Brass music

I was first awed by the trombone in a concert where Christian Lindberg played the Motorcycle Concerto (or Motorbike Odyssey) by Jan Sandström in Stockholm, Sweden. Later, when studying with Dr. Steven Ricks, who plays the trombone, I decided to write a suite of songs for bass trombone and soprano. I wrote the poems/lyrics, and performed the songs with Dan Barrett a few times.

Five pieces for soprano and bass trombone (performance April 2006)

First movement, “Nonsens”
Second movement, “Vetenskap”
Third movement, “Motorer”
Fourth movement, “Nu är det dags att leka” or “Hit och dit”
Fifth movement, “Vågor”

After graduation, I moved back to Sweden in 2007.

I had the opportunity to score this short film that my husband Daniel made, “Ethan 4 Sky.” It was a fun project, and I’d love to have more opportunities to score film. It features a solo trombone, played by Tobias (Larsson) Damgaard.

I wrote a music drama Eldsäpplet/The Fire-Apple. The music drama hasn’t yet been staged, but my friend asked me to write a trombone quartet for her. I decided to base the quartet on some of the songs from the music drama, and I called it I Will Take Care of You. It ended up being premiered by Dr. Dan Barrett and the Maine Trombone Collective at the University of Maine in 2011. I was so inspired when I heard the first movement, that I quickly wrote three more movements. It was reviewed by Anthony Williams at the International Trombone Association. It is available, score and parts, from Svensk Musik. Here is a recording of the premiere of all four movements:

It was lovely to work with them, and I wrote a suite of pieces for brass ensemble, adding three trumpets to the quartet. I called the piece Probably Alright Now, and the piece was based on other parts of the same music drama. It was also reviewed by Anthony Williams at the ITA. It is also available, score and parts, from Svensk Musik.

To me, the trombone has definitely a vocal characteristic, and I rewrote a choral piece for a trombone choir, Magnificat, which was performed in April 2013 – unfortunately, I was unable to attend, and the recording failed. However, Dr. Dan Barrett did send me a recording of the opening of the piece to let me give him feedback on their rehearsal, and it’s just over a minute, but I still feel the reverence that I felt when I wrote it, when I listen to it.

Magnifikat – opening

In October of 2013, I visited Utah, and premiered a new song together with my friend Michelle Flowers on trombone, at Christian Asplund’s Avant GaRawge. Inner Singing. Watch the video here.

The summer of 2015 was one of great upheaval for our family, when we relocated to Utah, after eight years in Sweden. Around the same time, I was asked to write a response to “What would you change in Mormon musical practice?” I have long felt that brass instruments need to be heard in our worship services, so I searched the scriptures to support my position, and wrote my roundtable piece for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

The spring of 2006, I participated in a class about Hildegard of Bingen. I wrote some pieces inspired by her style. I don’t have any recordings of them, but Jason Bergman was one of the people that played them. He later became a Doctor of Trumpet Performance, and I wrote a Requiem that he performed in October of 2021, with Monte Belknap on violin, and Michelle Kesler on cello, at the Madsen Recital Hall at BYU, in Provo, Utah. You can see a video of the premiere here. I started thinking about writing a Requiem when I had my first miscarriage in 2018, and when I had my second one in January of 2021, I finished writing it. Sadly, we had a baby that passed away right around the time of the performance. I dedicate this piece to my angel babies and to all angel babies.

I was contacted by Jonathan Warburton a few years ago, who asked me to write a piece for him for solo bass trombone. I had this idea of a piece called Where is home? and it was premiered in October 2022 at the University of South Carolina. Here is a video of the performance. A second performance will be announced soon.

In the fall of 2022, Dr Michelle Flowers asked me if I’d write a piece for solo tenor trombone. She wanted it to be on the theme of Mountains. I channeled all my feelings of grief from losing a baby the year before, and put it into this piece, which will be performed soon.