When I was in the 7th-grade, our school’s choir & general music teacher, Mr. Roderick Evans, started me composing when he hornswoggled me into writing a little "Alleluia" (actually, he did most of the work, as I hadn't yet mastered music notation) and then rehearsed and led our Jr. High School choir in a performance of it in the school's annual spring concert.

When our school’s band director, Mr. Jan Dunlap, heard that a kid in Mr. Evans' general music class had written a piece for the choir, he recruited me to be a drummer in the band and asked me to write a march that the band could play.

"But I wouldn't know how to write for all those B flat trumpets and E flat saxophones," I said.

"No problem, Stoogahtz," he said. "I'll help you." (He called me Stoogahtz; I never knew why.)

Between my 7th and 12th grades, those two teachers taught me 90% of what a composer needs to know. That's how strong the music program was in the 1960's in the public school system of Lexington, Ohio (pop. 4,000).

Mr. Evans was a composer, too, though with a very narrowly defined style. He wrote short, modal choral works that drew on the musical legacy of his Welsh ancestors. He instructed me at length, often after school on his own time, teaching me music history, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, orchestration. Mr. Dunlap did, too.

A young man needs an older man, who is outside his family, to affirm him, to let him know that he has value, that he has gifts to bring to the world. Those two teachers, along with my Scoutmaster Frank Culp and a few others, did that for me. In turn, I’ve tried to do the same for many younger men in the course of my life. Indeed, I continue to do this at the school where I teach.
I learned so much from those two music teachers that in my senior year I was able to write a melodramatic tone poem and to conduct our high school orchestra in the first (and only, thank goodness!) performance. Looking back, I realize that it wasn’t a very good piece of music but the act of writing it and conducting it was a very big step for me.

There was one issue on which Mr. Evans and I could never agree. We had long, good-natured arguments about musical style. Mr. Evans felt that a composer should find his one, true style and stick with it. I disagreed passionately. What fun would that be?

"What if I feel like writing something in the style of Wagner or Gershwin or Mozart?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because it's fun, that's why!"

"But you're not Wagner or Gershwin or Mozart. You're Rick Sowash. Figure out what Rick Sowash's music ought to sound like and then write that."

Working within a narrow style suited Mr. Evans; for me, that would have been suffocating, a self-imposed prison sentence.

As a composer, I’ve never fussed about my “style.” When ideas sought me out I brought them to reality as best I could, never considering whether or not I was being consistent with my style, whatever that might be.

Frankly, I don't think I have a compositional style. Yet friends tell me that when they hear my music on the radio, they know it's mine -- because they recognize my style! Go figure.

It's a strange thing to step back and consider one's own life's work. For a long time, your life’s work something that is ahead of you. Then it’s something you’re in the middle of. At length, it becomes pretty much a done deal, a thing that is mostly behind you.

What's to be said about my life's work? this stuff I've birthed into being? It's often fun; it often makes people smile, humorously or poignantly. It always sounds American, that's for sure. No surprises there. Making people smile gives me joy and, having lived my whole life in mid-America, my music is bound to sound American.

What about my ethnic heritage? If Mr. Evans' music grew out of his Welsh heritage, then out of what heritages did my music grow?

My father's ancestors were French; I speak and teach French and I adore France; some of my work sounds a little French-y. My mother's parents were Austro-Hungarians, from the region that is called Serbia today, though they considered themselves Germans, not Serbs. Sure enough, an Eastern European sound sometimes pops up in my music as well.

Listen to this, for instance: a short, bluesy cello cadenza is followed by a "Galop" that blends my American and Eastern European musical DNAs. It's the second movement of my Piano Trio #2 "Orientale and Galop," as recorded by the incomparable Mirecourt Trio (violinist Ken Goldsmith, cellist Terry King, pianist John Jensen) for whom it was composed and to whom it is dedicated.

I don't know how to categorize the style of this music but, true to form, it sounds American and it’s a whole lot of fun. In fact, it's a ruckus, so fasten your seat belt!

Now click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the "Galop" movement, click on the other link above.

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH
June 29, 2014

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You’re invited to enjoy a 10-minute video of the Mirecourt Trio playing my Piano Trio #2 “Orientale & Galop.”

These days, because Jo and I are strictly ‘sheltering in place,’ we pass our evenings watching movies and miniseries.

How do you find the good ones? Recommendations from friends.

The NYTimes’ reviewers knows more movies, but my friends know ME.

I’d to love to have your suggestions. What are some movies or series which you’ve liked and which you think we might like?

I’ll return the favor in advance, right now. Here are some of mine.

Films I liked enough to watch several times:

“Millions” -- Two pre-teen English brothers discover a duffel bag containing a fortune in cash. One, guided by the saints who appear to him, wants to give the money to the poor, the other wants to invest it in real estate. It’s touching and very funny.

“Downfall” -- The last days of Hitler, a compelling and timely drama of Shakespearean intensity and acting so gripping that I found myself inadvertently holding my breath at times.

“Raiders” -- In this documentary, we meet three adolescent boys who re-shoot, frame by frame, the entire film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Spielberg did the original on a budget of $20 million, but their only resources are their allowances, their imaginations and the willingness of their friends to be cast as extras. Twenty years later, they rally to finish the final sequence, win attention from film buffs in a presitigious festival and even get to meet Spielberg himself. Funny, touching, inspiring.

“Marvellous” -- Spelled with two “L’s”, “Marvellous” features the marvelous Toby Jones as Neil Baldwin, an eccentric man sustained by his faith in God and the goodness of others. Quirkily, the actual Neil Baldwin often appears alongside Jones in the film. You see both the original Neil and Jones’ portrait of him, side by side, consulting with one another in a good-natured competition for our affection.

“Shakespeare Retold” offers re-imaginings of four Shakespeare plays. The best are “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Taming of the Shrew.” Both are adorable; I’ve watched them at least five times. Shirley Henderson’s shrewish “Kate” defies description.

Miniseries:

Jeremy Brett’s “Sherlock Holmes” -- About forty programs comprise this incomparable series. True to Doyle’s original text and spirit, these are the definitive treatment of the great detective’s adventures. Made nearly forty years ago, they are timeless. The main title theme, heard at the beginning of each episode, never fails to induce a goosebumps. Which is weird. Why does music, aimed at our ears, sometimes shiver our forearms, making “each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine”?

“A Touch of Cloth” -- A hilarious send-up of British murder mysteries and cinematic clichés. This series had me laughing out loud more often, than anything else I’ve seen in recent years.

“The Detectorists” -- Toby Jones again as half of a Laurel & Hardy-like team that uses metal detectors to search for buried treasure. Hapless, they fail at almost everything, as do L. & H., but their passionate commitment to their calling as “Detectorists” and their L. & H.-like friendship buoys them up and sees them through. It’s funny but somehow inspiring, too.

“Call My Agent” -- In French with subtitles, the series follows a band of intriguing misfits who just manage to run a Paris talent agency.

“Foyle's War” -- Michael Kitchen’s ‘finest hour’ as an aging detective solving crimes in coastal England during World War II. It offers glimpses of an England we never hear about: traitors and collaborators who were sure the Nazis were going to win and engaged in treachery.

Now let’s turn to the Mirecourt Trio’s video. The late Ken Goldsmith (he passed this year, aged 82) introduces the piece, referring to “a young composer from Bellville, Ohio.” I haven’t heard that phrase for a long time!

He explains that they will play the 2nd and 3rd movements of my Trio #2, originally a three-movement work. I subsequently dropped what had been the first movement, incorporating it into another work. At Ken’s suggestion, I then subtitled the Trio #2 “Orientale & Galop.”

This is the superb Mirecourt Trio at the top of their game. No musicians played my music better than they nor did as much for my growth as an artist. Cellist Terry King in particular taught me so much and greatly improved my capacity to write well for his noble instrument.

The opening four notes are identical to those of the theme of Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes series (the one that gives me goodbumps) and in both pieces, these notes are played by a solo violin. It’s pure coincidence. When I wrote this music, the Sherlock series had not yet been broadcast in this country; I could not have heard the theme.

When I first saw the Holmes series, I exclaimed, whimsically, “They stole my tune!” Such coincidences happen sometimes. There are only so many musical shapes that can be constructed from of a handful of notes. As doctors say, “It’s perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.”

To see and hear violinist Ken Goldsmith, cellist Terry King and pianist John Jensen -- what a blessing they were in my life! -- playing my Piano Trio #2 “Orientale & Galop,” click on the link above.
https://youtu.be/P_O-GZQwJYM

To see a PDF of the Orientale, click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the Galop, click on the link above.

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My ancestors on my father’s side were French; I speak French and I adore France; some of my music sounds a little French-y.

Some years ago a French reed trio (oboe, clarinet and bassoon) asked me to write some music for them. I brushed up on the music of Poulenc, Françaix and Ibert, French composers I enjoy. I wrote the music somewhat in the manner of those composers: two “Impressionist Suites” in which each movement did musical homage to a great French Impressionist painter.

To my surprise, the trio was disappointed. They said, “We already play plenty of French-sounding music; we were hoping you would write a piece that would sound American!”

They never performed the suites but plenty of others have, here in the US.

My mother's parents were Austro-Hungarians, from the region that is central Serbia today, though they considered themselves Germans, not Serbs.

My mother’s father loved the music of eastern Europe and that is another sound that has found its way into some of my music.

The music I’d like to share with you today mixes a very American sound with a somewhat eastern European sound, an intriguing combination.

A short, bluesy cello cadenza is followed by a "galop" that blends my American and Eastern European musical DNAs. It's the second movement of my Piano Trio #2 "Orientale and Galop," as recorded by the incomparable Mirecourt Trio (violinist Ken Goldsmith, cellist Terry King, pianist John Jensen) for whom it was composed and to whom it is dedicated and to whom I owe so much.

The Mirecourt Trio championed my music early on. They took interest in me as a person, too, becoming in effect my older brothers. They made me feel that my ideas were interesting and had value, that I might “do great things one day.” Most important, they played my music with a passion! That inspired me more than anything any one of them might have said.

Just wait til you hear them play this piece. It’s a ruckus!

To hear the Mirecourt Trio play the Galop from my “Piano Trio #2,” or to see a PDF of the score, click on their respective links above.

P.S. All of my compact disc recordings are now available on line through Kickshaw Records.

Please visit their website to purchase CDs of my music for $15 each plus shipping.

The latest CD, titled “Voyageurs,” features music for clarinet, cello and piano.

Profits from the sale of my CDs partially funds more recordings of my music, an expensive process. Buying my CDs, you are helping! Thank you!

To order CDs on line, copy and paste this link into your browser:

https://kickshawrecords.com/shop/