Photo by Kenny Kim

For about twenty years, I have been working with popular music artists who wish to perform with an orchestra. The songs of most touring musicians evolve over time and are often different than the original recorded version. So, rather than using their released recording as the basis of my chart, I take a recent live performance recording of the artist's song and arrange the accompanying instrumental parts to be played by a symphony orchestra. My arrangements maintain the feel and energy of their live performance, allowing the artist to sing or play in front of the orchestra with complete confidence. While I have written custom arrangements for a number of artists and orchestras over the years, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with the incredible Ukulele phenom, Jake Shimabukuro for the past ten years and have written more than twenty arrangements for him that have been performed by orchestras across the United States.

Because most professional orchestras devote only a small amount of rehearsal time to Pops concerts, I create professional-quality scores and parts that have been extensively proofread to be error free, thus avoiding mistakes and costly rehearsal time. I also record and produce extremely realistic mockup recordings of each arrangement I write. My mockup recordings are created using amazingly detailed sample libraries and, in most cases, are layered with the individual artist's voice or instrument to give them the feeling of actual concert recordings with the artists. These mockups go a long way toward helping all the musicians learn their individual parts and improving the efficiency of the rehearsal process for both the orchestra and the artist.

Below are just a few examples of my orchestral pops arrangements and their mockup recordings. Unfortunately, contractual agreements with the orchestras prevent me from using recordings of the actual performances, but the mockups are really darn close! The first five are original songs in different styles by Jake Shimabukuro arranged for orchestra and the final one is the song A Música by the Portuguese rock singer and guitarist António Cassapo arranged for him to perform with a large, symphonic concert band. For those of you wanting to see the music, I've provided links to view pdf versions of the scores underneath the audio player. If you need music to perform with an orchestra or other large ensemble, please contact me. I would love to talk with you.

3rd Stream by Jake Shimabukuro • view the score (pdf)
Orange World by Jake Shimabukuro • view the score (pdf)
Go For Broke by Jake Shimabukuro • view the score (pdf)
Ichigo Ichie by Jake Shimabukuro • view the score (pdf)
Kawika by Jake Shimabukuro • view the score (pdf)
A Música by António Cassapo • view the score (pdf)

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with a number of agencies and companies to write music for their advertising campaigns. These commercial compositions and jingles are both a lot of fun and extremely challenging as you need to get your message across as succintly as possible to fit into the extremely short time windows typically available in broadcast media. I have included a few of my favorites here.

I wrote We're America's Fast Lane for a chain of automotive service centers. The company wanted to evoke an image of that All-American team servicing your vehicle from top to bottom that was so popular in the service station commercials of the 1960s. This may be the only piece of music in the world that uses the words lubricants, filters, batteries, and wiper blades in the lyrics!
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Remember when you had to go to a store to rent a movie? Movie Quick was part of a video rental campaign by the central Oklahoma regional 7-Eleven stores to encourage people to rent their movies and do all of their quick shopping in one place. They were specifically looking for a 1950's, Sha-Na-Na type of sound.
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Welcome To Oklahoma, written for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, has been one of my most interesting commercial compositions to date. The text is an approximation of the phrase Welcome to Oklahoma (or as close as the translators could get) in five Native American tongues. The music served as underscoring for the narration in a dramatic video as part of a national campaign to encourage companies to move to Oklahoma. It was composed for a large chorus and orchestra that begins very softly and builds to a large climax.
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Don't Lay That Trash On Oklahoma was written for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's award-winning anti-litter campaign of the same name. This version of the jingle was done in a Beach Boys style that ran extensively during summer months.
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KFH Station I.D. Package was a complete station I.D. package created for the launch of KFH AM Stereo in Wichita, Kansas. They wanted to emphasize the fact that they were a Stereo AM station, and specifically asked for stereophonic effects in the music. The complete package contains more than thirty short jingles for various uses by the station. The three cuts included here are: Legal I.D., A Cappella I.D, and Weather Bed (the instrumental underscoring for an announcer to read the day's weather forecast).
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Being a long-time symphony musician with a Doctorate in Music Composition, I have also written a fair number of so-called classical or art music compositions. Honestly, I dislike both of those terms, but they are widely used in describing categories of music. I think we try to pigeonhole things into too many categories and like to think of my compositions as simply—MUSIC. If you like what you see and hear in these pieces and are interested in commissioning me to compose a new piece or want to perform one of my existing pieces, please contact me. The works below that have a written score are available for purchase or rent directly from me. Enjoy!

Eternal Stars, brass quintet • view the score (pdf)
I wrote Eternal Stars in memory of the three flight crews who gave their lives in America's pursuit of the exploration of outer space. From the beginning, I wanted this piece to be a celebration of their adventurous spirit and enthusiasm. To that end, Eternal Stars is built around ascending and reaching motives and melodies as well as energetic, driving rhythms. Although the piece is divided into three sections with meters corresponding to the number of the members of the three flight crews (7, 3, and 7), it is not my intent that any section represents a particular crew. Rather, the three sections taken as a whole symbolize all the astronauts. Eternal Stars was composed on a commission from the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association (OMTA) as part of their Commissioned Composer program, and was premiered by the Oklahoma Brass Quintet.
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Elegy, solo violoncello • view the score (pdf)
el•e•gy (noun): a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. I wrote Elegy after transitioning through a particularly difficult period in my life. The serious reflection of this work is not for an actual death, but for the passing of things that had been, and concern for things that might yet be. The piece is composed in a free, rhapsodic style where the rhythms are more suggestions of duration than an actual demarcation of pulse. It's an opportunity for the cellist to revel in his or her sound.
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Variations on an Old English Folksong, violin, clarinet, piano • view the score (pdf)
Variations on an Old English Folksong was commissioned by Trio Contraste as a concert encore. The piece is a set of variations on the old song Waly, Waly (better known as The Water is Wide), that allows each of the trio's performers one more time to shine as well as featuring the ensemble as a group.
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All the Pretty Colours of the Rainbow, microtonal piano • view the score (pdf)
All the Pretty Colours of the Rainbow was written on a commission from, and premiered by, avant-garde pianist Aron Kallay in Los Angeles. It is now available on Aron's CD Beyond 12 as well as on a number of music streaming services.
I have long been fascinated by the differences in the way humans perceive light frequencies and sound frequencies. While we are capable of hearing more than nine octaves of sound frequencies, we are only capable of seeing the equivalent of about one octave of light frequencies. Yet even though that one octave of visible light has only six steps in it (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet), we see and recognize thousands of different hues within each of those steps. I wanted to give the listener a sense of the different “hues” that might be associated with steps in a musical scale. At its root, the pitch material is based on the five notes of a common pentatonic scale (D, E, G, A, B). However, the interval between each note is slightly wider than what we commonly hear in traditional tunings. In addition, there are four different versions of every note in the scale, each a tiny bit higher in frequency than the previous (think D, D+, D++, D+++, E, E+, etc.). The entire scale, then, requires twenty keys, or a perfect twelfth (octave + perfect fifth) on the piano keyboard to complete. And, since each repetition of the scale is slightly higher in frequency than a pure octave, an upward spiral of pitches is created to the top of the keyboard.
Acoustic pianos do not respond well to such a drastic retuning as required in this piece. Therefore, this composition is performed on a high quality digital piano instrument that supports custom tunings and uses physical modeling to produce its piano sound. Instruments that use typical piano samples to create their sound will suffer from a number of undesirable and unnatural artifacts in the piano sound as a result of retuning the samples and cannot be used.
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My Father's Stories, dancer, electronics, recorded narration
My Father's Stories was composed for choreographer and dancer Margarita Baños-Milton. The score is entirely electronic and thus, there is no written score. The piece combines a recorded oral history of Margarita's father describing his childhood in revolutionary Mexico with elements of two songs he used to sing to Margarita when she was a little girl: La Feria de las Flores (a Mariachi song by Chucho Monge) and Roses of Picardy (a WWI-era ballad by Hayden Wood). Because the tape recording of Margarita's father had so much hiss and noise, I used a number of sonic elements that also had a breathy or hissy quality to them. The harmonic language is a 14-tone microtonal scale. The songs are almost never heard in a recognizable form except at the end where there is a complete statement of Roses. Instead, the songs are used as source material and are highly fragmented.
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Ritual, percussion ensemble, electronics • view the score (pdf)
Ritual is an unlikely amalgamation of such elements as African poly-rhythmic drumming, Drum Corp percussion, and East Asian chant with a dash of electronic synthesis thrown in for good measure. The hypnotic opening section consists of one long crescendo that gradually envelops the audience in a 3-dimensional wall of sound (the performers are positioned around the audience). Eventually, a quirky middle section featuring interchanges between the percussion instruments and the synthesizer sounds interrupts the crescendo. Finally, the opening material returns, but in a decrescendo that gradually dies away to the silence from which it began. Unlike many of my other works, this piece makes no statements about society, politics, the world, etc. It merely exists for its sonic qualities. In other words, it ain't brain surgery, it's just kinda cool!
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The Lone Ranger Rides Again, young percussion ensemble • view the score (pdf)
As a former young percussionist, I often found the kinds of tick-tock percussion ensemble literature available for that age boring and pedantic. I wrote The Lone Ranger Rides Again to introduce young percussionists to the joy and fun of playing in a percussion ensemble. Based on the well-known William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini, the piece includes a number of humorous musical and visual elements. The Lone Ranger Rides Again is designed to be both enjoyable and stimulating for the players, as well as providing that all-important audience feedback that helps hook young students on performing. All parts are written for percussionists who have been playing for only 2 to 3 years or less. Rhythms and melodic patterns are kept relatively simple, employing natural sticking patterns and frequent repeats for reinforcement.
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The Explorers, symphony orchestra • view the score (pdf)
While The Explorers was originally inspired by the many ocean-going expeditions that crossed the globe during the age of exploration, my piece celebrates the adventurous spirit of all men and women whose exploits challenge us to better ourselves and the world in which we live. Beginning with a fanfare and contrapuntal march, the expedition receives a royal send-off. As the sailors put out to sea, the fanfare fades into the distance and is replaced by the monotonous sounds of the ocean. Soon, a lone singer, represented by the solo horn, begins a song of hope, albeit a hope tinged with fear and anxiety. As the ship moves further into the unknown, those fears and anxieties grow even stronger. To raise spirits, there is an attempt at merrymaking. After a few false starts, the previous horn melody is transformed into a lively sailor’s dance, which growing more and more raucous, keeps the sailors from noticing the brewing storm until it has already engulfed them. Just as the storm appears to be reaching its height, land is sighted. Trumpets sound the call, and soon all join in the shouting. With the storm abated and smooth sailing ahead, the crew, using a countermelody from the opening march, offers a hymn of thanksgiving. As they begin to realize the importance of their feat, the sailor’s hymn becomes jubilant and triumphant as the explorers celebrate their victorious passage through the unknown.
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Conversation, flute, oboe, piano • view the score (pdf)
I. Exposition
II. Introspection (only this movement is included with the recordings)
III. Interruption
IV. Peroration
As its movement titles suggest, Conversation examines the various stages of a deep conversation among good friends—in this case, the three performers. The first movement, Exposition, lays out the basic thoughts of the conversation that increasingly interact and intertwine with each other. Introspection peers into the minds of the conversants a bit as they grapple with their own thoughts and ideas related to the conversation. The Interruption comes in the form of a distracting event that pulls our participants temporarily away from the conversation at hand, before returning to their ideas, thoughts, and discourse in the Peroration. Only the 2nd movement, Introspection, is included in the audio player, above.
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The following works are not included in the recordings

Symphony, large orchestra • view the score (pdf)
I. Source
II. Echoes
III. Dance
IV. Finale
I composed this symphony as part of my dissertation in completing my Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition. It is a complex, four-movement work for a large symphony orchestra. The four movements are loosely based on the movement structure of the traditional Classical period symphony and work together to create a dramatic arc with a huge sweep of emotions, musical surprises that climax with a thunderous finale. The second, third, and fourth movements all draw their thematic material from elements in the first movement, Source. The second movement pays hommage to one of the greatest symphony composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, and to what many consider to be his greatest symphony, the seventh in A minor, Op. 92.

Late Night Dinner Alone, coloratura soprano, electric piano • view the score (pdf)
I. Banquet Extra Helping Salisbury Steak Dinner
II. Caffeine Free Diet Coke
III. Braum's Premium French Vanilla Ice Cream
This set of three songs takes a light-hearted look at the ingredients in our modern food. Have you ever read what's actually in this stuff? The lyrics for each song are the actual ingredients list from the particular packaged food product of the song's title. The use of the electric piano as a substitute for the acoustic piano may be seen as further commentary on the artificiality of these products. Splashed throughout these songs are quotes from such disparate sources as late-night television theme songs and well-known classical compositions.

How the Loon Lost Her Voice, dance ensemble, electronics, narrator
How the Loon Lost Her Voice was composed on another commission from choreographer and dancer Margarita Baños-Milton. Like the previous composition for her, the score is entirely electronic and thus, there is no written score. Based on the famous Northwest Coast Native myth as told by Anne Cameron at the request, and with the permission, of her Native elder friend Klopinum from Vancouver Island. This story recounts the heroic tale of how Loon, Raven, and all the animals that rallied to rescue the daylight from behind a wall of ice after it was stolen by evil spirits. Many of the musical elements in this piece are derived from loon calls, including the basic melodic motives which are the loon's classic warble slowed down by an extreme amount.

Toccata and Fugue, snare drum ensemble • view the score (pdf)
The first classical recording I ever purchased was of the great organ works of J. S. Bach performed by the late E. Power Biggs. In particular, the toccatas and fugues fascinated me with their contrast between the free improvisatory toccata and the incredibly structured fugue. This work for eleven snare drums follows that same principle. The opening Toccata (from the Italian word toccare, to touch) begins with the performers playing the drums with their fingers. Eventually, they change to sticks as the piece features a number of sounds available from the snare drum. The Fugue follows the traditional Baroque model with subject, countersubject, and numerous episodes.

HyperLinx, dancer, interactive electronics environment
HyperLinx is an environment for dancer and computer- and synthesizer-generated sounds. As the dancer moves about the stage, numerous infrared sensors detect his or her motions. A computer uses this information to calculate such things as the dancer's position, type of motion, speed of movement, direction of motion, etc., so that musical events are created as an accompaniment to that motion. The dancer interactively improvises gestures and motions based on the sounds created, which leads to new sounds, and new gestures, and so on. The effect is like standing between two opposing mirrors where one's image seems to repeat indefinitely, but with each repetition appearing farther removed from the original. This piece, and its title, was inspired by the often circular and convoluted connections one encounters on the internet.

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