Manhattan Beach Music

Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians, a group of early French colonists who began settling in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) around 1604. In 1755 they were driven out by the British, eventually resettling...

A'bracadabra' was composed in the summer of 2004, and was orchestrated the following November during a residency at the MacDowell Colony. The piece is dedicated to my son, and is at once playful and s...

Composer's Notes Portrait of a Clown is in ABA form surrounded by an eight-bar introduction and coda: Introduction (beginning at measure '1') A (beginning at rehearsal letter 'A') B (beginning at rehe...

Background In 1992 I composed a concerto for traditional jazz band and orchestra, 'Playing' 'With' 'Fire', for the Jim Cullum Jazz Band and the San Antonio Symphony. That work was composed as a celebr...

Can there be a two-minute symphony? This work is certainly two minutes, and it does 'sound' like a symphony because there are symphonic elements in it: It has a clearly-stated theme, which is develope...

Can there be a two-minute symphony? This work is certainly two minutes, and it does 'sound' like a symphony because there are symphonic elements in it: It has a clearly-stated theme, which is develope...

Frank Ticheli Composition Contest Winner

Allegro Brillante' is the first movement of 'Dragonland' for band. The first performance (under the original title, 'A Short Symphony) 'was given by the L.E. Dieruff High School Concert Band, conducte...

Background In 1992 I composed a concerto for traditional jazz band and orchestra, 'Playing' 'With' 'Fire', for the Jim Cullum Jazz Band and the San Antonio Symphony. That work was composed as a celebr...

Color by Bob Margolis, based upon tunes from Playford's 'English Dancing Master (1651)' and Jr. Jacob van Eyck's 'Der Fluyten Lust-hof'. Hear streaming audio on this page. Suitable for college and hig...

Frank Ticheli Composition Contest Winner

Fantasia Nova 'is a suite comprising two concert marches and a slow, middle movement that derives its themes from both marches. 'Ragtime '(composed in early September, 1978) is a 'new from old' sort o...

PROGRAM NOTE Festival in Russia is a transcription for concert band of Anatoli Liadov's dazzling orchestral work, 'Polonaise (Op. 49). 'Written at the turn of the century, its energetic dance rhythms...

Frank Ticheli Composition Contest Winner