Music for Bassoon
Program Notes
A musical impression, a memory of a lazy Saturday morning spent fishing with a friend down on the bank of the river that ran behind the music building while a student at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
The music is intentionally quiet, sentimental, and reflective of the sights, sounds, and gently blowing breeze surrounding the slow-moving current of the river.
Fishing with a Friend was composed between June 12-18, 2015, during a fly fishing and camping trip at Indian Creek Campground inYellowstone National Park in my little composing studio at campsite #73. I spent the early mornings and late evenings composing and the afternoons and early evenings fly fishing.
Deanna Estrada (Flute), Sara Renner(E. Horn), Ellen Sommer (Piano)
Stephen Hill
On the Cackling of a Hen
(Poem by John Bunyan)
Bassoon (unaccompanied)
On the Cackling of a Hen
Bassoon (unaccompanied) / ca. 2:00 / 2015 / Slancio q=105
Program Notes
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Composed in 2007, On The Cackling of a Hen, was written at the request of Peter Alexander (Alexander Publishing) and is part of a larger project of Solo Compositions written for each major instrument of the Orchestra: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn in F, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. The project consisted of composing music for specific poems chosen by Peter that he felt reflected the character of each instrument. For the Solo Bassoon, the poem assigned was On The Cackling of a Hen by John Bunyan.
On The Cackling Of A Hen
by John Bunyan
The hen, so soon as she an egg doth lay,
(Spreads the fame of her doing what she may.)
About the yard she cackling now doth go,
To tell what ‘twas she at her nest did go.
Just thus it is with some professing men,
If they do ought that good is, like our hen
They can but cackle on’t where e’er they go,
What their right hand doth their left hand must follow.
Stephen Hill
Scenes from West
Yellowstone Suite
Bassoon and Piano
Scenes from West Yellowstone Suite
Bassoon and Piano / ca. 9:20 / 2017 / Six Movements
Program Notes
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Scenes from West Yellowstone was composed between June 10-12, 2017, while on a solo fly fishing and camping trip at Indian Creek Campground, West Yellowstone, Wyoming. This work was composed to be playable by each of the instruments of the Band and Orchestral families. The solo melodic material uses only the notes of a one-octave major scale, yet each movement intentionally increases in technical demands of the player. Each movement is reflective of actual encounters while on vacation in Yellowstone Park.
1st mvt. - Meadows along the Madison
(Walking through the meadows on the way down to fly fish along the banks of the Madison River)
2nd mvt. - Prairie Dogs
(Watching two prairie dogs scurrying nearby while fly fishing)
3rd mvt. - Snowfall at Indian Creek
(Yes, it actually snowed on me in the campground in June)
4th mvt. - Birds in the Meadow
(Watching the birds flitting about me as they suddenly turned about in all directions)
5th mvt. - A Deer in the Rain
(Watching the deer quietly walking near the river in a gentle rain)
6th mvt. - Fly Fishing for Browns on the Madison
(Casting the line back and forth, watching the “fly” gently land on the top of the water, then
the sudden splash of the beautiful brown trout as it takes the fly.)