Vocal

Welcome to SARAHTIM Music Publishing. The name SARAHTIM simply comes from combining the name of my daughter Sarah and my son Timothy. I compose for the simple joy and challenge of the creative experience.

A few years ago, my good friends and California High School colleagues Doug Nordquist and Ben Murillo, suggested I make the music I was writing for the Band and Orchestra program at California High School available for other directors who might be interested in playing or just listening to it.

SARAHTIM Music Publishing is a small one-person venture where I compose and prepare the music, put it up on the website for anyone who may be interested, and at the end of the day I sweep the floor and empty the trash can.

Thank you for stopping by,

Stephen

Upcoming Performances
and Works in Preparation

January 14, 2023

CMEA Capital Section Honor Orchestra

Sacramento, California

Dr. James Mazzaferro, Conducting

"Run in such a way..."

March 2, 2023

Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Middle School Honor Band

Excelsior High School Norwalk, California

Leonard Narumi, Conductor

Yozawa (Fly Fishing Stream)

March 15, 2023

SCSBOA Band and Orchestra Festival

Vic Lopez Auditorium, Whittier, California

California High Wind Ensemble

Salvador Hernandez, Conductor

"...I will both lie down and sleep in peace..."

March 16, 2023

at Dana Hills High School

Niguel Hills Middle School Band

Christopher Popperwell, Conductor

"...of strength and courage..."

March 21, 2023

Cerritos College Band

Dr. David Betancourt

"Before the mountains were born..."

Cerritos College Performing Arts Center

March 23, 2023

SCSBOA Band and Orchestra Festival

at San Juan Hills High School

Niguel Hills Middle School Band

Christopher Popperwell, Conductor

"...of strength and courage..."

April 23, 2023 at 4:30pm

Harmelodic Configurations

(on the tones CBDAAG)

Azusa Pacific Wind Ensemble

Dr. John Burdett, Conductor

Joint Concert with the

Symphonic Winds of the Pacific

California School of the Arts

1401 Highland, Duarte, Ca.

TBA 2023

Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic

Dr. Gene Chung

Fanfares and Flourishes on "Adeste Fideles"

Philip Smith - Shares His Faith

Principal Trumpet - New York Philharmonic

We all have a worldview. Like Philip Smith, mine is also influenced by the texts of the Bible. I appreciate Philip Smith's masterful skill and musicianship on the trumpet and his testimony and expression of gratitude. It's a gratitude I also share of the amazing grace found in the person of Jesus Christ.

I am moved and inspired by Bach's faith demonstrated throughout his Cantatas, the St. Matthew and St. John Passions.

At SARAHTIM Music there are works that are impressions of passages from the Old and New Testament Scriptures.

C.S.Lewis stated - "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Gregory Koukl - “The belief that objective good and evil do not exist (relativism) is in conflict (rivalry) with a rejection of God based on the existence of objective evil.”

Gregory Koukl - “given a Godless, physical universe, the idea that things are not as they should be makes little sense. How can something go wrong when there was no right way for it to be in the first place?

Creation

(Genesis 1:1) "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth..."

(John 1:1)"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created."

The Fall

(Romans 5:12)"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned."

Forgiveness

(Romans 5:17) "Since by the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."

(Romans 5:7,8) "For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person - though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

A Musical Journey

My musical journey began in the fourth

grade, where I learned to play the violin

in Mrs. Miller's Beginning Orchestra

Class. Then in 6th grade I moved on to the trumpet and finally settling on the

Euphonium in 8th grade. I did my part playing in the Marching and Concert bands in both High School and College. I still play to this day.

Studies in Music

I attended Cerritos College from 1976-1978, where my principal teacher was Philip Westin. Westin studied with Ingolf Dahl at USC and privately with Roy Harris and personally knew Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, and William Schuman. From 1978-1980 I attended Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to study with composer W. Francis McBeth. Francis McBeth studied with composers Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson and was a classmate of John Barnes Chance.

Being from California and attending school in Arkansas, I obviously didn't go home on weekends. I was fortunate to have personal visits with Dr. McBeth in his home. We discussed music, faith in God, fishing, life, etc. I have cherished memories of our many years of friendship until his passing in 2012. I graduated from Ouachita Baptist University with my B.Music degree in 1980.

From 1980-1983, I attended graduate school at California State University, Los Angeles. I was fortunate to spend my graduate study with composer Dr. Byong Kon Kim and his dissonant and atonal style of contemporary orchestral music. Sinfonietta for 15 strings and harpsichord(1987) I graduated from California State University, Los Angeles, with my M.A. in Music degree in 1984.

Influences

My influences range from the works of Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst to the composers of the early American School of Howard Hanson, Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, David Diamond, and William Schuman. When I was in graduate school, I began studying the music of Philip Glass, Steve Reich and the new kid on the block, John Adams. Other musical influences certainly include the music of Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, and the melodic music of Burt Bacharach, Ennio Morricone, and Lee Holdridge. Also influential was the rock music I grew up with through the '60s and '70s, especially the harmonic, melodic and rhythmic music of Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

Teaching

After receiving my degrees in composition, I did not pursue a career in composing. While in graduate school, I was asked to help a small private Christian school get its general music, band, and orchestra program going. Although I never planned to go into teaching, God placed me where He wanted me. Now nearly 40 years later, I look back on having taught K-12 instrumental music for two private Christian Schools. The majority of that, 25 years, was with Whittier Christian Schools at the Maybrook Campus. Additionally, from 2001 to the present day, I have been the assistant instrumental director at California High School in Whittier, CA. While teaching full-time, I was primarily a "summer" composer. I also maintain a private music studio teaching Woodwinds, Brass, Strings, and Piano. You might check out the free resource Tutorials and PDF Worksheets.

Fishing
My love for fishing was instilled by my father. Unfortunately, when I was 12 years old, my father passed away quite young at age 49. The time spent fishing with my dad is a most special memory of him and my childhood.

I have kept this email from my teacher at Cerritos College, Philip Westin.

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your note. I LOVE your web site! I particularly like the caption at the top where, among other things about yourself including your being a composer, you list yourself as a fly fisherman. . . It shows your humor and that you're a normal, well-rounded person!

Thanks for including me along with Dr. McBeth in your bio. I'm flattered, and, of course, pleased.

All the best,

Phil

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful and fortunate for the encouragement and support from friends and colleagues who have taken the time to look through scores and provide their ensembles for reading sessions, rehearsals, and performances.

California High School

Salvador Hernandez

Doug Nordquist (Retired)

Hutchison Middle School

Warren High School