I attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Cal-Arts, studied composition with Joseph Wagner, Wesley LaViolette and Roy Harris, was a music copiest, music engraver, music publisher, arranger, orchestrator, symphony and studio musician (trumpet), played in the group Alchemy, was a music critic for several newspapers as well as KPFK, started a chamber symphony, put on concerts, played in Trust Fund orchestras...all those endless things that are part of making one's way in ANY of the arts. In retrospect, being an herbalist for the last thirty years has been soooo relaxing.

Everyone should wear several hats in their life. This music is a tattered "gimme" cap from my closet.

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SYMPHONY #2-The Anasazi - Orchestra of Santa Fe, William Kirschke, Conductor. (1980)

Prologue and 1st Movement - The Land, The People - (mp3 file, 9.06 minutes, 8.5M)

2nd Movement - The Spirit - (mp3 file, 5.45 minutes, 5.4M)

3rd Movement - Survival Dance - (mp3 file, 8.18 minutes, 7.8M)

Composed for the 300th Anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt of 1580. It made a bit of a splash, got played on NPR, made me briefly a "regional composer" of modest note...then nothing. At least I was fortunate enough to hear it played three times; Charles Ives heard virtually NONE of his orchestral music during his composing years.

Skeleton Canyon, 1886 (mp3 file, 9.16 minutes, 9.4 M) Orchestra of Santa Fe, William Kirschke, Conductor. (1986)

A tone poem composed for the 100th anniversary of Geronimo's surrender at Skeleton Canyon, New Mexico. The absolute end of 4 centuries of armed resistance...a lonely and desolate place, even before 20th century overgrazing.

Chaco Canyon (mp3 file, 7.19 minutes, 6.9M) University of New Mexico Symphonic Band (1981)

The first movement of my "Pre-Columbian Triptych". The place, the echoes, some musical feelings left over from writing my Anasazi Symphony the previous year. Writing this type of work was always my "guilty pleasure", right after New York style cheesecake. Written in reverse sonata allegro form (composers are taught to organize things), at heart it's just a bunch of sounds I assembled to remind my limbic system of the creepy exaltation of such places.

Dance of Coatlicue (mp3 file, 8.23 minutes, 7.8 M) University of New Mexico Symphonic Band (1981)

The second movement of my "Pre-Columbian Triptych". Imagine a Meso-American Kali wearing flayed skin, with twin serpent's heads, ears of corn for a skirt and human skulls for a necklace...a Goddess of Death and Rebirth...and UGLY. Loud and akimbo music. You can read a bit about Coatlicue here, and see Aztec statues of her here and here., and a modern Chicano rendering of her here.

Audio editing was done with SndSampler 4.4.2, mp3 conversion was done with N2MP3 1.03. (just think...I still have ninety minutes more of concert tapes to play with)

If you want to download an mp3 reader, check out mp3.com...they have links to freeware and shareware applications if you don't have Quicktime 4.0.

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