Today I present my original composition, IN THE FALLING SNOW.  I completed this piece in 2001 and scored it for flute, celesta, harp, and strings.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

I conceived this music in recognition of the magic that is snowfall.  Specifically, I am trying to conjure the image of those first graceful flakes that gently waft around as one stands in a beautiful natural setting.  My choice of instrumentation reflects this intention. 
 
To my mind, nothing in the world of acoustic instruments is more evocative of ice and snow than the celesta!

You should consider this little seasonal piece to be something of a musical greeting-card, designed to help brighten the holidays.  Please help yourselves to a copy if interest moves you.

IN THE FALLING SNOW, Copyright©2001 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, FUGUE FOR ORGAN IN A.  I completed this piece in 2000 and scored it for organ.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

I was inspired to write this piece for organ after the performance of my choral work, THE FRUITS OF SILENCE.  During a lull in rehearsal of that piece, the organist played for me the toccata from Bach’s famous TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR.  Anyone who has ever heard the sound of a pipe organ with all stops pulled in a cathedral knows there is nothing like it on Earth!  The all-mighty power of the sound is incredible.

This music, composed one year for Christmas, is my attempt to create an exciting, festive, celebratory piece to accentuate the holidays.  It is the first of several seasonal pieces I will be posting over the next few weeks.

FUGUE FOR ORGAN IN A, Copyright©2000 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, SLEEP.  I completed this piece in 1990 and scored it for piano and voice.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

This setting of a poem entitled TO SLEEP by John Keats is one of several I made in the late 1980s--early 90s when I was reading a lot of the English romantics.  As a sonnet, it was difficult to work into song form since the lines do not read like lyrics.  When setting already established poems to music, as I frequently do, it can be quite challenging to “wed” the music to the words in a way that sounds natural.  I remember having one hell of a time putting this one together.

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

Today I present my original composition, NORTHERN LIGHTS.  I completed this piece in 2004 and scored it for hand-bells.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

I originally wrote this piece for hand bells, but decided to record it using a soft-synth.  Even though this sound is totally different from that of the bells, one can imagine a group of people ringing these notes into the ether.

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NORTHERN LIGHTS, Copyright©2004 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE.  I completed this piece in 1999 and scored it for piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE is my response to the death of my family dog, Ruggy.  As anyone blessed by the experience of growing up with a dog knows, they are like siblings.  In my case, a sibling who figures into some of my most treasured memories.  I lived my halcyon days away as almost a modern-day Tom Sawyer, roaming the vast square mileage behind my home with that little ragged, homely, darling dog by my side.  What bliss that was!

As the title suggests, the piece is about death, but also life--the carefree life I once knew.  Written for piano, it is rather extensive.  I treated the work as something like a long diary entry.  My pain was great, so I had to keep working on the piece until my grief was spent.

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DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE, Copyright©1999 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde. All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, FOR ANNE.  I completed this little piece in 1993 and scored it for flute.  Below is a screenshot of the complete autograph score:

This trifle is something I wrote for Anne, head librarian of the Mill Valley Public Library, a beautiful building nestled in the redwoods of Mill Valley, California where I worked for many years.

Anne was beginning study of the flute, which prompted my idea of writing a little piece for her to practice.  Fittingly, it is brief and consists of some of the various techniques intrinsic to the instrument, such as, staccato, legato, a bit of ornamentation, a little syncopation, some scale work, and a basic ABA form.

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FOR ANNE, Copyright©1993 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde. All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, TALE OF A SONGBIRD.  I completed this piece in 2007 and scored it for violin and piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

For a short while, my sister lived down the street from me. Her unit was right on the water facing the west. I used to go over to her place, take in the view, and try to make art of it. While there, I composed this piece in recognition of the numerous birds that would dart to and fro past the great picture window. Their ecstatic animation drove my pen in this one of many works I have written in a pastoral vein.

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TALE OF A SONGBIRD, Copyright©2007 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde. All rights reserved