FEATURED COMPOSITION: MEDITATION FOR HORN AND PIANO In the late 1960’s, I was a music major at Central College--a small liberal arts school in Pella, Iowa—working towards a BA degree in instrumental music education. Horn was my principal instrument, but I had also been interested in composition since my early teens, having even written a 1-hour musical (music, book, and lyrics!) for my high school senior play. As Central had no composition classes, I was largely self-taught, but by 1968, with the help of my adviser and theory teacher, I had acquired a bit more understanding of composition. So with the encouragement of my horn teacher, I decided to include a piece of my own on my senior horn recital. I had previously written a series of 3 caprices for horn and piano that I had played at various concerts and recitals, but they were not of the quality that would be required for the recital, so with my newly-acquired compositional toolbox, I set to work on a new one. This somewhat Impressionist-inspired piece was the result. Grade 4 Duration 4:00 Publisher: Dacker Music Price: $4.95 Buy from J.W. Pepper (and/or preview entire score: click on “View Music” tab): jwpepper/Meditation-for-Horn-and-Piano/10343823.item Recording (1969 recording is a little deteriorated, but not too bad for its age*): dackermusic/uploads/3/1/8/0/3180170/meditation_for_horn_and_piano.wma *This recording is from the dress rehearsal for my senior recital (unfortunately, the January, 1969 recital itself was not recorded). There are a couple minor clams in the performance, and nervously short-winded, I don’t always observe my own phrase markings. I never was—and still am not--comfortable as a soloist, but I managed to get through the recital without embarrassing myself too badly.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:08:32 +0000