Today I present my original composition, FREE FLIGHT.  I completed this piece in 1990 and scored it for electric guitar, electric bass, and drum kit.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

I composed this little fugue back in 1990 for a couple of childhood friends.  They had just put together a rock band, so I offered this composition to them as a kind of show-piece to display their impressive skills.  Paul and Jon played drums and guitar respectively.  Their bassist was known locally as a virtuoso, so, for him, I produced a rather intricate bass line.

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FREE FLIGHT, Copyright©1990 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, CINDY FAIR.  I completed this song in 2014 and scored it for bass flute and guitar.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

For this render, I present the bass flute as a stand-in for the tenor voice, accompanied by alternately tuned guitar to achieve open E flat major.  I have never written anything for bass flute before and am very pleased to have become familiar with this much neglected beauty of an instrument!  I shall incorporate it into my orchestra, for it would provide much needed support for the pipe instruments.

Regarding the structure of this little song, instead of using C minor I use G minor as relative to the home key of E flat major.  I thought this might sound interesting since G minor, like C minor, shares notes in common with E flat.  This unusual approach is apparent in the opening guitar progression as it meets the flute’s entry.
 
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CINDY FAIR, Copyright©2014 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS.  I completed this cantata in 2000 and scored it for tenor (John Muir), violin, piano, and choir.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

In the midst of bleak midwinter, I present one of my sunnier works.

MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS is one of a few secular cantatas I wrote with my father who provided the words.  I scored it for very modest forces, envisioning it as a small community theatre production.

For as long as I can remember, John Muir has been a hero to me.  In fact, I often feel that the great Scotsman actually saved my life long before I was even born!  As a solitary, sensitive, and rather idiosyncratic lover of the natural world, I quickly found solace in learning of Muir’s similar character.  

This piece is also important to me on a sentimental level since it was the last thing I wrote before leaving my childhood home in Marin County, California.  In my mind, I can still taste the sweet air, smell the bay leaves, feel the carpets of thick green moss and flesh like skin of the madrone tree, hear the music of nature's eternal choir, and see the countless scenes of glory that surrounded me as I walked the trails to and through my favorite haunts onward to the high cliff rock where I used to compose music, read poetry, and dream.  That realm was so extensive that one might easily think himself to be the only person on earth.  Oh, for one moment more of that ephemeral bliss!

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MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS, Copyright©2000 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, DANCING ALONE (THEME AND VARIATIONS FOR CLARINET IN C MINOR).  I completed this piece in 1994 and scored it for clarinet.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

This work for clarinet solo is a set of variations on an original theme.  I tried to create a virtuosic work that suitably displays the rich variety of colorful sonorities and techniques so characteristic of this instrument.  From its thick, velvety, almost erotic “chalumeau”, to its serene, haunting, and expressive “clarion”, on up through its dramatic, anxious, and sometimes alarmingly piercing “altissimo”, all three distinct registers of this star from the wind family make composing for it a joy indeed!

Writing for unaccompanied wind instruments is always a challenge for me; as it is for any other single note non-harmonic instrument.  In the absence of any harmony, outside of that suggested in arpeggios, all interest lies in the horizontal rather than vertical structure of the music.  Of the three pillars of musical art, namely Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony, only Rhythm and Melody are possible.  Thus, the structure is weakened and the edifice may collapse if the material is not strong enough to compensate.  I do not know if my architecture is stable.  As always, I’ll let the listener decide.

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DANCING ALONE (THEME AND VARIATIONS FOR CLARINET IN C MINOR), Copyright©1994 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA.  I completed this piece in 1999 and scored it for chorus, organ, bells, and string orchestra.  Below is a screenshot of the vocal part from the autograph score:

Imagine being in a great cathedral; a choir of hundreds surrounds.  Before you, a vast string ensemble plays a pulsing ostinato while, halfway through the performance, you suddenly hear the thundering sound of a pipe organ.  Counter to the voices, you hear high above you the cathedral’s bells ring out in grand exaltation!  CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA should be played at a high volume, for in reality this would be LOUD.

You, dear listeners, may provide your own text to the music.  Think the words that best reflect your hopes and dreams for yourselves, those you love, and the world at large.  May your wishes come true, may you be productive, and may you enjoy good health and good fortune in the precious time you have before you.  Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA, Copyright©1999 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, THE FIRST CHRISTMAS.  I completed this song in 2002 and scored it for voice and piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

For a short time, I worked at a K-3 school.  While there, I composed several pieces inspired by children--their light minds and happy hearts, unburdened by the weighty concerns of accumulated years.

This is my setting of a poem my father wrote at the age of thirteen.  In this render of our song, I use an oboe in place of the voice.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS, Copyright©2002 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, EVERGREEN.  I completed this song in 1992 and scored it for voice and piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

Another of my Christmas carols, I wrote this song for a neighbor’s Christmas party.  He, a pianist, and a singer friend of his had performed one of my songs shortly before, so I composed this to my father’s words for them.  It was designed to be light, festive, spirit lifting, and seasonal.  Although written for voice and piano, the vocal line is represented by concert flute.

EVERGREEN, Copyright©1992 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved