Michael L. Carroll -- composer/arranger/performerLast Update: May 06, 2012
If you would like to engage me as a
composer/arranger or performer for any occasion, please contact
me via email: mcarroll_91786@yahoo.com
Instrumental
Music
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Recent Postings05/06/2012: Invention for Piano in Expanded C. Another semitonal, neo-baroque invention. Expanded C means the key of C major with f sharp and b flat thrown in, thus expanding both clockwise and counter clockwise on the circle of fifths. PDF 04/29/2012: Two new blogs up and running on blogspot: A religious one UniversalChristian, i.e., universalchristian.blogspot.com and a political one SomeRealSanityPlease!. 04/24/2012: Fugue in A minor for piano. More like
a three-part invention than a fugue. But what is new is that I am trying once again to break out of the diatonic prison into
what I would call semitonal music. It is not atonal, but it is not diatonic. Somewhere in between. Inspired by Sergei Prokofiev. 04/01/2012: Solo guitar piece on Lord Who Throughout These Forty Days, composed and played at Mass last Sunday, 3/25/12. PDF.
03/31/2012: Composed a trio for guitar, mandolin and soprano saxophone. Since my version of Finale doesn't
have sampled instrumentation for mandolin and soprano sax, I used violin and clarinet. The mandolin can use tremolo on the
long notes.
Score 03/14/2012: Opened up a Music Store on Amazon! Carroll's Music, specializing in music composition tools. 03/09/2012: Added a composer resource page. Here you'll find links to books on various aspects of compostion. I also shortened all the mp3 files on this page to samples 30 sec in length. The downloads were killing me on bandwidth. I'll make some of the full length mp3s available for sale somewhere on the net. 01/29/12: Completed audtion videos: 01/16/12: Working on some audition recordings for son Peter. Peter is trying to get a scholarship to
attend Berklee College of Music's Five-Week Program in this summer. He is working on three pieces. "Scrapple
from the Apple", a Charlie Parker tune, "Do You Know What It Means (to miss New Orleans)", and "Take 5". We made our first
recordings of these three yesterday with the Sepulveda Jazz Project. The MP3s are here:
12/15/11: A revision to and recording of my arrangement of God Rest You Merry Gentlemen for solo guitar.
I've modified the guitar music to make it slightly easier to play. This is now Rev. A.
12/7/11: A jazz arrangement of "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen" for solo guitar.
It's funny how these things come about. I was listening to Oscar Peterson's version of
this tune and enjoyed the opening bass solo. So I wanted to something like that
for Doug Freyre, our bassist in the Sepulveda Jazz Project, which I did this morning. I harmonized it with some jazz
chords. Then I wanted
to see what it would sound like as a guitar solo, so I transposed it up a couple of octaves,
made a few minor adjustments and wrote a second part, a bass line to go under the jazz
melody and voila, there it is: PDF
12/2/11: Second two-part YABLI (yet another Bach-like invention) for two guitars (or solo guitar, although I haven't yet checked its
playability). This one is in F major and 9/8 time.
11/26/11: Happy Thanksgiving! Here is a YABLI (yet another Bach-like invention) for two guitars (although it can also be played as
guitar solo) in E minor. I've also arranged it for piano, transposing the upper voice up an octave.
10/16/11: Finale screen capture video on YouTube of "Fantasy in D for Three Guitars, Revision A,
10/08/11: Fantasy in D for Three Guitars, Revision A, dedicated to Jan Schijvenaars, guitar
afficionado and owner of OnlySixStrings.com. This revision includes a statement of the theme
alone at the beginning in the lower register, corrected slurs (and more of them), some grace notes, some improvements in
modulation, and cautionary accidentals.
9/29/11: Fantasy in D for Three Guitars, dedicated to Jan Schijvenaars, guitar
afficionado and owner of OnlySixStrings.com. 9/28/11: Divertimento for Wind Quartet in C 9/12/11: Some of my guitar compositions have been featured at OnlySixStrings.com, a site
dedicated to modern composers for the classical guitar. 8/3/11: Sepulveda Jazz Project is playing Friday Aug 5th at It's a Grind Coffee House, 4245 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90807 as part of the Bixby Knolls First Friday Art Walk and Expo. The band starts at 6 pm. 6/29/11: Sepulveda Jazz Project is playing Friday July 1st at Elise's Tea Room, 3924 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90807 as part of the Bixby Knolls First Friday Art Walk and Expo. The band starts at 6 pm. 5/29/11: Happy Memorial Day, especially to all you veterans! Thank you for your service to our country.
May our citizens behave in a manor that is worthy of this great blessing!
Here's some fun stuff: Some pickin' and grinnin' in the Kitchen at the Concord Hotel
with my guitarist friend Jay Dover (I'm playing the mandolin.) 4/22/11: Good Friday. In commemoration of our Lord's Passion and Death for the salvation of the world, I've
written a piece for string orchestra: Meditation for Strings. You'll note that this is
WMA file. I am just having much better luck with WMA files than with MP3 files. But here's MP3, just in case. 4/1/11: Happy Feast of Fools! "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:25. 3/23/11: YABLI (Yet Another Bach-like Invention) in C major. The theme was built on a canon idea which is not heard until the end. For keyboard. 3/21/11: Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday: To honor him I've written a little invention on his name B-A-C-H which in German music translates into Bb-A-C-B natural. This motif is presented in several different ways with counterpoint. Happy Birthday, Sebastian!
Flute Clarinet/Soprano Sax Alto Sax Violin Guitar String Bass 2/26/11: Fantasy for Wind Quartet in E flat. For flute, oboe, clarinet, and basoon. 2/10/11: Nocturne in A Flat for Piano. It was dark outside when I composed it (sometimes early morning, sometimes at night), so I called it a nocturne. I apologize for the length. Like Pascal said, if I had more time I'd make it shorter. 1/20/11: Invention in A Major for Two Guitars. This is an attempt to escape the diatonic straightjacket and explore wider tonalities. It still needs some polishing, some dynamics (so that the simulated human playback on the computer will interprets things better – otherwise, I generally don't like to intrude on human performers' prerogatives in this area), and to be analyzed for playability. 1/17/11: I'm experimenting with canon forms. Here's a YABLI that is actually a two-part canon. It is not entirely strict, it allows the voices to be free at the ends of phrases. It's a two-part canonic invention for piano in G major. 1/2/11: Happy New Year! Yet another Bach-like invention (YABLI) to start off the new year. This is in D major, in 9/8 time. The audio files are playing at 120 bpm. Although it starts out and develop like a Bach invention, this one finishes in a very classical vein with Haydn-like coda. 12/26/10: Merry Christmas! Here's a little piece I started last night and just finished this morning. I had to drink a Coke late last night to be awake enough to drive the family home from Grandma's. Being fully awake from the Coke when I got home, I decided to write some music. Here's the result: A Pastorale wind quartet in C major. Instruments are flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon. PDF Score. OGG. 12/18/10: SATB arrangement of “On Jordan's Bank”. Different key than the fantasy below, since I needed to fit the ranges of the human voices. Key is E-flat. SATB + piano accompaniment. 12/17/10: Fantasy on "On Jordan's Bank". A little Advent offering. "On Jordan's Bank" is a traditional Advent hymn. Here I took the melody and expanded the duration of each note by a factor of 2. Since the hymn is originally in half notes, this expansion yielded a series of whole notes. I then harmonized it as whole notes, adding a bass line. From there I varied both lines using typical diminution techniques and then tweaked it until both lines sounded melodically acceptable. PDF. OGG. 11/27/10: Waltz in G Minor. A Chopinesque waltz. Originally intended to write an exercise for myself to practice the key of G minor, but it turned into a decent enough piece to share. PDF. OGG. 11/10/10: You guessed it! Yet another … oh well. Invention in D. (Ogg version) PDF 11/09/10: YAYABLI (Yet Another YABLI). Maybe there is a 12-step program for this disease of inventionitis that I seem to have this week. This one's in B-flat. (Ogg version). PDF. Dedicated to my first grandson. My daughter Josi is expecting a boy. Just found out today. Hurray! 11/08/10: YABLI (Yet Another Bach-like Invention MP3) for piano. (Ogg version) PDF What can I say! I love composing these Bach-like things! It is so much fun! 10/04/10: String Quartet in G Major: Fourth movement: Allegro (Ogg file). This is played at 120 bpm. This final movement of the String Quartet in G is in 6/8 time. Very contrapuntal and baroque. Help, I'm a baroque composer stuck in a 21st century body! Here are PDFs of the Score, Violin1, Violin2, Viola, Cello. I am starting to upload Ogg Vorbis files now because the sound quality seems better than that of the MP3s produced by Audacity's lame plug-in. Here's the lousy (lossy) MP3 for comparison. 08/29/10: String Quartet in G Major: Third movement, Largo. This piece has a haunting, recitative-like theme in the first violin with ostinato bass. The ostinato and the theme serve as Canti Firmi for the remainder of the piece, with the exception of the Coda, in which the voices modulate to a climax ending with the D7, the dominant seventh chord of G major, in preparation for the finale to be written in the original key of G major. The ostinato duties are shared by the cello and viola and sometimes the second violin. PDF Score. Parts of Third Movement: Violin1, Violin2, Viola, Cello. 08/27/10: String Quartet in G Major: First and second movements. First movement is Allegro Moderato and second is a minuet. A third movement will be produced next week. PDF of first movement. PDF of second movement. Parts of First Movement: Violin1, Violin2, Viola, Cello. Parts of Second Movement: Violin1, Violin2, Viola, Cello. 08/10/10: Study in C. A two-part, contrapuntal study. Just exploring wider tonalities. PDF. 08/02/10: Fugue in E Major for 3 Guitars. This is an arrangement for three guitars of the 3-part fugue below (originally in C for piano). This was inspired by hearing the San Francisco Guitar Quartet over the weekend in San Francisco and by talking to Mason Fish who is currently playing with the SFGQ. Mason plays a 7-string guitar, the extra string being a lower A string. I allowed the lower notes of the fugue to hit that string and I transposed everything to the key of E major to brighten it up, since the guitar can have an otherwise dark sonority. Although the piece is in E major, it sounds more like E minor when it kicks off. But it is certainly centered on E major. Here's the PDF score and the individual parts: Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Guitar 3.
08/01/10: 3-part Fugue in C for piano. 07/29/10: A 2-part study for piano. I call my pieces “studies” when I don't know what else to call it. This is sort of like an invention. It is very contrapuntal. PDF. 03/11/10: A
Cosmic Lullaby. Lyrics by Ellen Driesbaugh and music by yours
truly. 02/14/10: Happy Valentine's Day. I made this arrangement of Richard Rodgers “My Funny Valentine” for my wife Leandra. MP3 12/31/09: Happy New Year! Here is a
little simple two-part arrangement of "God Rest You Merry
Gentlemen". The main melody is in the lower register while
the flute plays a descant line. 11/29/09: A jazz piece for violin
and guitar in AABABA form called "Two Minutes to Five".
MP3 11/28/09: Some variations on the famous Folias de Espana theme. For string quartet in D minor. These are "loose" variations in that I allowed myself to modulate to other keys and to insert a parallel major version of the Folias chord progression. I was inspired to write this after seeing the marvelous website at www.folia.tk dedicated to the folias theme. 11/08/09: Here's an arrangement of
a Chopin Mazurka for two guitars and mandolin. I did this for a
Dutch trio with mandolinist Sebastiaan de Grebber, guitarist Tom
Edskes and guitarist Saskia Spinder. Here's a link
to Sebastian playing solo mandolin. For the Chopin Mazurka
here are the PDF files: 09/19/09: I'd like to call attention to the release of a CD of a friend of mine: Jennifer Lindsay, a fantastically talented violinist, singer, composer. She played violin with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Her CD debut can be found at Sinfonia Records. Jen and I are working on a duo of traditional jazz tunes to play at Michael's Ristorante in Long Beach. Stay tuned for announcements. 08/03/09: Study
in D for Guitar. This is the second of a series of studies
for the guitar. 07/28/09: Study
in C for Guitar. This is the first of a series of studies for
the guitar that I'm working on. As typical for me, I am leaving
the fingering and the dynamics up to the performer. I leave the
dynamics up to the performer because I believe that dynamics
should be up to the performer and should be pulled out of the
inner energy of a piece. As far as the fingering is concerned, I
am simply too lazy to go look up in the Finale manual how you do
fingering for guitar music. I'd rather spend the time composing
than fingering. Sorry! 05/14/09: Wind
Quintet in A for my oldest son, who is 28 today. Happy
Birthday, Chris! 05/12/09: Song
for Denis, dedicated to the memory of Denis Bonin, the
brother of a friend of mine. This is a song without words for
clarinet and piano. 03/12/09: Didactic Variations on a Song by Cole Porter: "What Is This Thing Called Love?". A set of variations written primarily for my budding saxophonist son Peter Carroll. They are only meant as exercises to teach the art of improviation. Included are versions for alto sax, soprano sax (or clarinet) and violin (or mandolin). This is still a work in progress. I have yet to convert the .wav files to .mp3 files and upload to the site. But that should happen real soon now! 02/22/09: Introduction to Counterpoint This is the beginning of a small book I am writing to teach my son Peter Carroll the art of counterpoint. This is just the very beginning, there are no examples of melodies or counterpoint phrases in this book as yet. But I'll keep updating the website as the book grows in content. 02/03/09: Symphony Nr. 1 in B Flat -- All Four Movments. 02/02/09: Symphony
in B Flat: First Movement. The symphony in B flat is now
complete with the addition of this first movement. This movement
is dedicated to Dennis Prager, a man whose intellect and values I
admire very much. 12/27/08: Symphony
in B Flat: Allegro. This will be the fourth and last movement
of the symphony I've been working on this year (see other links
below). As of now I have three movements more or less completed.
12/27/08: Holy God, We Praise Your Name. The lyrics of this hymn are familiar to most Catholics (except that I changed the 'Thee' and 'Thy' to 'You' and 'Your'). The music is new. It is sort of a morning meditation for me. As St. Augustine says, "He who sings well, prays twice." The score setting is SATB plus piano. 11/05/08: Over
the Rainbow, an arrangement for wind quartet of the famous
Harold Arlen tune. 10/27/2008: Blues
in the Day. This is a little experiment in a minor blues for
guitar and sax. The following MP3 file features the sax playing
only against a single guitar playing block chords. This may give
you a clearer picture of the harmony: 07/26/2008: Symphony
in B flat -- Minuet. This is the third movement of the
Symphony in B flat and is dedicated to my wife on our wedding
anniversary, which is today! The main theme of this minuet is
taken from the familiar Gaelic song "Morning Has Broken"
of which a version was recorded by Cat Stevens in the 60s. It is
also sung as a hymn in many Catholic churches in the English
speaking world. Also included is a second theme built as a trio
performed mainly by flute, oboe and basoon and used as a
modulation device; a trumpet variation of the main theme; an oboe
version of the theme in a minor key (which I think works quite
well); a cello and contrabass statement of the theme with temolo
string accompaniment; a trumpet call for the ending using the
intervals of a fourth reminiscent somewhat of the Andante
movement (see below); and then a restatement of the "Morning
Has Broken" theme before fading out. 07/05/2008: Symphony
in B flat -- Andante. This was written as a wedding present
for Josi Carroll and Yoshi Stone who were married on July 3,
2008. Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Stone! 07/05/2008: Wer
Nur Den Lieben Gott Laesst Walten. This is J.S. Bach's
harmonization of a chorale melody. Here I have arranged this for
flute, violin, bassoon and cello in G minor. 02/19/2008: Santa
Ana Conditions, updated with Alto Sax part and an intro +
coda suggested by my friend, guitarist Ruth Parry. This is a wave
file, since my mp3 converter was turning out inferior quality
files. 02/18/2008: Russian
Sailor's Dance. This is an arrangement of a popular Russian
tune. The arrangement here is for flute, clarinet, violin, alto
saxophone, guitar and string bass. The band Bridge
plays this with an accordion as well and the mandolin in place of
the violin. BTW, Bridge is playing next Sunday evening (2/24/08)
as the "featured band" on open mic night at the
Claremont Folk Music
Center. We will be playing the Russian Sailor Dance. 02/10/2008: Santa
Ana Conditions, a guitar piece in AABA form, using jazz chord
progressions, but otherwise fairly classical. In Southern
California we often get warm, dry windy weather we call Santa Ana
conditions. We had such conditions this weekend, so I named this
piece accordingly. 02/08/2008: A
Fugue for Piano in C Major 01/12/2008: Fugue
in D major for solo guitar. Has a Bach-like feel to it. For
Dr. Andy Podolsky. 12/29/07: Prelude
in D Minor for solo guitar. For Dr. Andy Podolsky. This is
the prelude to the fugue above in D major. 12/24/07: Mi
Hijo y Yo -- A Guitar Duet (MP3) 12/16/07: The
Guadalupe Quintet MP3 This is a quintet for three strings (violin, viola, cello) and two woodwinds (oboe and bassoon). I call it the Guadalupe Quintet because I began writing it last week on December 12, 2007, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. |
