRAMMY Award Nominees?

2015
21 Dec The Greatness of Hansel and Gretel
4 Dec Frank Sinatra: Jazz His Way
30 Nov The Legacy of Dave Brubeck
23 Nov Scott Joplin Made Ragtime His Own
9 Nov The Simple Gift of Aaron Copland
2 Nov The Strange Genius of the Adagio for Strings
26 Oct The Last Theme You’d Expect for This Movie
19 Oct This Song Changed the Course of Music
5 Oct John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman, and a Song for the Ages
22 Sep The Prayer of Kol Nidre by Max Bruch
27 Jul Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection
13 Jul On His Birthday, the Essence of Gerald Finzi
6 Jul A Quiet Alleluia, Famous for 75 Years
29 Jun Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD
15 Jun Der Freischütz
8 Jun  The Rite of Spring
25 May Miles Davis
18 May The U.S. Military Bands
14 May An Interview with Mad Men Composer David Carbonara
11 May Emanuel Ax
4 May The Rake’s Progress
27 Apr Dvořák’s New World Symphony
20 Apr Philip Glass
16 Apr Bohuslav Martinu’s Memorial to Lidice

WRTI CD reviews

2008
3 Jun American Orchestral Song
1 Jul Cem Duruöz, Contemporary Music for Guitar
31 Oct Paul Moravec
1 Dec Stile Antico, Music for Compline

2009
4 Feb Robert Moran
10 Feb Valentine’s Day: John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman, Antonio Vivaldi
27 Feb Pēteris Vasks
4 May Lang Lang
30 Jun Charles Ives, Maurice Wright
5 Sep Chant d’Automne, French Horn music
2 Nov Gustavo Dudamel
1 Dec John Zorn

2010
5 Jan J.S. Bach, Monica Huggett, Gonzalo X. Ruiz
13 Feb Valentine’s Day: Der Rosenkavalier
1 Mar Kronos Quartet
2 Jun Jordi Savall
6 Aug The Wanamaker Organ
18 Nov Stokowski, Serebrier

2011
2 Apr Relache. Press Play
3 Jul Hermann Baumann. Grande Messe de Saint Hubert
3 Sep John Williams: Greatest Hits 1969-1999
3 Sep Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Harvest Home
13 Dec Musik Ekklesia: The Vanishing Nordic Chorale

2012
5 Mar Mark Hagerty, Soliloquy
15 May David Carbonara, Mad Men
2 Jul Carson Cooman, The Welcome News
27 Aug Robert Moran, Trinity Requiem
14 Nov The Treasury of English Church Music
11 Dec Dave Brubeck’s Secret

2013
9 Feb David Bennett Thomas, Paths
15 Apr Francis Pott in the Heart of Things
3 Jun Franz Biebl, Ave Maria
4 Jun Gerald Finzi, Eclogue for Piano and Strings
5 Jun Morten Lauridsen, O Magnum Mysterium
6 Jun Mozart, Ave verum corpus
7 Jun The Theme to The Deer Hunter
8 Jun Randall Thompson, Alleluia
29 Sep Minneapolis Guitar Quartet: Thrum

2014
22 May Matthew Levy: People’s Emergency Center

New Music Box

Sep 2014 Twelve Things I’ve Learned from Church Music:

Part 1: Start where you are; Write what you know; Write for people you know
Part 2: Make them sound good; Follow the rules; Break the rules
Part 3: Write faster; Hear it, change it; Churches do tons of new music
Part 4: Stick to the text; It’s all about the music; It’s not about the music

Other writing

1 Jan 2008 About the guy carrying that log
6 Jan 2009 The Soloist by Steve Lopez
8 May 2014 Song of the Angels
Jan 2018 The Lutheran Roots of an Epiphany Vespers
Apr 2019 Reflections on Easter Vigil