I’m writing some interstitial music for a projected album of readings. I plan to use a variety of instruments when I record it, but I tarried on the way to arrange it for string quartet as well. Here’s the first page:

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Back in 1974, at Oberlin College, Herbert Blau led a group of students in developing a production about the ill-fated Donner Party. The cast was a promising one, including Bill Irwin and Michael O’Connor, with whom I toured for years in The Regard of Flight. I was a composition student at the time, and contributed […]

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Some free-flowing piano music…

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Once again, Meg Reichardt assembled a group of musicians in Brooklyn to record a holiday album. I sent in my song from upstate, and called in Brian Dewan to record it. It’s called “The Terrier’s Christmas,” and gives a canine perspective on the holidays. My fellow contributors are Kurt Hoffman, Meg Reichardt, Tisha Pryor, Brian […]

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For the magazine Bed Bug, this variation: a canon on the letters BEDBAG.

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Bed Bug: A Magazine of the Arts is now available from Black Scat Books! Here’s the description from its editor, Norman Conquest: As the world comes to an end, and the bed bug infestation spreads from France throughout Europe, it is time for a journal devoted to infestation, invasion, and chaos. Featuring works by Alphonse […]

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I’ll perform some historical musical oddities, drawn from my upcoming book Music from Elsewhere, at the symposium at Lily Dale, NY, July 27-29. The conference is organized by Shannon Taggart, and includes presentations on art, the paranormal, and the history of Spiritualism by Phil Ford, J. F. Martel, Amy Hale, Emily Hanger, Charles and Penelope […]

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Some fairly lush piano music, based on the major sixth chord (or minor seventh chord) in various inversions. According to the composer and music historian Alec Wilder, the major sixth chord has a “compelling power,” so here’s a string of them.

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An Afternoon in the Arboretum is now available on Bandcamp! This album contains solely instrumental music, mostly for keyboard, from as early as 1976 to as late as 2022. All selections were composed and performed by Doug Skinner, and recorded and mixed by Brian Dewan: An Afternoon in the Arboretum (2020) Radio Valentine (1976) Ulterior […]

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A piano piece, all in the middle octave of the keyboard: G3 to G4, extended briefly to F#3 to G#4 every ninth measure.

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