COMPOSITION SHOWCASE
Many of my works while at SMU aren’t suitable to a student recital. Below you’ll find orchestral works, videos, and game soundtracks, all of which have contributed to my body of work as a composition student.
protector_lover (2023)
Protector_Lover is a short orchestral work written for Irving Symphony Orchestra’s SMU-Composer-In-Residence program. It is the first piece programmed on the concert in the attached video.
“Near the beginning of the writing process for Protector_Lover, Maestro Guzman requested a piece with a “celebratory” tone. At least initially, I struggled to write anything. While I had plenty to celebrate, I was so preoccupied with stress and worry—my girlfriend was going through a tough time and I felt so ill-equipped to help—that it was hard to write anything positive, much less celebratory. After some soul searching, I resolved to focus on the positive feeling that were driving me to worry: love.
Protector_Lover embraces feelings of commitment and resolve; to do the best we can to help. There are two core elements: a brass fanfare that encloses a sweeter, soaring melody. They represent the protective instinct, and the love internal that drives it. The choice of brass, percussion, and strings was made to emphasize the contrast and unison of the loud and powerful elements against the soft and delicate.”
Ready to die original soundtrack (2022)
Ready to Die is a puzzle game by Bryce Bucher and myself for the 2022 GMTK Game Jam with the theme “Roll the Dice.” You must roll a die and navigate through 22 tricky puzzle levels. The different faces on the die each have different properties that modify your movement. The soundtrack was inspired by games like Kula World and Bloxorz, and utilizes samples from PSX games.
legend of the outlaw mage ORIGINAL soundtrack (2022)
I worked alongside fellow composers Jared Beu and Lillian Rivas to create the soundtrack (and over 200 SFX!) for the 2022 Guildhall Capstone Game, Legend of the Outlaw Mage. Listen to the two tracks I wrote for the game, Canyon Day and Canyon Night!
diffusion (2021)
Diffusion is a work written for a volunteer group of SMU Music students during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. All music was composed, recorded, and produced remotely, then premiered on the Spring 2021 Emerging Sounds concert.