Category: Piano

Other original music and arrangements, Piano, Vocal

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Steven Kent Sanford

This is my choral (SATB) and piano arrangement of the traditional Advent/Christmas hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”.

After a piano solo introducing the theme, there are four verses in different modal realizations (v. 1, 3, 5, 7), interspersed with three verses (v. 2, 4, 6) in simplified plainchant. The mood goes from longing, in the first verse, to gloriously triumphant in the final verse setting.

Although somewhat chromatic, this is suitable for most choirs, and short enough to be used during Christian liturgy.

Please contact me for the score.

Guitar, Live recordings, Live stream, Other original music and arrangements, Percussion, Piano, Pop & Rock, songs, Vocal

Can’t Dance – live stream

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: voice, piano, guitar(s), bass, and drums

I set out to write a “bubble-gum pop song” fit for a teen diva, and came up with Can’t Dance. The lyrics capture the awkwardness of high school nerds who lose themselves in each other and to the music. My friend and fellow composer Stephanie Meyers provides the “diva” for this one, accompanied by several of our talented friends.

This is a live stream VCFA internet broadcast recording from 12 August 2015.

Live recordings, Live stream, Piano, Strings

None of That – live stream

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: piano trio (piano, violin, and cello)

This is a live internet stream recording of a VCFA concert from 10 February 2016, showing the performance of my original rescore to the animated film None of That.

There is another version of this re-scored film here.

All of the “sound effects” are created by the instruments.

My goal was to capture the feel of the Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1950s-1970s, particularly the Road Runner series.

Note that the video is the property of Ringling School of Art and Design, and is used for purposes of illustrating my film scoring. No copyright infringement is intended. The music is Copyright © 2016 Steven K. Sanford.

Please do not republish this film clip elsewhere on the internet or use without permission.

Country & Western, Guitar, Live recordings, Live stream, Other original music and arrangements, Percussion, Piano, songs, Strings, Vocal

Don’t Give Up on Me – live stream

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: solo voice, guitar(s), bass, drums

This is a live stream recording of the VCFA Songwriter’s Festival concert on 12 February 2016, with me singing my original country-and-western song Don’t Give Up on Me (accompanied by a few talented friends).

I wrote this for my wife, who had to put up with me travelling to remote work locations every week for a few years before I retired.

There’s another version of this song here.

Live recordings, Live stream, Other original music and arrangements, Piano, songs, Vocal

Finding You – live stream

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: solo voice and piano

Finding You is an original love song to my wife of over 20 years, and is fairly autobiographical.

This is a live performance from VCFA streamed to the internet on 10 February 2017. The pianist is Claudine Joelle Robbins.

Brass, Demo, Film, TV, and other visual media scores, Orchestral, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Woodwinds

Demo Reel

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: instrumentation of these excerpts includes solo instruments, percussion, synthesizers, and studio orchestra (with additional sound design)

This is a ten-minute collection of scenes from films, TV shows, commercials, and video games that I have re-scored*. All of the short films can be found in the “Film Scores” section of my website here.

In a hurry? Listen to a one-minute audio-only sampler of media scores here.

Note that the videos and dialogs excerpted are the property of the respective companies, and are used only to demonstrate my film scoring skills. No copyright infringement is intended. The music is Copyright © 2017 Steven K. Sanford.

Please do not republish this video elsewhere on the internet or use without permission.

(video revised 22 May 2018)

(* “re-score” means replacing the original music with a newly written soundtrack)

 

Animation, Comedy, Film, TV, and other visual media scores, Live recordings, Piano, Strings

None of That – Live (rescore)

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: piano trio (piano, violin, and cello).

This is a very clever animated film short from the Ringling College of Art and Design. All of the “sound effects” are created by the instruments.

My goal was to capture the feel of the Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1950s-1970s, particularly the Road Runner series.

This is a live performance recording, so there is some audience noise.

Note that the video is the property of Ringling School of Art and Design, and is used for purposes of illustrating my film scoring. No copyright infringement is intended. The music is Copyright © 2016 Steven K. Sanford.

Please do not republish this film clip elsewhere on the internet or use without permission.

Drama, Film, TV, and other visual media scores, Piano, Romance, Strings

Vertigo Restaurant Scene (rescore)

Steven Kent Sanford

Scored for: piano and string ensemble

This is a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) that I’ve rescored for piano and strings. Jimmy Stewart’s character (at the bar) is getting his first glimpse of Kim Novak’s character (at the table) while she is dining with her husband. Jimmy’s character is a private investigator who has been hired by the husband to surreptitiously follow Kim’s character, because she has been behaving suicidally.

The location reminded me of a restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, where my wife and I dined several times, complete with a pianist playing in a corner, and plush surroundings. So I staged the score with a pianist improvising a jazz piece as background music, then introduced the strings for Kim’s character.

I was able to capture some of the background sound effects during quiet moments in the scene, which I’ve included behind my rescore.

Note that the video and sound effects are the property of Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, and are used for purposes of illustrating my film scoring. No copyright infringement is intended. The music is Copyright © 2017 Steven K. Sanford.

Please do not republish this film clip elsewhere on the internet or use without permission.

Live recordings, Other original music and arrangements, Piano, Vocal

The Hawthorn Tree – Live

Steven Kent Sanford

This was a commission from the Shenandoah University Cantus Singers to portray works by women. The poem is “The Hawthorn Tree” by Willa Cather. It is performed by the Cantus Singers under the direction of Dr. Karen Keating.

The Hawthorn Tree is a poem by Willa Cather (1783-1847), pulitzer-prize winning author and journalist. She is well known for her novels about the Great Plains (e.g., O Pioneers!), but she was born in Gore, Virginia, a few miles west of Winchester. She lived nearby for her first ten years, then moved with her family to Nebraska, where she is a cultural icon. Her birthplace is on Route 50 west of Winchester. There is an historical marker on the highway, although the house itself is gone.

THE HAWTHORN TREE
by: Willa Cather

Across the shimmering meadows–
Ah, when he came to me!
In the spring-time,
In the night-time,
In the starlight,
Beneath the hawthorn tree.

Up from the misty marshland
Ah, when he climbed to me!
To my white bower,
To my sweet rest,
To my warm breast,
Beneath the hawthorn tree.

Ask of me what the birds sang,
High in the hawthorn tree;
What the breeze tells,
What the rose smells,
What the stars shine–
Not what he said to me!

“The Hawthorn Tree” is reprinted from “April Twilights” by Willa Cather; published by The Gorham Press, Boston, in 1903.

This setting is modeled on the style of an English madrigal, calling for restraint in dynamics, gentle lyricism, and clear articulation of the text.

(recorded live 10 April 2015; posted 24 September 2017)

Other original music and arrangements, Piano

Ode to Joy Variations

Steven Kent Sanford

This was a quick project to write a few piano variations on the “Ode to Joy” theme from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It consists of 4 sections:

  1. “Ode to Joy” Theme
  2. Variation in the Style of Mozart
  3. Variation in the Style of Bach
  4. Variation in the Style of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

(revised 06 October 2017)