A friend suggested that I write a violin concerto, and I have one in process.  It starts from big violin tunes, melodies.  The style is rather traditional, using a classical-sized orchestra and most often a regular pulse.  It doesn't feel like nostalgia to me, though, it feels alive in every fiber.  I've been listening to the Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Bartok, and Higdon concerti, hmm, also Ligeti and Norgaard, I guess.  The Schoenberg appeals to me most right now, in its lyrical moments especially.  But I'm aiming for something as transparent as Mozart, and as lively.

I began studying trombone about two years ago, and last Spring I played in the Gordon College wind ensemble, which was a lot of fun.  The director Dr David Rox, suggested that I write a piece for band, so I started arranging some children's piano pieces by Bartok.  This gradually developed into a twelve-minute band piece, the first I have written since high school.  I think it's an entertaining piece, rather extroverted in tone.  Dr Rox is interested in performing it, we'll see.