Information:

• Source: All year round music Notebook
• Key: F major/D minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:41 min
• Pages: 3

“The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February, was there a moment of the year better suited for despair?” ― Alice McDermott

ACROSS THE SKY
I remember playing this piece for a recital, though the result wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Playing in front of a live audience is intimidating and uncomfortable for me, at least—so things can go wrong, and they certainly did that day. But as a performer, you forgive yourself and try to move on.

For this piece, I chose the key of C major for its accessibility and happy character. When I wrote ‘February,’ I envisioned a fast, light piece—like a colorful butterfly flapping its wings, ready to take flight across the sky. I’ve since made some revisions to the melody line, and I’m presenting the...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: F major/D minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:37 min
• Pages: 3

Medical science has made such progress that there is hardly a healthy human left. — Aldοus Huxley

THE POWER OF MUSIC
Music is often credited with powerful curative properties, although the full extent of its healing capacity remains difficult to measure. What we do know is that sound—and music in particular—can significantly improve quality of life and help mitigate symptoms of various conditions. The therapeutic potential of music has been documented since ancient times, appearing in healing practices across cultures. Whether or not music can literally mend our broken bodies, it fulfills a fundamental human need that goes beyond physical restoration.

Illness can manifest in the mind, the body, or both. No one is exempt from this...

Information:

• Source: California Sessions Book
• Key: G major
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:20 min
• Pages: 4

“We only have two kinds of weather in California, magnificent and unusual.” – James M Cain

KERN COUNTY
Nature is everywhere, and it always manages to make its way through, even in the most unexpected places. In big industrialized cities, when I stop, take a deep breath, and look around, I always find some form of it—whether I see a beautiful bird soaring across the sky or notice a colorful flower on display in a fancy store window. Nature persists, reminding us of its presence even amid concrete and steel.

This same resilient spirit of nature thrives in Kern County, a central California region located just north of Los Angeles. Founded in 1866, Kern County stands as the third-largest county in the state by area, and here, nature isn’t just surviving in...

Information:

• Source: All Year Round Music Notebook
• Key: F major/D Minor
• Measures: 27
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:45 min
• Pages: 3

It’s May, the lusty month of May. That darling month when everyone throws self-control away. - Alan Jay Lerner

OUTSTANDING WORLD
On any given day, I never seem to have enough time to accomplish everything I want _ or need _ to do. As a result, I often find myself fretting over how little time there is. If you ask me, I’d much prefer to live in a world where days lasted 30 hours from dawn to dusk, weeks had 10 days, and each month stretched to 40 days. Naturally, this would also mean living to 300 years or more. In fact, I’d hope for even longer _ a lifespan expansive enough to truly savor all that life has to offer.

In this extraordinary world, the very laws of the universe would be bent, modified, and stretched _ perhaps even entirely...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: F major
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:51 min
• Pages: 3

“I wept like a child. It was not because I was overcome at having survived my ordeal, though I was. Nor was it the presence of my brothers and sisters, though that too was very moving. I was weeping because Richard Parker had left me so unceremoniously.” _Yann Martel _ Life of Pi

ROTTEN DEATH
I hate farewells. They drain me completely; an exhausting array of emotional work. There’s something so unnatural about them - like a quiet monster that feeds from the inside out. Goodbyes masquerade as moments of grace, but they’re nothing more than merciless executions.

The pain of parting from someone is no doubt, similar to a lurking predator that remains hidden, ready to ambush a vulnerable prey when opportunity strikes. Goodbyes are cruel...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: C major
• Measures: 37
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:55 min
• Pages: 3

“Love thy neighbor — and if he happens to be tall, debonair, and devastating, it will be that much easier.”_ Mae West

WHAT IS LOVE?
Love is a strange phenomenon; whenever I try to capture it in words, I find myself falling short, as if language can never quite capture something so vast and unexplainable. It takes so many shapes, that no single definition can truly contain it.

Throughout history, philosophers have tried to name its different forms - from passion and friendship to compassion and selflessness - and yet the question remains. What is love? A feeling, a choice, a force beyond reason? Perhaps it’s all of these, perhaps it’s something I will never fully understand.

We sing about love,
we praise love,
we want to love and
we...

Information:

• Source: All year round music Book
• Key: C Major
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:08 min
• Pages: 4

“Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils.” — Cyril Connolly

BEFORE WINTER
I’ve always liked autumn, especially the month of November, which gives us in the Northern Hemisphere a welcome break from the intense heat we endure during the long summer months. The air begins to cool, the days grow shorter, and there’s a sense of change in the world around us. Moreover, November’s mild temperatures offer a peaceful pause - a warning, if you will - before the cold days of winter fully arrive.

November gives the impression of being an exceptionally indecisive month: It is neither cold nor hot, and the days are neither long or short. If I may presumed to know how to count, November is not the beginning of...

Information:

• Source: All year round music Notebook
• Key: G Major/C major
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:38 min
• Pages: 4

“so hot that August comes on not like a month but like an affliction;”
— Joan Didion (Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays)

GENTLE GIANT
From my piano room, I looked out the window, and as I contemplated the tree in my front yard, the sunlight showered its leaves with intense heat. The temperature outside registered an outstanding 104°F. I stared in awe at this gentle giant that stood unwavering in the harsh afternoon, providing shade to my house even as it endured the relentless sun.

During my observation, the tree was likely transpiring hundreds of gallons of water through its leaves, creating its own cooling system - essentially sweating to keep itself from overheating. Its green leaves weren’t just passively receiving that sunlight...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: G Major/E Minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:43 min
• Pages: 3

“The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest"

PART OF LIFE
Apologizing, forgiving, and forgetting—it seems like a lot to ask, doesn’t it? Sure, chances are we don’t have to do it all at once. It’s important to forget, imperative to forgive, but apologizing to someone is, for many reasons, an essential part of life. Yet the order matters less than we might think.

Sometimes we apologize before we truly understand what we’ve done. Other times we forgive without receiving an apology at all. And forgetting? That may come last, if it comes at all, arriving quietly like dust settling after a storm. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than when we examine the burden of...

Information:

• Source: All year round music Book
• Key: F Major
• Measures: 49
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:32 min
• Pages: 4

“September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn.”
― Rowland E. Robinson

Hello,

HEAVY CLOUDS
Life is anything but fair, and it loves to deliver unexpected and unwanted surprises when I least expect them. In 2020, I was forced to face one of the biggest challenges of my lifetime: a global pandemic that shook the world and left me standing alone with my fears. Every day was filled with more uncertainty, and countless unanswered questions floated through my mind like heavy clouds. Would I survive this? Would my business make it through? Could life ever return to the way it once was?

From the beginning, I knew I wasn’t the only one facing such challenges _ friends...