Music For Ferns (2024) is a short instrumental cycle of synthesizer and electronic music dedicated to the ontogenetic life-cycle of the fern. This mini-album features soft, warm, organic, and, at times, shimmering tones created with a variety of analog synthesizers from the 1970s/1980s for plants (and people) to listen to. You can stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, etc., or support the project directly by purchasing the album on Bandcamp.
I was a freshman in college when I discovered the synthesizer. Since then, I haven’t looked back. Here are some synth-pop instrumentals I’ve produced over the years.
As an undergraduate music student, I became deeply interested in what one may broadly refer to as “classical” music composition, particularly compositional practices from the romantic period following through 20th-century moderism. During college and shortly after (circa 2009-2011), I composed several works for solo piano (Preludes No. 1 & 2, Nocturne in F# Minor) and one movement for a string quartet titled “Winter”. Unforunately, this interest in composition was neglected over the ensuing decade, while I continued to advance in my scientific career. It wasn’t until the COVID pandemic that I began to revisit my initial interest in music composition and started composing new works for solo piano.
Score . Inspired by early 20th century music, specifically Debussy and Poulenc, the drifting, meandering nature of this programmatic piece paints a scene of snowflakes settling on a cold winter evening. Written as an undergraduate student circa late 2009 and early 2010. This piece employs the whole-tone scale, syncopation, and a central motif that is continuously embellished with each repetition throughout the work.
Score . A tribute to the 19th century genre, Nocturne means “night-song” and is often associated with pensive and melancholic moods. Performer is pianist and music profesor Guy Urban, recording taken from a recital on May 6th 2010 at Wheaton College. Written as an undergraduate student.
Original score (2011) . Updated score (2024) . A short, lyrical piece reminiscent of Scriabin and Chopin. Performer is Steven Kim, recording taken on August 11th 2011 in Las Vegas. Written shortly after my undergaduate studies circa early to mid 2011. During my process of working with Steven, I re-composed several measures of the piece, which are mostly reflected in his performance. It took me until 2024 to notate those changes properly. Included here are both the original 2011 score and an updated 2024 score, which is more representative of Steven’s performance.
Score . The piece is a condensed movement, from an unfinished grander work revolving around the four seasons, that is centered around a 7-tone theme. I was privileged enough to have the piece performed by the talented Aurea Ensemble at Wheaton College (MA) on May 6th 2011. The intended tempo of the piece is quite demanding, and, ultimately, the Aurea Ensemble performed the work at a slower tempo to meet the recital deadline. However, in a cheap attempt to realize the piece’s intended tempo, I time-warped the audio track from the video recording, increasing the audio recording to approximately its notated tempo. It’s fast! Upon listening, a local, Boston-based composer mentioned that the work reminded him of Bartok. Unfamiliar with Bartok’s music, I eventually discovered, years later, his string quartets which have a remarkably similar aesthetic to “Winter.”
Score . Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic, I began composing music again, after nearly a decade. This romance was my first attempt to compose a plainly romantic-style piece for solo piano. In romantic music, a romance is often a lyrical, instrumental piece, with a song-like melody, composed in three. Around this time, I had rediscovered Clara Schumann’s beautiful Romance in E-Flat Minor (3 Romances, Op. 11: No. 1), which inspired me to write my own. The piece starts in 3/4, but changes to 4/4 time with a fiery B section that keeps modulating key centers. The piece concludes by returning to 3/4 time, before drifting away…
Score . Simiar to the Romance in F-Major (2023), this waltz served largely as an exercise in my returning to composing piano music in the romantic style, having ignored my interest in classical composition for over a decade. Inspired by the waltzes of F. Chopin, this short waltz has an ABA form that begins in C-major, transitions to F-major, and then modulates back to C-major at the conclusion. The harmonic structure in the A section is loosely based off of Chopin’s posthumous waltz in A minor, B 150. However, the melody in the right hand and voicing of the accompanient in the left hand has been enriched, relative to Chopin’s posthumous work.
Score . Continuing the theme of returning-to-composition, I composed this short, romantic-style prelude, while being utterlying absorbed by Felix Mendelssohn’s Andante and Rondo Capriccioso, Opus 14. The opening andante section is some of the most beautiful piano music ever composed. This prelude shares similar melodic moments, such as an upper melody that spells out an e-major chord. The prelude ends with some gentle, impressionist-like chords, loosely inspired by the sound of MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: No. 6. To a Water-lily.