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Composer Paul Hembree (b. 1982) returned to his native state in 2006 to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. At CU, Hembree is both the production manager of the Pendulum New Music series and a graduate teaching assistant in the music technology department. In 2006/07 he studied acoustic composition with Daniel Kellogg, electro-acoustic composition with Michael Theodore, and he currently studies acoustic composition with Carter Pann.
Hembree earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition, magna cum laude, from the University of Oregon, where in 2005 he co-founded the contemporary music-focused New Frontiers Chamber Symphony. At UO he studied acoustic composition with Robert Kyr, David Crumb, and Terry McQuilkin, electro-acoustic composition with Jeffrey Stolet. In summer festivals and master classes Hembree has presented works for composers Martin Bresnick, Mark Anthony Turnage, Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, and Bang-on-a-Can pianist Lisa Moore. He has attended master classes with composers John Adams, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Krzysztof Penderecki, Osvaldo Golijov, Zygmunt Krauze, Fredrick Rzewski, Michael Nyman, Joel Hoffman, Luke DuBois, pianist Ursula Oppens, violinist/composer Todd Reynolds, and the Kronos Quartet.
Recent ensembles to premiere Hembree’s works include the Playground, artists-in-residence at the Denver University Lamont School of Music, the Tasman String Quartet (New Zealand), the Arundo Winds (Colorado), Telling Stories (Colorado), and the woodwind duo Tartrazine (Oregon). Hembree’s works have been read by eighth blackbird, Fireworks (New York), and Cappella Romana (Oregon). Hembree was a finalist in the Music07 eighth blackbird composition competition, and was awarded CU’s 2007 Edward Levy Commissioning Prize and UO’s 2005 Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Work in Composition.
His work has been heard in the New West Electronic Arts and Music Organization Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the MusicX Festival, the Pendulum New Music series, the Eugene Composers Collective, the Oregon Composers Forum, the Aspen Underground, Soundscapes by Mystery Cabal, and the Future Music Oregon series. Hembree has collaborated as an electro-acoustic performer on trumpet with San Francisco’s Carpetbag Brigade physical theater company, keyboard with the Boulder-based Invisible College Quartet and Hunter Ewen’s Gi•nt’s Eye, and on gangsa and rayong with the UO Pacific Rim and CU Balinese gamelan ensembles. Hembree currently studies Balinese gamelan with I Made Lasmawan.
Master of Music Candidate, Composition - University of Colorado, Boulder College of Music
Fall 2006 to Present
Composition Instructors: Daniel Kellogg, Carter Pann, Michael Theodore, John Drumheller
Course Work: Arts Entrepreneurship, Orchestration After 1940, Advanced Topics in Music Technology (SuperCollider), Renaissance Polyphony, Interdisciplinary Performance, Balinese Gamelan
Post-bachelor Studies, Composition - University of Oregon School of Music
Fall 2005 to Spring 2006
Composition Instructor: Robert Kyr
Course Work: Special Studies in Orchestration, Oregon Composers Forum
Bachelor of Music, Composition - University of Oregon School of Music
Fall 2001 to Spring 2005
Composition Instructors: Robert Kyr, David Crumb, Jeffrey Stolet, Terry McQuilkin
Course Work: Music Core curriculum (Aural and Keyboard Skills, Theory, History, Analysis, Large Ensembles), Folk Music of The Balkans, Balinese Gamelan, 16th, 18th, and 20th Century Counterpoint, Schenkerian Analysis, Orchestration, Electronic Music Techniques I & II (Kyma and MAX/MSP), Advanced Electronic Composition
Production Manager, Pendulum New Music concert series - University of Colorado, Boulder
Fall 2006 to Present
Stage management and sound reinforcement, videography (FinalCut Pro), web design, advertising & graphic design
Student Faculty, Music Technology - University of Colorado, Boulder
Fall 2006 to Spring 2008
Taught software music notation (Finale), basic recording techniques & digital audio sequencing (ProTools), MIDI sequencing (Garage Band, Reason), hardware synthesizers, web design (Dreamweaver), videography (iMovie, iDVD), basic acoustics and science of music technology, electronic music history
Assistant to the Director, Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium - Eugene, OR
Summer 2005
Transportation coordinator, conference and readings facilitation, record engineering, logistics
Music Librarian Assistant, Knight Library, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Fall 2003 to Spring 2005
Research assistance, shelving, recording collection maintenance
Office Assistant, Band Department, University of Oregon School of Music - Eugene, OR
Fall 2002 to Spring 2003
Customer Service and Shipping, Outdoor Sportz - Eugene, OR
Summer 2005 to Summer 2006
Retail database and website maintenance, warehouse work, filling and shipping internet orders
Trail Crew Leader, Northwest Youth Corps - Summer Conservation Corps East - Eugene, OR
Summer 2003
Supervised ten teenagers on backcountry trail work projects throughout central Idaho, drove 12 seat van with trailer on primitive and unimproved roads, taught environmental education curriculum, worked closely with USDA Forest Service on trail project specifications
Leadership Development Team, Northwest Youth Corps - Eugene, OR
Summer 2002
Developed outdoor leadership skills on an adult backcountry trail crew with rotating crew leadership
Backcountry Leadership Program, Northwest Youth Corps - Eugene, OR
Summer 2001
Developed outdoor leadership skills on a teenage backcountry trail crew with rotating crew leadership
Summer Conservation Corps North, Northwest Youth Corps - Eugene, OR
Summer 1999
Memberships:
American Composers Forum
Fall 2007 - Present
Society of Composers, Inc
Fall 2007 - Present
American Music Center
Fall 2006 - Present
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), writer member
Fall 2006 - Present
Society of Electro-acoustic Music in the United States
Fall 2006 - Present
Activities:
Keyboard and Electronics, Invisible College Quartet - Boulder, CO
Fall 2007 to Present
Gangsa & Rayong, CU Balinese Gamelan - Boulder, CO
Spring 2007 to Present
Artistic Director and Co-Founder, New Frontiers Chamber Symphony - Eugene, OR
Spring 2005 to Spring 2006
Music software:
Experience with both PCs and Macs, notation (Finale, Sibelius), digital audio sequencing and recording (ProTools, CuBase, Digital Performer, Audacity), MIDI sequencing (Logic, Garage Band, ProTools, Reason), sampling (Reason), digital signal processing and algorithmic programming (Kyma, MAX/MSP/Jitter, SuperCollider, Spear, Mammut, SoundHack, MetaSynth, ProTools), spectral analysis (Sonogram Visible Speech, Amadeus II), surround sound diffusion (MAX/MSP, ProTools HD).
Music and performance hardware:
Sound reinforcement (stereo, quadraphonic, 5.1, 7.1 and 8.1 surround), concert and studio recording, MIDI keyboard and hardware management, analog synthesizers, video projection.
Other software:
Web design (Dreamweaver and FrontPage, html, css), graphic design (Photoshop), videography (Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Jitter), MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
ASCAP Morton Gould Student Composer Awards finalist
2008
Edward Levy Commissioning Prize, University of Colorado at Boulder
2007
MusicX eighth blackbird Composition Competition finalist, Cinncinati College-Conservatory of Music
2007
Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Work in Composition, University of Oregon
2005
Northwest Youth Corps Award of Acheivement
1999, 2000, 2002
2nd Place for Best News Story, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Collegiate Competition, 3rd Division
2001
Northwest Youth Corps Letter of Exemplary Performance
1999, 2000
USDA Forest Service Certificate of Appreciation
2000
Program Notes:
The word Nimbus has a few different connotations which fit this music well. The word is most familiar because it is part of Cumulonimbus, the meteorological word used to describe thunderstorm cloud formations. And from classical mythology, a nimbus is a glowing cloud or halo that surrounds deities when on earth. Musically, this work responds to both of these sublime natural and supernatural ideas with vaporous textures, created by quasi-aleatoric micro-polyphony, and sudden, thunderous motivic outbursts. This is a personal synthesis of the textural styles of Witold Lutoslawski and Gyorgy Ligeti, with additional formal inspiration from Conlon Nancarrow.
Performance History:
Reading: Fall 2008
Nimbus is scheduled for a reading by the University of Colorado Symphony.
Program Notes:
Mirages is an elaborate orchestral exposition and development
of two contrasting, four note motives. The primary motive is stated almost
immediately as a descending line in the first flute. Simultaneously, the
secondary motive is hidden in the string texture below the 1st flute, and is
actually used in slow-motion fugal imitation to create the entire harmonic
framework of the first section of the piece.
Throughout the work the two motives are set against each other in various
ways, each undergoing transformative and imitative processes, such as
inversion, augmentation, retrograde, and stretto. The harmonic language of
the piece is vertically composed of dense diatonic and whole-tone
sonorities, while the melodic, linear drive of the piece is powered by
unrelenting chromaticism. Inspiration from the 20th century for this piece
comes from works such as John Adams’ Harmonielehre and Gyorgy Ligeti’s
String Quartet No. 1 and Clocks and Clouds.
Performance History:
World Premiere: November 19, 2005
New Frontiers Chamber Symphony concert - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Personnel: flute: Leeann M. Davis, Heather Cairns; oboe: Mari Hiner; clarinet: Blake McGee, Sarah Little; bassoon: Helena Kopchick, Chris Swan; horn: Leah Golden-Sea, Alice Codieck; trumpet: Kim Hannon, Dan Kocurek; trombone: Matthew Ertz; percussion: Alex Patterson, Chris Lay; violin: Rose Sciaroni, Leif Karlstrom, Marci Gordon, Heather Sanderson, Rose Barrett, Erin Carey, Arianne Shimanoff, Andrea Davis; viola: Samara Humbert, Kate Rogers; cello: Derek Newell, Nissha Calkins-Godfrey, Jesse Jones; bass: Benjamin Wheeler
Matthew Svoboda, conductor
Paul Hembree, artistic director & co-founder
Brian Johnson, co-founder
Robert Kyr, faculty mentor
Program Notes:
The Pacific Rim Gamelan is a composing/performing ensemble at the University of Oregon School of Music in which each member is both a composer and performer. Some of the music is composed by individuals, some of it is composed collectively, and some of it involves guided and/or free improvisation in the context of notated music.
The Pacific Rim Gamelan performs on the Gamelan Suranadi Sari Indra Putra, which may be translated as “Gamelan Holy Springs: Ascent of the Song of the God of Rain.”
The instruments of the gamelan (meaning “orchestra” in Indonesian) are: KANTILAN: 4 horizontal racks of 10 metal bars; PEMADE: 4 horizontal racks of 10 metal bars; JUBLAG: 2 horizontal racks of 5 metal bars; JEGOGAN: 2 horizontal racks of 5 metal bars; REYONG: a horizontal rack of 12 nipple gongs; KEMONG: small suspended gong; KEMPUL: medium-large suspended gong; GONG: large suspended gong; KENDANG: two-headed skin drum.
The beautiful instruments of the Gamelan Suranadi Sari Indra Putra were presented to the School of Music by John and Claudia Lynn in 1986.
Performance History:
World Premiere: April 12, 2005
Pacific Rim Balinese Gamelan concert - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Personnel: Keri Bartow, John Cardwell, Miles Davenport, Andrew Eguchi, Jolyn Gisselberg, Paul Hembree, Jerry Hui, Brian Johnson, Kevin Kaufman, Mei-ling Lee, Mark Macomber, Nic Mitchell, Aaron Rosenberg, Katie Saxon, Jeremy Schropp, Nolan Stolz, Rosemary Woodward
Program Notes:
This is music about old gods and celestial mechanics. Nyx, the Greek goddess of Night, and Eris, the Greek goddess of Discord were chosen as titles for the two attaca movements because they embody the character of the musical elements in each - Nyx is calm, nocturnal, and mysterious, while Eris is raucously dissonant and extroverted. Though the harmonic language in both movements is very dense, there is almost no true atonality - harmonic fields, symmetrical scales and structures, and linear voice leading govern almost all pitched material, along with heterophony and closely woven imitiative polyphony.
Concerning celestial mechanics and astronomy: the recent discovery (in 2003) of a solar system object larger than Pluto, now named Eris, at a more distant, inclined and eccentric orbit, along with the discovery of other fascinating scattered disk and Kuiper belt objects, were major sources of inspiration for this piece.
Nyx & Eris was commissioned as part of the 2007 Edward Levy Prize by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Performance History:
World Premiere: March 5th, 2008
Pendulum New Music series - Grusin Hall, University of Colorado at Boulder
The Arundo Winds: Cobus DuToit, flute, Sarah Mellander, oboe, Jerome Fleg, clarinet, Kaori Uno, bassoon, Megan Garrison, horn; The Tasman String Quartet: Anna van der Zee, violin 1, James Andrewes, violin 2, Chris van der Zee, viola, Miranda Wilson, cello; Alex Maynegre, piano, Brandon Houghtalen, conductor
Program Notes:
In response to criticism from Frank Lloyd Wright, architect Alex Jordan, Jr., built the elaborate House on the Rock in Wisconsin on top of a large rock outcrop. Wandering through this immense and bizarre structure stretches the visitor's sense of space and sound, often resulting in strange emotional responses. One such response is detailed in the narration of this piece, written by Boulder percussionist, journalist and writer Jennie Dorris, while the music colors and highlights ideas and feelings from within the text.
House on the Rock was written for and premiered by Boulder chamber ensemble Telling Stories.
Performance History:
World Premiere: March 14, 2008
Telling Stories readings and music - Laughing Goat Coffehouse - Boulder CO
Megan Tipton, narrator, Linda Shea, bass clarinet, Jennie Dorris, marimba & artistic director, Beth Ringel, cello
Program Notes:
This work is named after a late Jurassic-age predecessor to modern birds. The first movement is titled "Zoogenesis," which is a rarely used biological term referring to the evolution of animals. The material in this section evokes images of a profusion of ancient beasts -- both land and air born. "Fossilization" was chosen for the second movement because the musical material becomes metamorphosed and compressed in the same way fossils are formed. "Orogenesis," the title of the third movement, is the geological term for mountain building. The musical material goes through a series of metric upheavals in a fashion somewhat analogous to geologic faulting.
Musically, the work strives to synthesize myriad influences from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Oliver Messiaen, Igor Stravinsky, Conlon Nancarrow, Gyorgy Ligeti, Michael Gordon, Frank Zappa, George Crumb, and others. The work also contains imports from other arts, including several instances of humorous deus ex machina.
Reading: February 5, 2007
Pendulum New Music series - eighth blackbird reading session - Grusin Hall, University of Colorado at Boulder
eighth blackbird: Timothy Munroe, flutes, Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets, Matt Albert, violin, Nicholas Photinos, cello, Matt Duvall, percussion, Lisa Kaplan, piano
World Premiere: May 25, 2007
1st Annual Colorado Composers Concert - Bethany Lutheran Church, Denver CO
The Playground: Cheryl Gooden, flutes, Brian Ebert, clarinet, Angie Dombrowski, violin, Richard von Foerster, cello, Jason Rodon, percussion, Alix Corboy, piano, Jonathan Leathwood, conductor
Ohio Premiere: June 15, 2007
Music07 Festival - Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati OH
Seonhee Jang, flutes, Patrick Hanudel, clarinets, Wan-lin Tsai, violin, Ryan Child, cello, Davy Anderson, percussion, Yoon-Sun Song, piano, Albert Pinsonneault, conductor
3rd performance: September 18, 2007
Modern Miscellana - Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver CO
The Playground: Cheryl Gooden, flutes, Brian Ebert, clarinet, Angie Dombrowski, violin, Richard von Foerster, cello, Jason Rodon, percussion, Alix Corboy, piano, Jonathan Leathwood, conductor
4th performance: September 26, 2007
Pendulum New Music series - Grusin Hall, University of Colorado at Boulder
The Playground: Cheryl Gooden, flutes, Brian Ebert, clarinet, Angie Dombrowski, violin, Richard von Foerster, cello, Jason Rodon, percussion, Alix Corboy, piano, Jonathan Leathwood, conductor
Program Notes:
Crunch Time was written in a hurry for a reading by the New York-based ensemble Fireworks during the 2005 Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. Continuing in the contrapuntal tradition of Conlon Nancarrow, the structure of the entire piece is a lengthy tempo canon, wherein the voices of the canon play the same material a different speeds.
Performance History:
Reading: Summer 2005
Fireworks readings - Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium - University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Fireworks: Brian Coughlin, bass & artistic director, Oren Fader, guitar, James Johnston, piano
Program Notes:
Fibonacci Rabbit Dance is a youthful attempt at formalized tonal music, and was inspired partially by the work of Heinrich Schenker. Much of the piece is a deliberate and systematic process of elaborating a simple motive (the classic 3-2-1 Schenkerian urline, or in solfege, "mi-re-do") using a fractal-growth technique, though the harmony and orchestration of the piece are intuitive in construction. The Fibonacci “Rabbit” sequence is a way of generating a binary series of numbers called the golden string, which is used to control the durations of this piece. The golden string, when translated into long and short note values, sounds much like an Eastern European mixed-meter dance - hence the title.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Jessica Stratton, flute, Aaron Manela, horn, Daniel Cullen, guitar, Melissa Schoenack, bassoon
Program Notes:
The Septet is an early experiment in orchestration, polytonality and polymeter. The form of the piece was created fairly intuitively, consisting of an unusual ABCB structure. Though it isn't specifically programmatic, I often imagine the textures and melodic fragments as representing the ruins of an ancient civilization, shrouded in a misty jungle.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Kanae Komugi, flutes, Michael Almich, clarinets, Lillie Wells, violin, Nisha Calkins-Godfrey, cello, Mendel Lee, percussion, Joey Johnson, percussion, Erik Bell, piano, Jonathan Leathwood, conductor
Program Notes:
Sirenehexen is a German psuedoword that means "siren-witches." The witches theme in this piece comes from the specifications requested by the woodwind duo, Tartrazine. They asked for a duet that related to the witches scene in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aenaes, and some of the musical material from that scene is hidden throughout the piece. There is also a double meaning from the "hex" portion of the title - a "hexatonic," or six-note symetrical scale is used to organize most of the pitches in the piece. The overall mood of the piece is nocturnal and dire.
Sirenehexen was written for and premiered by the Oregon-based woodwind duo Tartrazine.
Performance History:
World Premiere: April 26, 2007
Student Recital Series - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene OR
Tartrazine: Sophia Tegart, flute, Helena Kopchick, bassoon, Hung-Yun Chu, piano
Program Notes:
Song Without Words is literally that - an arrangement of my mezzo-soprano and piano piece, Whatever It May Be, for trumpet and piano. There is a tradition of arranging works for female voice for trumpet, particuarly from the operatic aria tradition, to develop a trumpeters sense of melody, and this piece does exactly that.
Performance History:
World Premiere: February 28, 2006
Oregon Composers Forum - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene OR
Daniel Kocurek, trumpet, Shaunna Eberhard, piano
Program Notes:
Self-Similar Knot for String Quartet, inspired by Iannis Xenakis' Metastasis, is a literal mapping of hand drawn fractal onto the pitch-space provided by a string quartet. There is no pitch quantization, which creates a texture made entirely of glissandi.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Leif Karlstrom, violin, Rose Barrett, violin, Michelle Rahn, viola, Derek Newell, cello
Program Notes:
Reflections utilizes some of the same techniques that Blues Canons does, particularly interlocking ostinatos. However, instead of using canons that are the same backwards and forwards, I decided to build canons that are the same above and below an axis, but reflected (hence the title), or inverted. Thus, the two-part counterpoint you will hear in this piece is really one subject, played both right-side-up, and upside-down, simultaneously. There is also an extensive section of true polytemporal imitative polyphony near the end.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Leif Karlstrom, violin, Rose Barrett, violin, Michelle Rahn, viola, Derek Newell, cello
Program Notes:
Blues Canons was inspired by the work of expatriate American composer, Conlon Nancarrow. The work features a blues tonal language combined with rigorous counterpoint and interlocking ostinatos. When I wrote it, I was obsessed with crab canons, which are imitative contrapuntal forms that are the same forwards and backwards. I designed the form of the piece to essentially “build” a double crab-canon by layering successive canons on top of one another, until in the final section, a complete double crab-canon is heard. No actual tempo-canons are used (tempo-canons occur when the canon’s subject is stated successively at different tempos, a hallmark feature of Nancarrow's player piano music); the polytempo feeling in this piece is merely implied by the polyrhythms that pervade the texture.
Performance History:
World Premiere: June 13, 2004
Eugene Composers Collective concert - Sam Bond's Garage - Eugene OR
Leif Karlstrom, violin, Lionel Thomas, violin, Michelle Rahn, viola, Derek Newell, cello
2nd performance: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene OR
Leif Karlstrom, violin, Rose Barrett, violin, Michelle Rahn, viola, Derek Newell, cello
Program Notes:
This is a very early work, written as a study in classical sonata-allegro form, though the harmonies often involve extended chords inspired by jazz and Radiohead.
Performance History:
World Premiere: June 6, 2003
Composition I Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene OR
Justin Lasley, trumpet, Paul Hembree, trumpet, Matthew Socia, horn, Caleb Allen, trombone, Kevin Gore, tuba
Program Notes:
Jökulhlaup is the Icelandic term for a sudden cataclysmic flood that sometimes follows a volcanic eruption under a glacier. English-speaking scientists have adopted the term for use describing any glacial outburst flood, such as the Missoula Lake flood, which destroyed all of what is now Eastern Washington State at the end of the last ice age.
I choose Jökulhlaup for the title of this piece because the idea of such an event best fits the progression of moods evoked during the piece. The lengthy introduction is a frozen landscape of jagged, dissonant gestures, interrupted by increasingly violent, ascending explosions of sound. Following the introduction is a short, unsettling walk through what might be a rural village, encrusted in ice and frozen in time. The melodic threads of this section are inspired by common practice tonality, though their sinister counterpoint recalls the icy atonal harmonic language of the introduction. Throughout the second half of the composition, the energy gradually builds by acceleration and dynamic intensification, evoking the melting of a glacier by volcanic eruption. In the final section, we hear frozen chunks of atonal material from the introduction, cascading over one another in an overwhelming inundation of sound.
Performance History:
World Premiere: July 7, 2007
Piano Reborn Recital - Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Kate Campbell, piano
Minnesota Premiere: October 21, 2007
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN
Michael Ippolito, piano
Wisconsin Premiere: November 7, 2007
Guest Artist Recital - Morphy Recital Hall, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Michael Ippolito, piano
Florida Premiere: January 6, 2008
Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church, Tampa, FL
Michael Ippolito, piano
Colorado Premiere: April 25, 2008
2nd Annual Colorado Composers Concert - the Playground - King Center Concert Hall, Metropolitan State College of Denver, CO
Heide Brende, piano
Program Notes:
This short work is a chromatic and non-tonal formalized music experiment. The first section of Prelude for Solo Piano literally maps a hand drawn fractal onto the pitch-space of the piano, quantized in half-steps. The second section is a type of polytempo canon related to the golden string.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Sarah Botteril-Burch, piano
Program Notes:
The Diabolic and Celestial fugues were originally written as style studies in counterpoint. As the titles suggest, hellish and heavenly sound worlds are set in stark contrast to each other. Yet despite the differences between the blistering Diabolic theme and the serene Celestial theme, the two fugue subjects are actually reflections of one another.
Performance History:
World Premiere: November 9, 2005
Oregon Composers Forum - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Tyler J. Harrison, piano
Program Notes:
These works best represent my piano writing from my time studying with David Crumb. The goal in writing these works was to explore the musical materials that were developed in the late twentieth century, while testing the limits of the performer.
Chromatic Etude I was inspired by the music of Bela Bartok and Gyorgy Ligeti. Most of the etude is a fiendishly chromatic double-canon that builds in rhythmic intensity toward an explosive, cascading finale.
Pastoral features an original, modal “folk tune” with a simple accompaniment.
Alternate Planes was composed as a way of juxtaposing two completely different musical worlds simultaneously, in different meters and tonalities.
Wrong Notes at the Right Time is actually a set-class composition, though it stays fairly centric throughout. The music was partially inspired by Oliver Messaien.
Chromatic Etude II is again inspired by Ligeti. When slowed down, this piece takes on a bizarrely jazzy feel; however, when played at tempo, the harmonies fly by so fast that they become obscured as part of a churning contrapuntal machine.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
David Frahm, piano
Program Notes:
This short piece, written for a reading by the Portland-based Cappella Romana vocal group, attempts to capture the essence of the spirituality behind the working class haiku by Gary Snyder. The poem resonated with me through my memories of growing up in small Northwest logging and mining towns.
Performance History:
Reading: Spring 2006
Cappella Romana readings - University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Program Notes:
The text of this song is by Alfred Castner King, an obscure, turn of the twentieth century prospector-poet who lived in Southwestern Colorado. The text is neutrally religious, and doesn't promote a specific faith. Though I am not religious, I wrote the piece at a time when I was studying and comparing Eastern and Western religions, and I found the text to be quite stirring and appealing to many faiths.
From Passing of the Storm, published 1907, now in the public domain
That faith is true whatever it may be,
What ethics or traditions it may teach,
Whose whispers soothe the secret misery,
And [comfort] with soft, persuasive speech.That faith is true that lightens pain and care,
That false, which adds one burden to the load,
Whate’er its ornaments of psalm and prayer,
A travesty on reason and on God.That faith is true that buoys the sinking breast,
When in the throes of some great agony,
That comforts the afflicted and distressed,
And reconciles the trembling soul to die.That faith is true that when the chilling blasts
Of final dissolution overwhelm
Life’s fragile bark, and shiver hill and masts,
Sees but the hand of Love upon the helm.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Katie Saxon, mezzo-soprano, Sarah Botteril-Burch, piano
Program Notes:
The poetry to Hymn for the Morning was excerpted from a poem by the same name, written by Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), the first published African American poet. The music very tonal, and full of juicy suspensions and dissonances.
Excerpted from:
A Hymn to the Morning (from Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published 1786, now in the public domain)
Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,
Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;
Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.
Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom display
To shield your poet from the burning day:
Calliope awake the sacred lyre,
While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire:
The bow'rs, the gales, the variegated skies
In all their pleasures in my bosom rise.
Performance History:
World Premiere: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Sospiro: Katie Saxon, soprano, Lauren McGuire-Jennings, alto, Jerry Hui, tenor, Jeremy Jennings, bass
Program Notes:
Canon 3:4:6 is not a single canon, but four canons strung back to back, each representing a different type of poly-temporal imitative-contrapuntal method. The text is my own, and isn’t necessarily very poetic, but does reflect what happens structurally during the piece. The numbers 3:4:6 are mensuration symbols that identify the tempo ratios between the voices.
Performance History:
World Premiere: Fall 2004
Eugene Composers Collective - Cosmic Pizza - Eugene, OR
Sospiro: Katie Saxon, soprano, Lauren McGuire-Jennings, alto, Jerry Hui, tenor, Jeremy Jennings, bass
2nd Performance: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Sospiro: Katie Saxon, soprano, Lauren McGuire-Jennings, alto, Jerry Hui, tenor, Jeremy Jennings, bass
Program Notes:
Descent Into the Amygdala is meant to be a virtuosic yet idiomatic work for amplified viola and computer. The mood is dark throughout, painting a sonic picture of what it might be like to immerse oneself in the amygdala, the part of the brain that is responsible for base emotions like fear and dread.
From a technical standpoint, a the computer creates a variable-speed delay line that casts a shadow of the viola into the performances spaces, always a few moments behind, and antiphonally opposed to the live player. By manipulating the length of the delay, imitative contrapuntal forms with rhythmic complexity reminiscent of Conlon Nancarrow can be created. This piece is essentially a series of polytemporal fugues, with unison points of repose. Without the computer (or a player piano, as in Nancarrow's music), the polyrhythmic ratios used in this piece would be impossible to play.
Depending on the player's preference, overdrive, bit-crushing and ring modulation can be added to the piece. The computer part is programmed in SuperCollider, a free audio synthesis language.
Performance History:
World Premiere: Fall 2007
Megan Edrington Master's Recital - Grusin Hall, University of Colorado at Boulder
Megan Edrington, viola, Paul Hembree, computer
2nd Performance: February 27, 2008
ATLAS Electro-acoustic Concert, Pendulum New Music series - Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Black Box Theater - University of Colorado at Boulder
4.1 surround sound digital audio media, Paul Hembree, computer
3nd Performance: March 16, 2008
Pendulum New Music series Showcase - Boulder Library - Boulder, CO
Megan Edrington, viola, Paul Hembree, computer
4th Performance: May 8, 2008
Mystery Cabal presents Soundscapes - Object + Thought galley - Denver, CO
Stereo digital audio media
Program Notes:
The Doppelgänger was conceived around the idea of an omnipresent "clone" of the contrabassoon, a doppelgänger, with which the performer dances in strange contrapuntal rituals. These ominous rituals are framed and interspersed with sections that feature menacing, buzzing machine noises that swoop about the stereo field. Like their parent doppelgänger, these noises are also clones of the contrabassoon, though their heavy distortion and extreme transposition render them as strange, mechanical aberrations of
the original contrabassoon sound.All of the sound in this piece is generated live and in real-time from
the original sound of the contrabassoon – there are no pre-recorded samples. Much of the piece features a synthetic form of tube-amplifier overdrive, whereby the contrabassoon signal is intentionally rounded off,
producing a square wave like sound, rich in odd harmonics. The computer processing for The Doppelgänger was coded in SuperCollider, a free real-time audio synthesis language.
Performance History:
World Premiere: July 30, 2007
Aspen Underground Electro-acoustic Concert - Aspen Community Church - Aspen, CO
Helena Kopchick, contrabassoon, Paul Hembree, computer
Program Notes:
Voltage Controlled Passacaglia explores the capabilities of a vintage analog synthesizer, enhanced with digital spatial diffusion via MAX/MSP. This work uses the baroque passacaglia form; two perpetually repeating ground bass lines are played simultaneously by two eight-step sequencers on the Moog. The ground bass lines are never quite in phase with each other, and constantly evolve through the manipulation of the performers to create a shifting kaleidoscope of electronic sounds. The audio is complemented with a live projection of an attached oscilloscope, which provides a backdrop of shimmering green lightning.
Performance History:
World Premiere: February 28, 2007
ATLAS Electro-acoustic Concert, Pendulum New Music series - Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Black Box Theater - University of Colorado at Boulder
Paul Hembree, Moog, Steven Snowden, Moog, Christopher Rippey, Moog, Curtis Peel, spatial controls
2nd Performance: October 13, 2007
New West Electronic Arts and Music Organization Festival, hosted by the Pendulum New Music series - Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Black Box Theater - University of Colorado at Boulder
Paul Hembree, Moog, Steven Snowden, Moog, Christopher Rippey, Moog, Curtis Peel, spatial controls
Program Notes:
The source material Meditation on a Spent .38 Shell is obvious from the title: an empty casing for a .38 caliber bullet. I grabbed many objects from my house in Autumn 2004 to sample in the Future Music Oregon studio for the creation of source sound material, and one of the most outstanding sounds was a .38 caliber shell dropped into a ceramic bowl. I decided to structure the content of the piece around my extra-musical associations with the shell itself and the sound of the shell. When transposed down several octaves, it sounds bizarrely like a Buddhist temple bell, so I decided to juxtapose that association with the shell's violent source: war. Thus, you will hear the sounds of Buddhist chanting and the sounds of war contrasted as you travel on an ear-cinema journey
Performance History:
Preview: May 10, 2005
Hembree & Johnson Composition Recital - Beall Hall, University of Oregon - Eugene OR
Stereo digital audio media
World Premiere: May 21, 2005
Future Music Oregon series - Room 198, University of Oregon School of Music - Eugene OR
4.1 surround sound digital audio media, Paul Hembree, computer
2nd Performance: Winter 2005
Eugene Composers Collective - Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts - Eugene, OR
Stereo digital audio media
Program Notes:
Arcane Geometry uses some of the same source material as Meditation on a Spent .38 Shell, and was meant as a quick project to explore the capabilities of Kyma. Extra-musically, it was a short requiem for the Eugene-based Genesis Juice company after they were temporarily shut down by the FDA because they didn't pasturize their amazingly fresh juicies, which sustained me throughout my undergraduate. The word "genesis" is part of the sonic material woven into the piece. Genesis Juice was revived when they implemented a pasturization method that doesn't destroy the vital enzymes contained in the juice.
The four-channel version is unpremiered.
Performance History:
World Premiere: Winter 2005
Eugene Composers Collective - Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts - Eugene, OR
Stereo digital audio media
My email: paul.hembree[at]colorado.edu
Replace the [at] with @. This method reduces the amount of spam I receive.
Daniel Kellogg, Assistant Professor of Composition, University of Colorado at Boulder
Carter Pann, Instructor of Theory and Composition, University of Colorado at Boulder
Michael Theodore, Associate Professor of Composition, University of Colorado at Boulder
John Drumheller, Instructor and Director of Music Technology, University of Colorado at Boulder
Robert Kyr, Professor of Compositio and Theory, University of Oregon
Jeffrey Stolet, Professor of Music Technology and Intermedia Collaboration, University of Oregon
David Crumb, Associate Professor of Composition and Theory, University of Oregon
Terry McQuilkin, Adjunct Instructor of Composition, University of Oregon
Steven Snowden, DMA composer, horn player, University of Texas at Austin
Brandon Vaccaro, DMA composer, guitarist, educator, University of Colorado at Boulder
Curtis Peel, Boulder / New York area composer, sound artist, drummer / vibraphonist
Jennifer Deann Scott, MM composer, performance artist, educator, University of Colorado at Boulder
Mark Arnett, DMA composer, pianist, educator, University of Colorado at Boulder
Hunter Ewen, MM composer, music technologist, saxophonist, educator, University of Colorado at Boulder
Jerry Hui, DMA composer, conductor, singer, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Tyler J. Harrison, MM composer, pianist, Manhattan School of Music
Christopher Stark, DMA composer, Cornell University
Michael Ippolito, MM composer, pianist, accordionist, Julliard School
Sam Tymorek, Boston composer, MM (SUNY Buffalo), electronic musician
Justin Armstrong, Portland OR composer, BM (University of Oregon), pianist
Chris Thomas, Film composer, conductor, USC Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television graduate
Matthew Svoboda (Oregon Festival Choirs website), Oregon composer and conductor
William Hembree and Chester Dickens, mechanical engineer / graphic artist & writer duo
Arnett Rippey and Broome, Boulder-based experimental jazz/funk trio
eighth blackbird, Grammy award winning Chicago-based new music ensemble
Fireworks, New York-based new music ensemble
The Playground, Denver-based new music ensemble
The Carpetbag Brigade, San Fransisco-based physical theater company
The Tasman String Quartet, Boulder / New Zealand
The Arundo Winds, Boulder-based woodwind quintet
Basic Guide to Commissioning Music
An Individual's Guide to Commissioning Music
Commissioning Music (Meet The Composer)
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Ford Made in America, the best example of what a consortium commission can do
All audio and text on this website is © Copyright 2004-2008 Paul Hembree (ASCAP).
Most of the licensing agreements on the images below require that I release the items according to an identical license, so please email me at paul.hembree[at]colorado.edu if you would like a copy of any of the images I've created.Background image (the Flatirons): Jesse Varner, edited by Schcambo (Creative Commons 2.5).
JW FLV Mediaplayer: Jeroen Wijering (Creative Commons 2.0).
Nyx & Eris thumbnail (planet and star): NASA (Public Domain).
Descent Into the Amygdala thumbnail (transparent head): Thomas Schultz (Creative Commons 2.5) and Patrick J. Lynch (Creative Commons 2.5). Edited by Paul Hembree (Creative Commons 2.5).
Archaeopteryx thumbnail (fossil): Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (Public Domain).
Jokulhlaup thumbnail (glacier): Andreas Tille (GNU Free Documentation 1.2).
Mirages thumbnail (sun): Mila Zinkova (Creative Commons 2.5).
Meditation on a Spent .38 Shell thumbnail (bullet): Malis (Public Domain).
Song Without Words thumbnail (shipwreck): Cheesy Mike (Public Domain).
Arcane Geometry thumbnail (colored woodcut): Heikenwaelder Hugo (Creative Commons 2.5).
Reflections thumbnail (mountain reflected in lake): Tinelot Wittermans (GNU Free Documentation 1.2).
Excerpts from the Lotus Sutra thumbnail (lotus flower): Steve (Creative Commons 2.5).
Blues Canons thumbnail (fiddler crab): Junglecat (Creative Commons 2.5).
Celestial Prelude thumbnail (angel): Twice25 (Creative Commons 2.5).
Diabolical Fugue thumbnail (devil): Ifernyen (GNU Free Documentation 1.2).
Composition:
New concert music in a variety of styles for soloists or ensembles
Incidental music for theater or dance
Music for film, television, commercials or games
Sound Design:
Sound effects for film, television, commercials or games
Arrangement:
Arrangement of pre-existing music for any ensemble or soloist
Transcription:
Dictation of recorded music into standard notation
Engraving and Part Extraction:
Professional softare engraving using Sibelius
Part extraction using Sibelius
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Specialization in creating pages for performing artists
Fees vary depending on the project, and are negotiable. Please contact me with your needs and specifications.
Sheet Music:
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In the Boulder / Denver area, I take private students in any of the following areas, and in any combination:
Composition and song writing - in any style
Music theory - any level, from basic, practical chord grammar through set-theory and Schenkerian Analysis
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My fees are negotiable. Please contact me if you wish to schedule an appointment.