Tag: composing

Performance Livestream of “Bohemian Galop” Scheduled!

Posted on 2026-04-13 Written by D. Lee Jackson Leave a Comment

Mark your calendars! On April 20th at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, there will be a concert livestreamed from the campus of Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. This concert will feature a performance of my work for Horn sextet, “Bohemian Galop,” by the Messiah University Horn Ensemble!

The members of the Messiah University Horn Ensemble include Nate Winton, Mimi Weller, Oliver Paris, Charlie George, Roseann Sachs, and Mary Grace Friedell. These talented folks have been working on “Bohemian Galop” since early in the semester, under the expert tutelage of Dr. Michael Harcrow, Messiah University’s Professor of Music (Horn, Music Theory, and Brass Ensembles). The ensemble will be giving “Bohemian Galop” its Premiere performance.

Dr. Harcrow has kept me up to date on the ensemble’s progress, and I have to admit that I am thrilled by what he’s reported. I am really looking forward to their performance, and I hope that you will join me in watching it on the 20th.

Here are the links you’ll need to watch it:

If you’d like to listen to “Bohemian Galop” prior to the concert, click on the following link:

Dorico Pro and NotePerformer Rendition Uploaded to YouTube

Also, here’s where you can purchase a copy of “Bohemian Galop” for your own performances:

“Bohemian Galop” Purchase Link on the International Horn Society Store

This promises to be an exciting night, so please tune in! Thank you!

Song Renamed – “Elegy 137”

Posted on 2026-04-07 Written by D. Lee Jackson Leave a Comment

RTFM I received some good advice from someone about my “Central Texas Elegy” work. Basically, they said I was doing the piece no favors by giving it the title I’d given it. In their opinion, I was limiting its appeal by calling it “Central Texas” anything.

I agreed. As a result, “Central Texas Elegy” is dead. Long live “Elegy 137.”

Those of you who have read the former’s informational posts will recognize the meaning of the new name instantly. The “137” part is a direct reference to the current number of lives known to be lost to the Central Texas flooding of the July 4th weekend of 2025. So, you see, I haven’t changed the song’s reason for being. I’ve only changed its name.

I welcome discussion of this in the comments. Thank you for reading this.

New Concert Band Work – “Central Texas Elegy”

Posted on 2026-02-18 Written by D. Lee Jackson Leave a Comment

Floodwaters Over the weekend of the Fourth of July, 2025, as much as 20 inches of rain fell in parts of Central Texas in just a matter of hours. This triggered some of the worst flooding ever seen in the area, causing catastrophic damage and massive loss of life. At last count, 137 people had lost their lives in the flooding, with at least 2 people still reported missing.

Shortly after the disaster, I began work on a piece of music for concert band dedicated to the memory of those who were lost. It took a lot of starts and stops, writes and rewrites, and just plain-old, heavy duty, back burner contemplation to get it to a point where I felt it was ready to be released to the public. Finally, on the 15th of February, 2026, I uploaded a Dorico Pro / NotePerformer rendition of the work to my YouTube channel. It took a further 3 days for me to finish the proofreading of the score and parts so that I could make this post to my personal website. It had a name by now as well – “Central Texas Elegy.”

If you would like to hear “Central Texas Elegy,” either click here or click on the marked image (at the right side of this article, if you’re visiting using a full-blown computer). You’ll be taken to the page on my YouTube channel for the song. Once you’ve listened to the piece, I’d appreciate it very much if you’d “like” the video, “subscribe” to my channel, and then leave a comment at the bottom of the page to let me know what you thought of the work.

You can also go to an audio-only page for “Central Texas Elegy” thanks to the miracle of SoundCloud. Simply click here to be taken to that page.

Another thing, if you’re able: please take a moment to make a donation to the Central Texas Flood Recovery Fund. The people affected by the flood are still trying to rebuild, and they can use all the help they can get. A donation today could help them get back on their feet tomorrow, so please give if you can. Your support would be most appreciated.

https://www.rebuildtx.org/fund/central-texas-flood-recovery

One final note: if you represent a concert band, wind ensemble, or other group that could play “Central Texas Elegy” and might be interested in doing so, please contact me ASAP via the Contact Page of this website. I’ll get back in touch with you to work things out as soon as I can. Thank you in advance for your interest!

Major Publication Development!

Posted on 2026-01-19 Written by D. Lee Jackson Leave a Comment

A major musical event took place for me over this past weekend (January 17th-18th, 2026). I’d been waiting for word from Cimarron Music Press regarding several works which I’d submitted for their consideration of publication. As it turns out, I got the word on every one of my works all at once, and wouldn’t you know it – the word was YES!!! I could barely believe my eyes. I’d sent in seven (7) works, and every last one of them was approved for publication!

After years of rejection and disappointment, I now know the joy of acceptance and approval. I’m wearing a nearly unerasable inner smile at the moment, and I’m guessing it’ll be there for a while. This was some seriously good news, and I hate to imagine what it’d take to knock the smile off of my face.

For those of you keeping count, here are the works that were approved:

November Duet (Bassoon and F Horn version)
November Duet (Tuba and F Horn version)
November Duet (2 F Horns version)
Solo No. 2 (for Alto Clarinet and Piano)
Woodwind Quintet No. 1
Woodwind Quintet No. 3 (“Black Mesa”)
Woodwind Quintet No. 4

As a bonus, Cimarron also put the score and parts online to my Euphonium quartet arrangement of the end of the 2nd Movement of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6. It’s linked from my Cimarron aggregator page, and will be joined by the rest of the above works soon after they go online.

Folks, I am as stoked as a person can be right now! My thanks go out to Cimarron Music Press and its owner, Mr. Bryan Doughty, for working so diligently with me on these pieces. Here’s a glass raised to many more to come!