The date was May 16th. Years later, that date would host an event of great significance in my life: the birth of my son, but in May of 2000 I was just a 16 year-old kid stepping out on to a stage on a Tuesday. An introduction had just been made by microphone, the audience was about to hear an original piece written by a high school student. I was that student and the piece was "The Spirit of the Adventurer".
I was never a part of any school orchestras or bands, but I'd spent a great deal of time practicing with friends who were. (Especially in the weeks prior to that performance.) Issac, one of my friends, was a drum major for the high school marching band; I'd asked him to conduct my piece for our high school's Concert Orchestra while I took my preferred place at the piano.
Over the Summer, I composed another piece -- titled "Millennium Symphony". In the Fall, I performed it with my high school's Symphonic Orchestra. It was a piece which pushed the limits of conventional orchestra as I had written parts for two electric guitars. During the performance, the guitarists hid out of view behind the curtains until the start of their parts. With the first strum of their strings, they kicked up their amps and stepped on to the stage. Sitting at the piano nervously playing my part, I grinned when I heard the excitement from the crowd. Later I was approached by an older sibling of one of the members of the orchestra, he shook my hand vigorously as he said, "That was the BEST orchestra concert I've ever been dragged to! I am so glad I came tonight."
In the following months, I was asked to perform an arrangement I had made of James Horner's iconic song "My Heart Will Go On" with one of our school's talented vocalists: Kate Coppola. It was the first time I had performed on stage without an orchestra.
My next performance was at my high school graduation. Many talented seniors had been chosen to perform and/or speak during the ceremony; my assigned position was at the start of the schedule, playing music to settle the crowd before the other graduates walked out on to the field. I attended a notably large high school, so the ceremony took place in the school's stadium... in front of roughly five thousand guests. So, under the gaze of what was easily the largest number of people for whom I had ever played piano, I sat alone in the center of a field and debuted a new composition "Love's First Rose" along with an arrangement I'd done of James Horner's "Legends of the Fall" and my arrangement of Philip Glass' "Truman Sleeps".
Over the years, I've written several pieces of music, some mentioned here, some to be released in the future, and some that I keep happily tucked away in my mind or in their first drafts. I began my musical adventure by striking a few keys on the piano. Now, I would like to share that same adventure with you by striking the keys of a computer.
As you can see, I have created a profile on SoundCloud to better share my music on the web. Therein you will find a list of my currently available tracks and "sets" (specifically grouped tracks). I can only hope that you will enjoy listening to the music as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
