CONCERT BAND COMPOSITIONS
Here are some scores available for purchase. I have also included a few pieces that are almost done but not quite ready for print! My concert band music has been played by college, high school and community bands in Canada, the United States, England and South Korea. My composition Three Balloons was a finalist in Category 1 of the WASBE (World Organization for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles) Composition Contest for 2024 and my composition Forward, received honorable mention in Category 3 of the same contest. My piece Sharp Corners is currently a finalist in Belfort, France as part of the Concours International de Composition pour Orchestre d’Harmonie which is an exciting contest that combines concert bands with contemporary ensembles.
I workshop all my band compositions with my students at Albert Campbell C.I. We perform them at school concerts and band festivals. It is such a thrill to work with students on the creative process and observe them breathing life into the music.
I have also done commissions for high schools, honour bands, community bands and universities. I enjoy the process of sculpting music with specific purposes and ensembles in mind. If you are looking for an original work for your group then please reach out to me!
Check back again soon as I am always working on something new!
NEW MUSIC!
FLAT ANGLES $100.00 (CAD)
Grade 4
Flat Angles features some driving sixteenth note rhythms and was written as a harmonic exploration. It gets its name from the "flat" harmonies in the piece. It makes use of the susb9 chord as well as major 7 chords generated from the b9, b3, b6 and b7 of the key. You will also hear that some of the melodies are quite "angular." Flat Angles is a sequel to my previous concert band piece entitled Sharp Corners which explores "sharp" harmonies. Both pieces share a similar use of sixteenth note figures and syncopations.
TOOTH FAIRIES $100.00 (CAD)
Grade 4
*Commissioned by the University of Saskatchewan
This music is about the moment children begin to question the existence of tooth fairies and other magical beings. To me this milestone is bittersweet. In this moment children experience a loss of innocence but also a moment of growth as they muster the courage to face a real world that may have challenges and harsh realities. The piece is in the time signature of 5/4 and a lot of the music has a dreamy feel to it. While writing this I imagined children waking up in the morning, half conscious, finding a dollar under their pillow and questioning if they saw a magical being that night!
GRADE 4
OBA INTERLUDE $40.00 (CAD)
Grade 4
Band directors, have you ever been programming for a festival performance and wished you had just one more minute of music to play? I wrote this one minute interlude to complete the set for the Albert Campbell C.I. Wind Ensemble's performance at the Ontario Band Association Festival 2025. The beginning utilizes the Dom7#11 sound. The woodwinds and bells play triplets in five note groupings towards the end. I have always found this polyrhythm to be really beautiful. I hope this interlude becomes a useful tool for band directors in programming for festival performances.
FLEETING $50.00 (CAD)
Over the last four years, I witnessed many friends and family lose people close to them. Fleeting is an intentionally short piece of music. If it leaves you thinking there should be more, this mirrors the feeling of wishing we had more time with those who are gone. The imagery of temple blocks as the ticking of a clock reminds listeners to make the best of each day, and the castanets at the end are the sound of loved ones as they dance their way to whatever comes next! Thank you to David Lum and Mark Caswell for their musical insights and for making this music a bit brighter. Thanks to my student Victor Su for insisting on a few more notes for the low brass!
FORWARD $75.00 (CAD)
*Honorable Mention in Category 3 of the WASBE (World Organization of Symphonic Bands & Ensembles) Composition Contest 2024
The sentiment behind the music is to move forward following the learning challenges high school students faced during the pandemic. We can move forward with a positive attitude on new challenges, new learning and new music. A special thanks to Vince Gassi and David Lum for their insightful feedback during the writing process.
THREE BALLOONS $75.00 (CAD)
*Ontario Band Association - Concert Band Syllabus B300
*MusicFest Canada - Canadian Concert Band Repertoire List B300
*Finalist in Category 1 of the WASBE (World Organization of Symphonic Bands & Ensembles) Composition Contest 2024
This march utilizes bursting balloons as a percussion instrument. The composition celebrates the music department at Albert Campbell C.I. as the balloons in the performance represent the three music teachers at the school (Emily Elkouby, Maddie Peterkin and myself). The music contains bars of 3/4, 3/8, phrases repeated three times, three note motifs and a form with three A sections! The middle is a lullaby that describes the challenges of Campbell’s music teachers juggling parenthood and running a busy music department. A special thanks to Mark Caswell whose orchestration suggestions gave the final draft increased clarity and warmth.
MORNING JOY $100.00 (CAD)
*Ontario Band Association - Concert Band Syllabus B400
*MusicFest Canada - Canadian Concert Band Repertoire List B400
I wrote this piece over March Break this year. The idea for the song came about during a morning jam session with my seven year old son. He helped come up with the first two chords as well as the title of the song. He is pretty proud of himself! This piece will be a good introduction for my students to the time signature of 5/8. The middle section gives a break from the 5/8 groove and the melody is a transposition of the bass line from the main theme.
Also available at www.murphymusicpress.com
CALABOGIE $65.00 (CAD)
Calabogie is a small town in southern Ontario where I spent a weekend with my wife's family this past summer. The town and its surroundings are stunning and Eagle's Nest Lookout in particular gives an amazing cliff top view of the area. The warbling whistle and the woody sound of the marimba are intended to help depict the natural beauty of Calabogie. Thanks to Paul Sylvester, Emily Elkouby and David Lum for some solid orchestration advice on this music!
SLIGHTLY $75.00 (CAD)
*Available through Randall Standridge Music in May 2026
Slightly is an adverb we use when we cannot find the exact words to describe what we want to say. In a similar way I think music inexactly describes feelings and ideas. This music is slightly slow, some of the chords are slightly dissonant and the middle section is slightly sentimental!
GRADE 2.5
LAMENT FOR A FALLEN PIANO $75.00 (CAD)
This song is a tribute to a public piano that was located outside of University Settlement, which is a community center in Toronto where my son takes music and swimming lessons. Someone vandalized the piano by throwing paint over the keyboard rendering the instrument useless. We will sadly no longer hear the musical tinkering of children and local musicians while we play at the park.
GRADE 2
GRADE 3
GRADE 3.5
AWAY YOU GO $65.00 (CAD)
I wrote this for the graduation ceremony of Albert Campbell C.I.'s Class of 2023. Most of my students like Studio Ghibli films so some elements of the music are reminiscent of the music from those movies. This piece features an optional part for melodica! It is in five short movements, with each movement representing a different year in the lives of these students.
DYADIC $60.00 (CAD)
*Commissioned by the 2025 Wilfrid Laurier/Ontario Band Association Honour Band
This one is co-composed with my good friend Dan Austin. The writing process was an interesting one. We established a few rhythmic and melodic themes before starting to write then proceeded to interpret these themes in surprisingly different ways! My half can be heard from bars 1-37 and Dan’s half is bars 38 to the end. The piece is entitled Dyadic (defined as the interaction between two things) to describe how our individual compositional voices are present despite starting from common themes.
Find out more about Dan Austin at: www.danaustin.ca
KESWICK $75.00 (CAD)
Grade 3
*Commissioned by Keswick High School
This piece was written for the 25th Anniversary of Keswick High School. I have several personal connections to the town of Keswick. The school I teach at used to have its annual band retreat there. I also did a memorable wedding gig in Keswick in a glass atrium that looked onto beautiful Lake Simcoe. As we played music the wind started to pick up, dark clouds rolled in, white caps formed on top of the waves and water started to crash into the shore! It was quite dramatic and I tried to capture this energy in the middle section of the composition.