MUSIC I'VE WRITTEN
While I'm still learning the important things about music theory that will enable me to write music of technical merit, I've fooled around with four-part choral writing, and even one piece that involves a pipe organ in an ancillary role. I write in the idiom I am most familiar: thus four part choral, with religious texts. After I've studied a little further, I will revise them and then attempt to submit them for publication - assuming that I still consider them valid. Here they are, submitted for you enjoyment:
If you play a MIDI file, click the "BACK" button on your browser to return to this page.
Vivat Dominum |
|
| This hymn is my favorite. The MIDI file contains the regular hymn tune and a variation which could be used in a large, solemn performance of the work. The text is decidedly resurrection-oriented and I think the melody is very singable. "Vivat Dominum is Latin for "Long live the Lord!" | |
I Will Pray My Lord |
|
| This Lenten hymn was an attempt to write in the style of William Billings. The simple, repetitive melody allows the singer to meditate more fully on the implications of the text and man's need for salvation. Again, it is four part choral, with (hopefully) empty, simple harmonies. | |
O Jesus, Call the Poor; Call the Low and Least |
|
| My repertoire was without a Eucharistic hymn, so I wrote this. The text is an adaptation of St. Thomas Aquinas' "O Sacrum Convivium." With its shift in time signature halfway through each verse, this piece was designed more as a choral work than for the congregation, but once the meter is established, it is singable. | |
Regina Coeli |
|
|
The premiere chant of the Easter season is the Regina Coeli. This chant combines the prayers of the rejoicing Church with the unbounded joy of the Virgin Mary, whose son has risen from the dead. This text has always resonated with me, and here I have set it to music, for four part choir with pipe organ. This text is not particularly cohesive, with the "Alleluia" at the end of each line, seemingly creating four separate statements which rely on the subtext of the resurrection for their meaning. Consequently, I have written this piece so that each strophe, though connected to the one before and after, is a separate musical idea. |
|
Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott Rieker Scott