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Oh Shenandoah (2011) – Band Arrangement

I entered college with an interest in writing music for wind bands, particularly for middle and high school students. I decided that before I would attempt an original work, I would do an arrangement of a tune I really liked, to acquaint myself with writing for the medium without the difficulty of also writing original material for the ensemble. The result, Oh Shenandoah, can be heard in MIDI below. My old high school band once sightread it, and it was thrilling to hear my arrangement be played! However, unless there is interest, I won’t be publishing the work, mostly because Frank Ticheli’s version is about as close to perfect as one can get. But I had a lot of fun writing this arrangement, and I am proud of the result!

Upcoming projects

I have quite a busy summer ahead of me! In addition to completing a summer class, I am preparing to conduct at my high school’s graduation ceremony. At the end of June, I will be working with Team SWAG and the concert band at the Music For All Summer Symposium at Ball State University in Indianapolis (with John Mackey as the composer-in-residence!). Shortly after, I will be working at Western Michigan University’s Seminar music camp, followed by a couple of band camp jobs. 

I have some ambitious plans for composing too. I’m finishing up some edits to a middle school band piece I wrote, titled As the rain gently falls, which I hope to have ready for publication by the end of the summer (sightreading recording here!). I’m also working on a second band piece, titled Laetata, which is a Latin word which translates to “joyous celebration.” I also have some work done toward a trumpet sonata and a brass quintet.