Do you want to be like the inchworm?  We have a rather glum song here, as befits the subject. The inchworm’s life is mild and meek; His prospects look a little bleak. All day he creeps, and creeps, and creeps, And creeps, and creeps, and then he sleeps. When morning comes, he wakes and eats […]

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This is taken from my 1993 show, Eddie Unchained.  In this selection, Victoria, a caterer, is preparing refreshments for Eddie’s birthday party.  Victoria was played by Ivy Austin; she was accompanied by a string quartet of Robert Zubrycki, Cenovia Cummins, Carol Benner, and Benjamin Whittenburg.

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A setting of a curious nonsense poem, attributed to Richard Corbett (1582-1635).  The accompaniment can be played either by piano or by violin and ‘cello.  Here’s the first bit.

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A querulous little rumination, that begins like this.

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An insistent number, written as I was enjoying a new piano.

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Ah, there’s nothing like a violin duet.  I wrote six of them in 1990; here’s how the first begins.

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“En Route” sets my adaptations of three poems by Blaise Cendrars.  The piano part is based on 4-pitch diatonic chords, which are manipulated in various ways.  In this first one, chance procedures determined the direction, duration, and key of each arpeggio.  The violin and voice parts were written over that, using the three pitches left […]

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For this one, back in San Francisco in 1977, I provided text pieces to accompany two of Betsy’s dances: “Never” and “Frame.”  I also sang a couple of songs, and played some ambient piano music for the pre-show and post-show.  And I also drew the program, which I often did back then.

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This “Aubade” is quieter than most.  I don’t want to wake the lovers too harshly.  A simple tune repeats, gathering more counterpoint, until it fades away.  Here’s the beginning; sh.

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