“Banshee: Woman of the Mound”

Greetings,

I have finally finished yet another concert band work for the consideration of the SUNY  Orange Symphonic Band to perform next year. The piece is entitled “Banshee: Woman of the Mound” and it is a very powerful work. Of course, that is just my opinion as the composer of the piece. You can listen to the Finale rendition of the piece HERE. It would be really awesome if the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band would play this piece next year as well. So, let’s just keep our fingers crossed. I’ve emailed Kevin Scott the piece and I will wait to see what he thinks about it. Be sure to stay tuned here to get more news on my music. In the meantime, I will continue to compose more music. Also, I will be submitting this piece to the ASCAP Young Composers Competition. I sure hope I become a finalist, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Stay tuned here.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

“When the Great Owl Sings” Premiere

Greetings,

I finally heard back from Kevin Scott, the director of the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band in Middletown, NY. I’m pleased to say that the world premiere of “When the Great Owl Sings” will be this coming spring; it will be played at least three times in New York. This is really exciting and I’m hoping I will be able to go to New York in order to attend the concert. Also, this coming February, the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band will have a sight reading session of the piece and I will be sent a recording of it. When they do the reading, I will make sure I place the recording on the site. Today, I finished formatting the score and the parts so that I can print them off to be mailed to Mr. Scott. In the meantime, I’m struggling from some composer’s block, but I’m pushing myself to overcome that obstacle. Stay tuned here for more news about me and what is going on with my music.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

I Have a Twitter?

Greetings,

I decided to give into the hype and get a TWITTER account. I figure, if I want to get noticed by more conductors, I might as well get a Twitter account to let more people know who I am and what I do. In other news, I still haven’t heard back from Mr. Kevin Scott, director of the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band in Middletown, NY. As you guys know, I’ve put “Year Without Summer” on hold for a little while until I can come up with solid ideas. Now, I’m researching information on a new piece I want to compose in the mean time entitled “Nightmarchers”. Also, I will be working with a long time musician friend of mine on possibly creating a new website. So, there may be a move to a new host coming sometime next year. In the meantime, I’ll keep you guys updated on the status of “Nightmarchers” and I’ll also let you guys know if I hear back from Mr. Kevin Scott.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

FJH and New Music

Greetings,

Well, it seems the FJH Music Company will not be publishing “When the Great Owl Sings” either. Even though this is sad news, it has taught me that I should compose my next piece even better. Considering the feedback I received from both companies, I’m thinking about making FJH the publisher of my music. They were very specific as to why they would not publish “Owl” this time around; Barnhouse did no such thing, but I don’t have anything negative to say about that company. They are both very great companies and I hope they will be able to publish some of my compositions here in the future. In other news, I still haven’t heard back from Kevin Scott, director of the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band, but I’m sure he is a very busy man. As far as music is concerned, I have finished the main melodies and structure for the first movement of “Year Without Summer”. I’m just a little stuck on the accompaniment behind those melodies and other things I can do to make the movement better. Once the first movement is at the point I feel it is very good, I will work on the second movement. So, stay tuned here to get more information on that piece and my response from Mr. Kevin Scott.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

“When the Great Owl Sings” Reading in New York?

Greetings,

I still haven’t heard back from the FJH Music Company yet, but I’m still waiting. On a related note, it seems “When the Great Owl Sings” will get its first reading within the next few months by the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band in Middletown, NY. I received an email from the director of the band, Kevin Scott, this past Saturday. I responded to his email today, so now I’m waiting to hear back from him. Last night, I was formatting the score and parts for a future reading of the piece. This is a really cool opportunity and I am honored to have a band play this piece. Mr. Scott mentioned that he is considering making “When the Great Owl Sings” a part of one of his summer concerts next year. If he does end up including it in his program, we could be seeing the world premiere of the piece. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

While I wait to hear back from the FJH Music Company and Kevin Scott, I have started a new concert band piece entitled “Year Without Summer”. For now, I will keep you guys in the dark to what the piece is about, but I’m really excited to start this piece. This is actually a piece I’ve been meaning to write for about two years now. So, stay tuned here to get more information on anything happening with my music.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

A New Commission?

Greetings,

So, I heard back from C.L. Barnhouse last week and they will not be publishing “When the Great Owl Sings” this time around. It is disappointing, but I’ve got to continue composing music. After recieving feedback from Barnhouse, I sent the piece to the FJH Music Company and I’m waiting for a response from them. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed. Haha. In other news, I’ve started a new piece that I’m hoping my former high school will be able to play. I’m awaiting confirmation from the band director. You may see the title of the piece on my “Concert Band” page. In regards to the content of the piece, I have a lot of ideas that I would like to incorporate but I don’t want to place something in the piece that would be too difficult for them to play. Be sure to stay tuned here to see how the piece progresses as well as the status of “When the Great Owl Sings”.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

A Finished Piece?

Greetings,

I think the title says it all. That’s right folks, I’ve finally finished my first concert band work. Granted, the score still needs a little tweaking, but it is finished. The piece is not one of the two I mentioned in the post before this. This piece is “When the Great Owl Sings”. If you’ve been following my posts, you know this was a piece I was trying to compose earlier this year, but I just couldn’t find the inspiration. Well, now I have everything ready. I’ve already sent the piece to C.L. Barnhouse and The FJH Music Company for review. I should be hearing back from them in a few months; it would be awesome if I heard from them sooner. The anticipation is killing me. Haha. Anyway, I’ve placed a link at the bottom of this post for you guys to hear the Finale rendition of the piece. Mind you, this piece will sound a hell of a lot better when it is played by a live band. So, let’s hope I get this piece published. In order to make time go by faster, I’ll try to compose another piece in my spare time. Stay tuned here to hear the latest news on “When the Great Owl Sings”.

Link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=857543&content=music

Peace,

C.L. Winston

August Update

Greetings,

My apologies for not updating for a long while. I’ve just been really busy with school related things that make things very stressful. At the moment, I’ll be working on two pieces. I want to try to focus on these two pieces at the moment because I really need to get something published. In other news: I’m also creating an audio drama called “Chimerium”. You can check out information about the audio drama HERE. I plan on posting a link to the site once we have everything set in stone. Lately, my musical interest have been skipping all over the place. So, it’s going to be a while until I give you guys any more information about the two pieces I am writing. Hopefully, I can keep my mind focused on these two pieces. I feel that updating on every aspect of the piece seems to distract me from completing it. So, the next time I update will probably be about the completion of one of the pieces. Here’s to hoping for a completed work.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

First July Update

Greetings,

I hope you all had a great Freedom Day. The past few weeks have been very crazy for a lot of people. The world seemed to have stopped when news of Michael Jackson’s demise surfaced. There will never be another like him and my heart goes out to the Jackson Family. In other news, I’ve been really working hard on “Battle of the Epic”. This is a piece that I’ve been meaning to write for two years, but could never come up with something worthy…until now. To your delight, I’ve posted the program notes to the piece on the Wind Band page. No more will you have to wait for the piece to be complete in order to get the program notes. So, be sure to stay tuned here in order to get more information about “Battle of the Epic”.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

Busy Summer?

Greetings,

I know I haven’t really been updating that much, but it is because I’ve been really busy with school and family related things. The past few months, I’ve been hard at work with “When the Great Owl Sings” but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. So, I’ve decided to put that piece on the back-burner and save it for a later date. In better news, I will be working on several pieces this Summer in order to keep myself busy (musically) and I hope to submit them to C.L. Barnhouse for next year. Including “When the Great Owl Sings”, there are three other wind band pieces that I’m trying to work on. One of them is a fanfare and the other two are symphonic poems. At the moment, I will be starting the symphonic poem entitled “Dragon Emperor”. It is a piece about Genghis Kahn and I already have a good idea of how I want the piece structured; I’m also reusing a melody from an unfinished piece I started last December. I’m really excited to start this piece because it is the first work in a series of piece I’m calling “Historical Figures”. So, be sure to stay tuned here for more information about the pieces to come.

Peace,

C.L. Winston