Compositions

Written to celebrate the 45th year of the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble, Inertia has a brisk tempo that continues unchanging until acted upon by friction or gravity.

Commissioned by the Morehead State University Trombone Ensemble, Penultimate Tango is your basic tango in 5/4 and 7/8 time.

A kerfuffle is a commotion, which aptly describes this work scored for quintuple antiphonal quartet. It was the subject of an article by James Taranto in the Arts section of the April 30, 2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Composed in 2009, this five movement work for trombone choir is based on the known dwarf planets: Eris, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres. It received third prize (out of 106 entries) in Bone Therapy's Composition Contest for the 40th International Trombone Festival.

Commissioned by the Morehead State University Trombone Ensemble, Isle of Mann is scored for double quartet.

Composed in 2007 for William Mann, Trifecta is a lively, multimetric trombone feature piece for brass quintet. It was premiered by the Missouri Brass Quintet in November 2007. Trifecta is written in a rondo form A-B-A-C-A-D-B-A with an introduction. The introduction is slow and lyrical with a trombone cadenza which leads into the first A section. The A section is composed in a conversational style between the trombone and the brass quartet and continues to develop with each restatement, while the B section is unchanged. The C section is in playful contrast to the remainder of the work and the D section combines the melody of the introduction, written in a duple meter, with a compound meter accompaniment. The work concludes with a tenacious, albeit brief, coda.

Composed in 2010, Fearful Symmetry received its premiere performance by the Artist All-Star Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble at the 2010 International Tuba/Euphonium Conference in Tucson, Arizona.

A Möbius strip is an infinite plane with only one edge and is represented in this work for trumpet ensemble by the use of symmetrical scales, conjunct harmonies, and looping melodies. Möbius was premiered by the UTC trumpet ensemble in November 2009.

Featured as part of the Gem Series in the Summer 2008 issue of the ITEA Journal, Decimation is scored for two euphoniums and is available as a free download in both bass- and treble-clef versions.

Commissioned in 2009 by Dave Silden for the Charlotte Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, Dance No. 2 is written in the characteristic style of Dance No. 1. Like its predecessor, Dance No. 2 is a challenging piece in asymmetrical meter.

A triskaidekaphile is one who is obsessed by the number thirteen. This brief multi-metric work contains numerous musical references to the number thirteen.

Tubaku was composed while Kenyon was teaching at the Baku Music Academy in Azerbaijan, where he spent a semester as a lecturing Fulbright Scholar. The piece was a gift to Ali Hajiev, Professor of Tuba at the Baku Music Academy. It was premiered in December 2002 and receives its first recording on Ben Pierce’s Wheels of Life with Dr. Pierce performing both parts of the duet.

Tuba Quartet No. 1 in C Minor was written as a wedding present for Wilson’s brother, Kevin. It received third prize in the 1994 Harvey Phillips Tuba/Euphonium Quartet Composition Contest, sponsored by the Indiana University chapter of T.U.B.A. It is available on the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble’s Unleash the Beast! recording. Set in three movements, the quartet follows the traditional pattern of fast-slow-fast. The first movement is a four-voice fugue in the classical style. The second movement, Lament, begins with a short exchange between two solo tubas followed by a bittersweet melody present in minor, then transformed to major. The final movement, Dance, is a fast-paced rondo with frequent meter changes.

Dance No. 1 is a lively, multi-metric work for tuba/euphonium quartet. After a brief introduction where the second tuba establishes the bass line, the euphoniums enter with the first theme, which is ternary in design. The middle section features the euphoniums, then the tubas, followed by a rhythmic display by the euphoniums. The final section brings together all the themes before ending with a flourish. It is available on the Tennessee Tech Alumni Tuba Ensemble’s For the Kings of Brass recording.

Shades of Gray is set in three contrasting movements (Fanfare, Round, and March) and is designed to be performed by younger performers.