Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

For solo ukulele, ca. 11′ Classical Pieces for the Intermediate PlayerIn Standard Notation and Tab No. 1: RockingNo. 2: StillNo. 3: AgitatedNo. 4: RestlessNo. 5: WeepingNo. 6: Fired UpNo. 7: Moving Score Sample Printed Score (U.S. only) – $17.00   Digital Edition PDF – $12.00 About the Music The Sad Stories for ukulele are intermediate…

Colorado Public Radio released a podcast about String Quartet OCD on Centennial Sounds in August 2017. In September 2017, The Playground Ensemble and I did a residency with String Quartet OCD at Children’s Hospital Colorado under the auspices of Chamber Music America’s Residency Parternship Program. We were grateful to be able to reach audiences including…

Guitarist and ukulele-player extraordinaire James Cline and I talk composition process, books, and even chess on the inaugural episode of his new podcast, The Musical Life with James Cline. After a few more episodes get posted, you’ll be able to subscribe on iTunes. Check it out!

I was honored to be chosen to present a talk, along with The Playground Ensemble performing the last two movements of String Quartet OCD, at TEDxMileHighWomen in October 2016. While the prospect of speaking in front of 2800 people was daunting, TEDxMileHigh does a great job of preparing speakers, with two months of speaker training and…

I’m happy to say that my String Quartet OCD has received some press over the last several months. This piece, in the autobiographical tradition of string quartets (think: Beethoven, Smetena, Janacek, Berg, Shostakovich…), concerns my experience with postpartum OCD, a serious condition that affects up to 9% of postpartum mothers and some fathers, too. Here…

Colorado Public Radio featured a story in February 2016 about my new piece String Quartet OCD: Denver Composer Reflects on Postpartum OCD in New Piece Sarah Whitnah, Leslie Sawyer, Donald Schumacher, and Richard vonFoerster of The Playground Ensemble recorded the piece in the CPR studio. Here is the third movement, “Shame:” The EP release will…

Just about anytime I see a friend these days, they ask, “Are you still on sabbatical?” The answer is yes! I am on sabbatical from the Music Program at Regis University until August 2015. “What have you been doing?” is the next question. At which point I proceed to give a long rambling answer, which I’d…

Recently I’ve posted on this website a series of pieces using an electronic instrument I designed in Max. It’s called the Drone Machine, and here’s a screen shot of the playing surface: This surface hides the construction of the instrument, which under the hood looks in part like this: Basically, with the Drone Machine you can play…

It’s been a great summer of composition projects! First, I arranged Carol Thomas Downing’s haunting tune Walden (originally written for the Walden School) for SAB Chorus, Violin, and Piano, and the First Universalist Singers premiered it in June with John Hubert directing, Sarah Libert on piano, and me on violin. This was the third (summer)…