Over the past two years I have established a set of guidelines for the first 60-90 minutes of my day that has had an undeniable and positive impact on my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. In this issue, I share with you!
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I recently composed a piece, Mandala, to celebrate the retirement of my undergraduate saxophone professor. Read about it, listen to a recording, and download the score for free!
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Considering domains outside one’s focus can easily seem like a waste of time or irrelevant, but often it’s precisely this kind of consideration that offers novel and effective solutions. This is why I suggest that composers listen to as broad of an array of music as possible…
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Welcome to Season 2 of The Theisen Journal! Take two minutes to read up on what’s been going on and everything I have in store for you…
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This month my composition Crescent City Postcards turns eight years old. I have been reflecting on that piece and its importance in my development as a composer lately, perhaps owing to the fact that I now live in the Crescent City itself - New Orleans. Read more and listen to a great recording!
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Soprano Laura Strickling recently launched her 40@40 Project - a mission to commission forty new songs by forty composers as a fortieth birthday present to herself. Read up about this incredible undertaking - and my own compositional contribution!
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I was recently interviewed for the podcast The Composer Chronicles and that episode is out now! I had a great time discussing my approach to composing, my backstory, and moving between musical genres with podcast creator and host Stephen Trygar. Listen here!
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I was recently interviewed for the podcast The Process and that episode will debut this coming Friday! Hosted by Doug Bielmeier, we listened to my 2014 composition Ondes et Ombres and discussed my earliest composer gigs, working with form, and the importance of the audience. Read more about this exciting podcast and its goals…
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Last week composer Mara Gibson unveiled world premiere video recordings of two brand-new pieces - the staged song cycle Galatea’s Dream and her bassoon concerto Escher Keys. I was fortunate to perform as a part of Galatea’s Dream alongside astonishing performers and a superb creative team. Listen to both compositions here!
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Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Ben McIlwain for an hour via Zoom. The recorded conversation included many topics: our past collaborations as composer/trombonist, my work as performer with Megan Ihnen, and the new chamber version of my Symphony No. 2 that Ben is set to record with clarinetist Jackie McIlwain and pianist Ellen Elder later this summer! Listen to the entire discussion here.
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A few weeks ago, I dedicated an issue of The Theisen Journal to nine performances for your listening pleasure. So many folks enjoyed it, I decided to do it again! Here are nine more videos to feast your ears on.
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In late 2020, I was part of a consortium that commissioned Everette Minchew for a new composition. I had the privilege of broadcasting the world premiere recording of the resulting piece, Monody In Memoriam Charles Wuorinen, at the NASA Region 6 Conference. Now everybody can hear it!
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We are in spring - a season of renewal, energy, and exploration. To assist you on that seasonal path, here is a collection of nine performances to invigorate your imaginations!
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In this issue, I link a memorable exchange in David Mamet’s 2004 film Spartan with music education.
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Sometimes collaborations take a while to actually come into existence. I have known Dr. Cheyenne Cruz for a dozen years but only recently had the occasion to compose a work for her. The result was Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good for solo bass clarinet - a three-minute piece that is all fury, funk, madness, and groove. Listen to the premiere and read more about my goals as I wrote it…
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A couple of years ago, I was talking with a distraught friend. He informed me that he had sent advance copies of his latest album to former mentors and they had responded with upsetting critiques. “Ah,” I said. “You must kill your teacher.” In this issue of The Theisen Journal, I will explain what I meant - and still mean - by that purposefully provocative statement.
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The voice/saxophone performance duo and curatorial team I am in, Megan Ihnen & Alan Theisen present… (MIATp), recently became a partner ensemble with ADJ•ective New Music Composers’ Collective and we could not be happier about that fact! We spoke about this - and many, many more subjects - with ADJ member Robert McClure on a new episode of the Lexical Tones Podcast.
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This is the twentieth issue of The Theisen Journal and to celebrate I am going to share some big career news! I have resigned my position as tenured associate professor at Mars Hill University, leaving full-time academia in order to focus on my work as composer, performer, author, and private studio educator.
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A couple of months ago, I was interviewed for the podcast Sounds of the World and that episode dropped this week! We discussed my early life, my journey as self-trained composer, my list of Top 5 Scotches for under $100 per bottle, and so much more. The entire episode is about an hour long and I promise you’ll have a great time. Pieces of mine featured include excerpts from Ondes et Ombres, “there are so many tictoc” from when you touch, and Crescent City Postcards.
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Composers often get stuck, have writer’s block, or just need to get the creative energies flowing before a session. That’s precisely why I created these three creativity prompts! The idea is to spend no more than around thirty minutes with each of these challenges. I have used each of these prompts personally as well as with composition students in the past. Let’s get writing!
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