Music for Trumpet
Stephen Hill
O Captain! My Captain!
(Poem by Walt Whitman)
Trumpet (unaccompanied)
SARAHTIM Music Publishing
O Captain! My Captain! (Walt Whitman)
Trumpet (Unaccompanied) / ca. 6:00 / 2007 / Solemnly q=60
Program Notes
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Composed in 2007, O Captain! My Captain!, 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 Trumpet, the poem assigned
was O Captain! My Captain!, by Walt Whitman.
O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Stephen Hill
Scenes from West
Yellowstone Suite
Trumpet and Piano
SARAHTIM Music Publishing
Scenes from West Yellowstone Suite
Trumpet 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.)
Stephen Hill
Fishing with a Friend
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Flugelhorn (Trumpet) and Piano
SARAHTIM Music Publishing
Fishing with a Friend
Flugelhorn (Trumpet) and Piano / ca. 3:35 / 2015 / Flowing like a River q=120
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.