The Magical Cloth
A Tone Poem for Orchestra · 8:37
A fairy tale told entirely in music. A charlatan sells an invisible cloth to an Emperor who cannot admit he sees nothing. The court agrees. The crowd agrees. Only a child tells the truth — and the piccolo has been carrying that truth since bar one.
The piccolo is the child. The choir is the crowd. The tuba is the Emperor. The two oboes are the weavers. The glockenspiel is the promise of magic. The xylophone is the loom.
| 00:36:00 | Once upon a time, there lived an Emperor who loved fancy clothes more than anything else. He didn’t care about his army, or driving in the park, or going to the theatre, unless it was to show off his new clothes. |
| 01:08:00 | He changed his outfit every single hour! When the people could not find him, they always said, “The Emperor is in his dressing room” |
| 01:40:00 | One day, two clever travellers arrived in the city. “We are weavers,” they said, “and we can make the most wonderful cloth in the whole world! It has a special magic: only people who are really good at their jobs can see it.” Anyone who isn’t good at their job won’t see anything at all.” |
| 02:44:00 | The Emperor thought this was perfect! “I can find out who’s doing a good job and who isn’t!” he said happily. He gave the weavers lots of money to start working. |
| 03:08:00 | For days, they worked with their magical cloth. The Emperor gave them gold, and they worked— faster and faster, Getting ready for the parade, creating cloth beautiful, and magical, but fear kept everyone from talking about the magical cloth that no one could see. |
| 03:43:00 | Soon, the Emperor sent his chief helper to check on the cloth. The helper looked and looked, but saw nothing. “Oh no!” he thought. “I must not be good at my job! I can’t tell anyone!” So he told the Emperor, — “It’s beautiful!” |
| 04:46:00 | The same thing happened when the Emperor sent another helper. Both helpers were too embarrassed to say they couldn’t see anything. |
| 05:22:00 | Finally, the Emperor went to see the cloth himself. He looked very hard but saw absolutely nothing. But he didn’t want anyone to know, so he said, “Wonderful! I’ll wear this to the big parade!” |
| 05:59:00 | The weavers dressed him in the magical new clothes, tying and adjusting things. All night, the weavers worked to finish the clothes. “Done!” they announced. “You look amazing!” everyone said, “people will think I am not a great ruler!” he worried. |
| 06:33:00 | The Emperor walked through the city in the big parade, even though they couldn’t see anything either. |
| 06:49:00 | But then, a little child shouted, “Mummy! The Emperor has no clothes!” Her Mother whispered to others, and soon the whole crowd was laughing and pointing. |
| 07:08:00 | The Emperor’s face turned very red. He realized everyone — including himself — had been too scared to tell the truth. |
| 07:24:00 | He learned that it’s much better to be honest than to pretend, and he decided to spend less time worrying about clothes, and more time helping the people of his empire! |
| 08:39:00 | THE END — image fades to black, exterior of palace, setting sun. |
Hero’s Journey Symphony
For full orchestra · 17 movements · 45–55 minutes
Joseph Campbell mapped the mythic structure that underlies every hero’s story — the call, the threshold, the ordeal, the return. This symphony follows that map. Not as illustration, but as argument: that the journey is real, that the threshold costs something, and that what comes back is not what left.
Pastorale
(Opening movement)
A morning in A major that doesn’t know what’s coming. The cor anglais carries the melody — pastoral, unhurried. The key moves to F# minor before the movement closes, as if the road has already begun to slope.
Symphonic Climax
(Section 13 of 17)
The horn replaces the cor anglais here — the journey has changed the voice. Trumpets, trombones, cimbasso, and taiko drive the conflict, like a cinematic action scene. The melodic centre shifts,outlining a diminished chord, before finally resolving from octatonic tension in A minor, and finally into A major. The winds carry the original countermelody as the solo horn, and full string section triumphantly restating the opening theme.
Il est né
A traditional French Canadian carol, arranged to begin as solemn hymn, before erupting into full session tempo and returning to a choral ending.
Family Christmas playlist 2025
I started digital orchestration in the summer of 2025. I was planning to accompany singing with my niece, who was a beginner cellist. She could manage a one note per measure part, but needed a written score. I tried using a graphic design program. It could do it, but it was awkward. I decided to try MuseScore Studio, and not only did it make notation easy, the playback is also pretty good. I was finally able to apply my education in composition, with a full orchestra, literally at my findertips, and party like its 1899!
Carol of the Bells Medley
Combines the traditional Ukrainian carol, with We three Kings, and God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen
Doxology
Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow, merged with 606, sometimes called the Mennonite National Anthem, a contrapuntal setting of the same text.
Silent Night
— String quartet
My First attempt at writing for string quartet. The melody is passed around between members, four bars at a time.
Kling Glöckchen
On glockenspiel, A contrast between the larger ensembles
Greensleeves to a Ground
Greensleeves to a Ground is a famous set of 15 variations (divisions) for solo instrument and basso continuo, first published in 1706 in London by John Walsh in The Division Flute. It transforms the iconic 16th-century Greensleeves ballad melody into an virtuosic instrumental showpiece using Italian romanesca chord progressions.
I alternated between harp and cello, and the full ensemble, adding bassoon and oboe on alternate verses. Since it used a short version of the song, I added the complete hymn tune at the start and ending.
Es ist ein Ros’ Entsprungen
Mom enjoyed hearing this as a solo cello performance in church every advent. I started with the melody in the cello, accompanied by double bass, and added parts in ascending pitch ending with a lush harmonization for string quintet, with melody in three octaves in violins and viola.
O du Fröhliche
Oboe and Harp.
Leise Rieselt der Schnee
Marimba, Flute, Bass Clarinet — a soft, cool texture for a song about snow falling quietly.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Double Reeds Quartet
O Come All Ye Faithful
The familiar carol, arranged for choir, strings, and chimes
In the Bleak Midwinter
-for woodwind quartet. A delicate arrangement, passing the melody between parts, going up the octave on the last verse, in an evocation of winter stillness
O du Fröhliche
Cello with Harp
Tochter Zion
Strings and Chimes. Starts with two cellos, more strings keep joining. Chimes enter on second verse, part begins with sparse tolling, one note per bar, builds to eighth notes, for big ending.
The wexford Carol
Voices, Harp and strings
The Huron Carol
Harp, Cello, Bassoon, Voices, with Percussion
Hark the Herald Angels
Voices, Strings, Chimes, and Two Trumpets
Gabriel’s Message
-for strings, woodwinds, with harp
Abendsegen
from Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck
-for strings with harp
O Holy Night
Cello with Harp
Melody 1
-by Peter Rempel
Originally an arpeggio study, for guitar, with a newly composed melody, arranged for strings and harp, with the melody beginning in the first violin, dropping to the viola, them cello, before finishing in a lush setting, with both violins and viola carrying the tune in three octaves.
Good King Wenceslas
O du Fröhliche
with Brass
Susser die Glocken
Voices with Cello, Chimes on the last verse
Welchen Jubel Welche Freude
Trombone and Tuba, with a Christmas at Oktoberfest vibe.
What Child is This?
Voices, Cello