Selected Writing

analysis

October 30, 2025
Percussion Augmented by Tonality and as Structure: Orchestration in David Moliner’s Estructura IV

Before we even begin with our analysis of the score, let us first take a look at the orchestral forces, as this will give us an idea of what will be coming, i.e. orchestral forces chosen and the number of each functions as a kind of restriction function. We have piccolo flute and two flutes in the highest register; this is standard, as two flutes must be playing simultaneously to be as auditory as one piccolo flute playing, due to its higher frequency range. Read more...

July 10, 2025
Thoughts on Ulrich Siegele’s “On J. S. Bach’s Compositional Technique” and “Bach’s Theological Concept of Form and the F Major Duet”

I am grateful to Reiko Füting for sharing both articles with me…I had never heard the F Major Duet up until encountering Siegele, which made me seek it out. It has a sonic timbre and form that, despite its balance, struck my ear as truly bizarre—a symmetry that is so symmetric that it’s almost off-putting. Siegele is correct to feel that there is a distinct, deliberate message Bach is communicating. Also, unlike in say the great B minor fugue from Book I of the WTK, here the kernel appears not at the beginning (it only appears so), but rather in the middle, as a dissonant middle section, the first non-trivially prime Fibonacci number (I say “non-trivially” because 5 bars or less is too small a number for an actual section of music). Read more...

March 1, 2025
Fantasy on ChatGPT

I always alternate between extreme privacy and a desire to share; if I were to define the essence of being a composer, it would be that. Though perhaps I am being pretentious—but I am tired of making potential excuses for potential vanities. All I know is that I want to write music, constantly, and to share it, in a meaningful manner, not in the manner of our daily bread and butter, oh ye faithful: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter (now X, Elon, flex for me, you hunky dude, you seem thrilled with life, where’s your wife, your kids complain, you’ll make it rain, dolla’ dolla’ bills y’all), Snapchat, and god knows what else. Read more...

July 4, 2024
Prelude in E Major, Book II

I will begin with what will be a constant refrain, latent or explicit, behind almost anything I write: Bach is better than me, at everything. A better person, in terms of emotional elevation and seamless integration with intellect, a more intelligent person, in a pure analytical sense, more community oriented, more selfless, more successful monetarily, societally, and more humble. Read more...