I graduated in Composition from the College of Creative Studies at UCSB in 1996 and have since written mostly pieces for guitar (see below), and commercial bits for the Hollywood-based Cinetrax Music Library (for whom I also occasionally play various plucked stringed instruments on recordings).

Since getting involved in ethnomusicology I've only made up a few short pieces in eastern Mediterranean styles for fun and to get a feel for how it's put together. These are mostly classical pieces in Turkish makam. I haven't been very active about getting the notation together - to my mind improvised solos (taksim-s), rather than repertoire, form the central compositional practice of the tradition - but here are a few pieces I invite you to check out:

  • Here is the notation in Turkish and Arab transpositions for this recording of a longa in makam saba that I wrote for my friend Sinan Erdemsel's birthday.

  • Here is the notation - again in Turkish and Arab transposition (see this note on what that means) - for a short pesrev in makam hüseyni for three friends of mine named Lou, which you can hear here (beginning with an improvised introduction).

  • Here is the notation (Turkish) (Arab) for a snappy little piece in 7/8 called Laz Hanukka

  • Finally, here is the Turkish and Arab notation for a piece I'm provisionally describing as a Zeybek in Makam Tahir.

Otherwise there's also a little chamber and electronic music, and a short symphony I wrote and am slowly stripping for parts, but composition is a pretty tough racket to get into, professionally, so I think I'll leave it off for my autumn years. The guitar stuff is fun, though. Below is the paperwork for a few of my guitar pieces - I'd love for them (and the pieces above) to get more play, and I invite you to try them out, but if you do please let me know; I doubt any of them will make either of us rich but it would interest me know if/when/how they fly - thanks:

For Solo Guitar:

Blues in 3 and 5

O'er the Knob (for Jon Parsons, in DADGAD tuning) (p. 1/3) (p. 2/3) (p. 3/3)
(Jon still has first dibs on a professional recording of this one.)

Jugueteando con Bach y Brouwer (p. 1/3) (p. 2/3) (p. 3/3)

Study for JB Thompson (p. 1/2) (p. 2/2)

Jaconne (p.1/2) (p. 2/2)

Tobacco Variations (p. 1/2) (p. 2/2)

Basic Math (p. 1/3) (p. 2/3) (p. 3/3)

Divorce March

Mock Apple Waltz (p. 1/2) (p. 2/2)

There's also a suite for two guitars called Flower of Xazary; it's a bit long to put up here, but if you're interested, please e-mail me for a copy of the score.

ederer@umail.ucsb.edu  

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