Skerre

My interest in music is probably not surprising, considering that I come from a musical family. On my mom's side, my grandmother is a retired piano teacher (and my first music teacher and a remarkable person otherwise, check out her website), my stepfather was a pianist, my uncles are all pianists and/or upper string players, and my sister is a clarinetist in the high school band. On my dad's side, my dad is a jazz guitarist, his brother is a drummer, and my dad's cousins are the Fowler Brothers, who have gained some fame in the jazz/rock/music score world.

My musical interests, concisely put, are: listening, playing, and composing. As you'll see, my tastes and experiences are and have been quite eclectic, but I don't think I would have wanted it any other way. On to the details:

Fast Facts about Doug's Musical Background

• Instruments played (ages in parentheses): Piano/Keyboard (7-present), Viola (12-14), Percussion (15-present?)
• Ensembles participated in: Newton Middle School Orchestra, Newton Middle School Jazz Band, Arapahoe High School Band (at least 10 ensembles within the band umbrella), the University of Rochester Wind Symphony, the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the now defunct UR Pep Band, and my own band, Creole Formation.
• Composing since: age 8

Musical Favorites

• Favorite Genres: Classical (from Impressionism to the present), Film Scores, Jazz (Bebop until Fusion), and Prog Rock
• Favorite Composers: Igor Stravinsky, Steve Reich, Danny Elfman, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Frank Zappa
• Favorite Pieces/Albums: Rite of Spring (Stravinsky), Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky), Ebony Concerto (Stravinsky), 5 Pieces for Orchestra (Schönberg), Sextet (Reich), Harmonielehre (John Adams), Men In Black (Elfman), American Beauty (Thomas Newman), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Joby Talbot), Mingus Dynasty (Mingus), Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock), A Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch (Zappa)
• Favorite Instruments: Saxophone, Vibraphone, Cymbals, Guitar

Compositions

For a list of influences on my compositions, see the bullets above. Aside from the above, my compositional skills owe a lot to listening to my dad (and associates) play when I was young, my piano lessons with my grandmother, the theory classes I took at the University of Rochester, and the composition classes I took at the Eastman School of Music.

The following list gives the basic facts about each piece and a short bit of program notes. Note that this is not a list of everything I've ever written, but pieces I think are some of my better works.

A list of my compositions