October
2024 – SATB choir piece – audio recording/production
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Collaborating with poet and songwriter Liz Moss, I arranged her original poem “October” for choir.
I was seeking the creative challenge of taking an existing set of lyrics and turning it into an equally poetic choral piece, and I strove to augment the spirit of the poem with my own feelings and exp
I recorded all vocal parts with my own voice—quite the exercise in range—and threw them together to create this score video.
The Bittersweet Spring Breeze
Semifinalist – 2023 United States Marine Band’s Call For Scores
2023 – wind ensemble piece – mockup
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I captured many of the unique and intense emotions inside my head regarding my impending university graduation in the form of a wind ensemble piece.
Challenged by my teacher, I completed the piece in time for the United States Marine Band’s Call For Scores, where it placed as a semifinalist.
“Comet Observatory ” Virtual Arrangement
2024 – arrangement/orchestration – audio production/mixing – video editing
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I created this arrangement from the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by ear, contacted a bunch of musician friends, and this is the result!
It was a fun challenge to create the arrangement and organizational processes to ensure that everything lined up, since everyone recorded their own part.
I also hand-edited the pitch and timing on every track, doing my best to transform iPhone audio into something beautiful.
Soapberry Flesh
2024 – short film – minimal orchestral – French horn
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I helped director Sammy Lee bring a personal story of family and memory to life, with a minimalist but moving score with a theme for each of the characters, and bright orchestration consisting of both orchestral and Chinese instruments.
The score also features live French horn, recorded and performed by myself!
Arco
1st Place in Best Animation Original Score, 2nd Place in Best Animation Sound Design
2023 – short film – classical / bluegrass score – sound design – sound mix
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Responsible for all audio in the film, I worked with the Lipscomb class of ’24 Animation students to bring Arco to life, the violin-playing mouse who discovers the magic of bluegrass music.
I composed the score, created parts for the live violin and harmonica players, hired the musicians, and recorded the music, in addition to handling all sound design, mixing, and mastering.
Arco was awarded Best Animation Film, Best Animation Screenplay, Audience Choice for Animation, Best Animation Original Score, and 2nd Place in Animation Sound Design at Lipscomb University’s 5-Minute Film Festival.
Arco (live in concert)
2024 – live film score performance
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After successful film festival run, Arco was selected for performance at Lipscomb University’s 2024 Film Score Concert.
To make this happen, I created sheet music for all instrument parts, put together a click track, and carefully ensured that everything lined up absolutely perfectly. It was an interesting challenge notating the “scary aleatoric stuff” while also making sure everything was playable. Fortunately, all my time spent in orchestras and wind ensembles (and orchestration class) paid off.
The score was performed live in the concert (video above), to great reviews (from audience members and musicians as well).
(square)
2022 – videogame – minimalist, hybrid electronic score – sound design – audio mix
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Bringing the minimalist and understatedly chaotic world of (square) to life was a great challenge! Using a unique blend of acoustic instruments and synthesizers, I created the music score and the sound design, while also handling all mixing/mastering. Yet again, I managed to be a one-stop shop for audio, with incredible results!
They’ve Been Waiting For You
Awarded Best Composer (Honorable Mention)
2022 – short film – orchestral score – orchestration – conducting
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Collaborating with fellow composer Kaleb Clarke, we wrote, recorded, and mixed the film score.
Additionally, for the Film Score Concert, we revisited the piece’s orchestration, created all sheet music, and assembled the audio session for the live concert– additionally, I conducted a chunk of the orchestra rehearsals myself.
The film also won the Best Composer (Honorable Mention) and Best Fiction Short (Honorable Mention) awards in the American Golden Picture International Film Festival!
Venture
OST Composing Jam #4— 2nd place in “composition,” top 5% overall
2022 – competition – epic orchestral – one-person choir
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With a picture and theme word as inspiration for this competition, I wrote a lush, melodic piece that incorporates my own live-recorded tin whistles and vocals to tell a story. Pushing my orchestration and vocal skills to new heights, this project was incredibly fun!
Out of 196 entries, “Venture” ranked 2nd in the “composition” category and 8th overall (out of 196 entries), ranking in the top 5%!
Collision Course
3rd Place in Best Original Score, nominee for Best Sound Design
2022 – short film – synth sci-fi score – sound design – dialogue edit – audio mix
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I used the power of music and the magic of sound design to create a believable, engrossing sci-fi atmosphere while simultaneously providing context and narrative motion.
In addition to creating the score and sound design, I also prepared the full audio mix for the film. I was able to utilize my skills to be a one-stop shop for audio!
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My first foray into concert composition, “Lost” is a piece for SATB choir with divisi, that “uses drifting, expressive melodies and evocative choral textures to capture the listlessness and detachment of feeling lost in life, but finds solace in the musical journey and resolution at its conclusion.”
“The Birth of a King” Live in Concert
2022 – orchestration and arranging
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Working under Ben Blasko, I was responsible for arranging and orchestrating Tommee Profitt’s “It Came Upon a Mignight Clear” and “Come All Ye Faithful” for 50-piece orchestra, 100-person choir, full band, and solo artists.
Despite this project’s scale, we completed our work at a professional level of quality that was commended by Tommee Profitt!
Dog Dash
2022 – videogame – team lead & head designer – software development- chill acoustic score – sound design – custom audio implementation
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I lead a team of 4 other developers in my collaborative Software Engineering class, conceptualizing, designing, coding, and polishing an engaging infinite runner game through several iterative sprints in an agile development workflow.
We were required to use the low-level SFML framework for C++, but we overcame the challenge with style, mostly building out the game from scratch with no game engine.
I wore a lot of hats for this project (listed above), and I learned so much about the game development and software engineering world.
Crossy Road Rescore
2022 – videogame rescore – zany folk music – adaptive audio
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Following a truly crazy creative brief from my professor, I wrote a hypothetical music score for the hit mobile game Crossy Road– incorporating the ridiculous backstory my professor made up for this project.
The score includes 7 full tracks, where the first 4 level themes progress through nonlinear looped sequences, depending on the player actions, and a Game-Over stinger is also included.
“Radiance” Arrangement
2022 – arrangement/orchestration – mockup
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Pushing my mockup and ear-training skills to the limit, I transcribed every note of the Radiance battle music from the acclaimed indie game Hollow Knight, and I recreated the entire track according to my own creative sonic vision– purely for fun (and to build those skills!)
Be sure to check out the ending– you don’t want to miss it. The pipe organ pedals hit different.
I Catch You
Score Relief competition entry
2022 – one-person choir
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Every voice you hear (except, well, the monologue) is my own, all 3½ octaves of it! I highlighted and accentuated the raw emotion of the scene while preserving the focus and clarity of the monologue– using only my own voice!
WestWorld Chase Scene
Scoring challenge
2021 – upbeat, hybrid electronic big-band
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Hybrid electronic jazz?? This absolutely wacky instrumentation choice allowed me to drive the action forward while also accentuating the absurd, humorous undertone of the chase scene– proving that good execution can make almost any idea work.
Dethroned Devil
2021-2022 (development stopped) – videogame score – various styles
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With its bombastic boss battle themes and lush, peaceful lake level music, this score has a lot of tonal range. Here’s a demo track for the Wingless Grove area!
Star Wars KOTOR area rescore
adaptive soundtrack mockup
2021 – atmospheric synth sci-fi
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I’d skip around in this one– it cycles through 3 different musical layers.
Taking a scene of gameplay from Knights of the Old Republic that had no music, I created a system of musical building blocks that could fade in and out to create different layers for different “intensity levels” in the gameplay, akin to the soundtracks of many modern videogames.
8-Bit Title & Level Themes
2021 – catchy, melancholic chiptune
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Making chiptune music is decently simple. Making music that authentically conforms to the hardware limitations of the original NES is not simple!
Following these strict limitations meant having a max of only four digital voices at once– square wave, two pulse waves, and a noise channel.
I had to think outside the box, and this challenge helped me write a catchy musical theme, arranged for both a title screen and a level area.