The Music of Daniel Musselman"Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things . . . " Psalm 98:1

Though I could not attend the premiere last Friday, reliable sources have told me that it went well! Great news!  Unfortunately since the performance was outside no recording was made. On the bright side, I do have a picture of the event, courtesy of Union’s PR staff (Morris Abernathy) . Technically, the photo shows the President (Dr. Dockery) giving a speech, but you can see the choir on his left just before they sang my piece. Good for now! We hope to get a studio recording of the piece later this semester and  I will post it here.  Click here to read the article.

Soon after arriving at Union University this August, Dr. Chris Mathews asked me if I would be willing to compose a setting a “The Solid Rock” for the dedication of the brand new Hope Residence Complex here on campus.  Though it was a challenging project at times, I thoroughly enjoyed working on it and was very grateful that Chris gave me the opportunity.  The Proclamation choir will be performing the work on August 27 at the dedication.  I will try to get a video or recording of the performance up as soon as possible afterwards.

Sarah Burton’s new CD “Of Him, For Him” is finished and will be released in the near future!  I am privileged to have a track on this recording, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”, (click here to see a sample page) and am looking forward to seeing/hearing the final product.  Sarah plans to host a website where patrons can purchase the CD and  I will post the CD artwork and a link to the CD website when she forwards them to me.  Here is a short sample of “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”

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I am pleased to announce that I will be assuming a Visiting Assistant Professor Position in the Department of Music for the 2010-2011 school year at Union University in Jackson, TN.  Malinda and I are very excited to be serving there and will be heading down to Tennessee next week.  I will be teaching several of their undergraduate music theory courses while I am at Union.  Can’t wait!

After 3 thrilling and challenging years, I have completed my Doctorate in Musical Arts in Composition at KU!  I am happy to have completed it but I will miss the daily interaction with my colleagues and friends there.  The KU School of Music is a fine, well-balanced program.  A big thank you to Mr. James Barnes, Dr. Forrest Pierce, Dr. Deron McGee, and the many other mentors I have worked with at KU.  Rock Chalk!

This is the video from the dress rehearsal for “Music Is . . .” on April 29.

I am happy to announce that I have won the 2010 Lawner Prize for Outstanding Orchestra Composition for my piece “Front Range”!  I am very honored to receive this and am grateful to the KU Symphony Orchestra and Dr. Neely for their help in reading the piece.  I have posted some selections from the reading session on the Recordings page of this site.

My new orchestral piece, “Front Range”, was read and recorded by the KU Symphony Orchestra at it’s annual Lawner Reading Session. Boy, was it fun to hear! Even though the players were basically sight-reading the pieces (kudos to KUSO!), it was incredible to hear it played by a live group! I know that I have a few areas to tweak to make it stronger, but overall I was very pleased with it’s first reading. All of the pieces read today are also entries for the Lawner Prize.

“Front Range” highlights (KUSO reading session)

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On Thursday, Pinckney Elementary 5th & 6th graders and their music teacher Julie Alley did a fabulous job premiering “Music Is”! This culminated my residency as a composer at Pinckney. They had exceptional tone and contagious enthusiasm, especially for a group of un-auditioned students. The program also incorporated their skills in World Music Drumming, made possible through generous grants and gifts from the Lawrence Schools Foundation and other donors. I am grateful that I was able to work with such a dynamic and innovative music teacher, Julie Alley.

The local newspaper and tv station came for the dress rehearsal and interviewed the student poets (Emma, Sierra and Aubin) and me.  (As a fun note, this story made it on Yahoo! News as the local story on Friday!) Here are links to the news stories:

Musical Collaboration: Pinckney pupils write lyrics; KU student composes tunes

Channel 6: New Songs for Pinckney Students

I hope to post some audio and more pictures soon. Here are a few to start with: Read the rest of this entry »

I am very excited to attend the premiere of “Music Is . . .” the choral cycle written for Julie Alley and the 5/6 choir at Pinckney Elementary School in Lawrence, KS.  I stopped by their rehearsal today and was amazed by their enthusiasm and great sound!  Julie Alley, Pinckney’s music teacher and conductor, has done a fabulous job and I can’t wait to hear the performance this Thursday.  If you are interested in coming, click “read more” for a map and directions.  I have also posted Julie’s program notes and the winning poems that you will hear Thursday night as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

This afternoon I successfully defended my DMA dissertation, “Concerto for Bassoon and Chamber Orchestra” and I am now “Dr.” Musselman! I’m thankful to God for His direction & strength throughout the degree. The knowledge I’ve gained through this process at KU is more than I expected, but just what I needed. On the other hand, I sure am glad it’s finished!

I am pleased that “Refraction” (trio for flute/piccolo, clarinet, and piano) will be included in the Helianthus Spring Concert! Helianthus, KU’s contemporary music ensemble, is presenting two identical concerts at Spencer Hall Commons on Saturday, April 17, at 4:30 & 7:30 pm. Admission is free and open to the public. There will also be a free-will donation at the door to benefit the SEVA Foundation. If you’re free on Saturday I hope you’ll stop by for an exciting concert!