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CATALOG
At a Glance
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Introduction
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Hello! Here you will find an ever-growing selection of my original compositions/arrangements that have been made public.
This is a custom-built database that allows users to search, sort, and filter-via-tagging an array of items from my growing discography as a composer, arranger, and scorer. The list is viewable as both interactive, dynamic elements that showcase key elements of the work (a preview, related media, any necessary press) as well as a list format, where users can toggle an interactive C.V.-esque view of my selected work (that behaves in the same way within the filter system, of course).
Users can also see and filter items that are part of a group (i.e. an album or a significant collection of music), navigable at the top of the Catalog component of the page, under "Larger Works." In all cases, you can generally sort listed items alphabetically and chronologically. However, when going through works within a certain "Larger Works" collection, you can sort through and organize the order of music by sorting it to see how it appears in its respective body of music. With this all being said — if a specific work is of any interest to you, please be sure to expand the "preview window" downwards — or, even better, click the title or the picture of the work to enter a new page dedicated exclusively to that piece of music you selected.
A very salient note to make is that not every composition here is close to the realm of perfect (commentary on imperfections, humanistic or otherwise, of their performances aside). It is thus my hope that you take interest to forage into the vulnerabilities of my work as well as my growth as a writer.
A Note on Unique ID
Unique IDs, which function as the link address, are curated based on a logical sequence of criteria that informs the instrumentation, context, or otherwise of the piece. The first three letters of the ID refer to the category of composition: if such a piece is part of a larger group of works (or was later reassigned to be representative of a larger group of works), the preceding three-digit "code" will represent this. The date and month that signify the "completion" of the work then follow, which are succeeded by a series of letters that give more information about the overall instrumentation.
I like to break down the instrumentation categories as either "Big Band," "Orchestra," "Chamber," "Voice," or "Solo."
While the first two categories are self-explanatory, "Chamber" is arguably the most fluid of the instrumentation categories and is more likely to represent a piece than not. If the instrumentation of the orchestra resembles more that of a chamber orchestra than a full, I will designate such as "chamber." There may also be some situations where instrumentations are mixed and more than one letter can apply. Works that feature voice in some way will include a "V" after the instrumentation letter. (it is only the case where there is affirmatively no accompaniment to the voice that the "V" will exist with no other juxtaposed instrumentation letters). Another important note is that "solo" only designates that of an instrument playing alone, so there is no chance it can be mixed with other categories. With this being said, the idea of works presented in a “concerto” format still features the instrument as part of a composite whole— therefore, specifics in both the title/subtitle, the text on each Catalog item that provides outlined solo features, and of course the broken-down instrumentation text each do well in articulating the relationship of the performer to their ensemble.
In rare cases, a piece can be delineated as both a composition and an arrangement. Such cases would include where the melody was written by another composer, but the text written by Robert (for example, a textual resetting of a hymn tune). When this occurs, both A and C are presented in juxtaposition ("AC") where the arrangement/composition letter would be found. Other rare cases are such when a piece has two titles: when this occurs, the work will have both titles' initials written out consecutively, as it would be listed on the music/a program.
My December 2019 setting of "My Favorite Things" for Big Band, "GMC201912ABBVMFT" may be broken down as follows:
GMC = General Music Catalog
201912 = The year and month which it was registered as composed
A = arrangement
BB = Big Band
V = features voice in some way
MFT = a full abbreviation of the primary title, "My Favorite Things"
My April 2021 composition of the hymn, "O, St. Pancras" was composed as a one-off hymn (using the hymn-tune source material of Henry Smart), but was later reassigned to be the representative hymn source material of a larger body of work (my Mass of St. Pancras). "MSP202104ACCVOSP" is broken down as follows:
MSP = Mass [of] St. Pancras
202104 = The year and month which it was registered as composed
AC = arrangement [&] composition
C = chamber (in this case, organ is a likely present accompaniment for the SATB hymn tune)
V = features voice in some way
OSP = a full abbreviation of the primary title, "O, St. Pancras"
More specifics can, of course, be found under the "Specific Instrumentation" category. Any programmers of Robert's music are encouraged to consult this information to see how sections are broken down. The purpose of the Unique ID is to enable one to locate the piece in a URL based on (what is arguably) familiar metadata to the programmer.
Categorization
Orchestral/Large Ensemble
Directly under the title of each work, you may find a summation of the instrumentation itself in common vernacular (i.e. "for voice & opt. strings"). In most, if not all cases, this will correspond directly and verbatim to the subtitles in the score, which index for what ensemble the score was written. In many cases, considering economy of space on the catalog page, transposing instruments are written in their "colloquially understood" shorthand form, based on the context by which it appears in its respective genre (i.e. in most jazz/commercial scenarios, "clarinet" may be used in lieu of "Clarinet in Bb").
Of course, for simultaneous archival and organizational purposes in my music, short-hand nomenclature is used to outline specifically how the ensemble is divided. What would normally be large-scale, divided sections of an orchestra in this notation is reduced to a consistent code where one is still able to delineate sections of the ensemble. Because of this, upon perusal, one need not rely on opening the score and consulting the score order exclusively for this information.
The system I use for shorthand notation is a mixture between the Chester Novello and Boosey & Hawkes Method, separating (via slashes) instrument groups by how they appear on the score itself. "Rhythm section" (or "Rtm.") is used to demarcate a standard Big-Band rhythm section, which is composed of an acoustic piano, an upright bass, and a standard drumset (perusers are invited to consider that, in this system, guitar is not demarcated as implicit in a big band rhythm section instrumentation ("rtm."), hence (+gtr.) is used for when the rhythm section includes guitar). Specifications/doubling that run contrary to standard orchestral/large-ensemble shorthand (i.e. a flute doubling piccolo, etc.) are delineated in parentheses adjacent to the instrument group. Let's reduce and observe a standard jazz philharmonic orchestra (for one of my works, "L'infinito") with the following instruments.
Woodwinds (orchestral)
Flute 1
Flute 2
Oboe 1
Oboe 2
Clarinet in Bb 1
Clarinet in Bb 2
Bassoon 1
Bassoon 2
Brass (orchestral)
Horn in F 1
Horn in F 2
Horn in F 3
Horn in F 4
Woodwinds (jazz)
Alto Saxophone 1 (Doubles Soprano)
Alto Saxophone 2
Tenor Saxophone 1
Tenor Saxophone 2
Baritone Saxophone
Brass (jazz)
Trumpet in Bb 1 (Straight Mute, Harmon Mute)
Trumpet in Bb 2 (Straight Mute, Harmon Mute)
Trumpet in Bb 3 (Straight Mute, Harmon Mute)
Trumpet in Bb 4 (Straight Mute, Harmon Mute)
cont...
cont...
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
Trombone 3
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Rhythm Section
Piano
Upright Bass
Drum Set
Percussion (orchestral)
Timpani
Percussion 1 (Shaker, Crash Cymbal)
Percussion 2 (Bongos)
Percussion 3 (Timbales, Xylophone, Glockenspiel)
Xylophone
Glockenspiel
Harp
Celesta
Strings (orchestral)
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Violoncello
Contrabass
In my system — might I mention, once again, an attempted portmanteau of two standard archival methods — our instrumentation reduces to:
2.2.2.2 / 2.2. / 2(1=sop).2.1 / 4 / 3.1.1 / Rtm. / Tmp(3).Perc(3): shkr/cyms/bngos/tmbls / harp / clsta. / strings.
Chamber Ensemble
As one may expect, this nomenclature method extends downwards in size to chamber music as well. For example, a chamber ensemble borne of the jazz/commercial tradition will certainly extend downwards from its closest large-ensemble equivalent — and, from this, one may list a flute, a clarinet, a flugelhorn, a trombone and a string quartet together as follows:
2(I=fl.)(II=cl.) / 1(I=flg.) / 1 / str. qt.
Inquiries
It is important to understand that the context of both the instrument listing and the short-hand notation risks changing slightly contingent on the genre of the work — in some rare cases of my music, a part like the piano is more of a obbligato part than it is an active role in the rhythm section. In the case of contrary-to-"tradition" instances such as this, the change of functionality will be offered without doubt in the instrumentation descriptions — as well as categorized in its separate area of the short-hand nomenclature method.
If there are any questions with my method of archiving and catalogging what is essentially a growing discography, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly via this contact form. I look forward to talking with you!
Larger Works
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Medium
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Instrumentation
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Genre
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Come, Holy Spirit: A Combined Concert of Pentecost (Excerpts From)
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