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MMC Portfolio

Project 1

Title: Un Soldato Sul Bordo
Type: Score for Short Film
Role: Composer, Performer
Instrumentation: Piano, Electronics

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I composed the score to this short film for the "Make Your Mark” competition where entrants were given a prompt and then 48-hours to produce a film. Brian Gladstone, the co-director and co-writer, gave me the general outline of the story, setting, and visual aesthetic for the film. I knew it was going to be in the desert. I knew it was going to be primarily visual. I knew it would be about a character who had “gone AWOL.” I knew it was going to appear serious but have a silly twist ending.

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Given the time and budget constraints, I worked entirely within Logic to make this piece. First, I improvised a few ideas on piano, focusing on clusters of varying dissonance over a low tonic. I then chopped up that performance and used the MIDI piano roll to construct a sort of ABA ternary form, using various software synthesizers, plug-in chains (mostly reverbs, tremolos, and delays) to “double” the piano part and add a rhythmic impetus. I sent the piece to the filmmakers before seeing any footage, and they ended up featuring the music fairly heavily in the end product. 

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I’ve included both the score as an audio track as well as the audio in the context of the short film. 

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Un Soldato ScoreHenry Hoagland
00:00 / 03:12

Project 2

Title: Autumn Light
Type: Art Song
Role: Composer
Instrumentation: Piano,  Baritone

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I composed this piece as an undergraduate student. The assignment was to select a haiku and compose an art song for vocalist and piano where the pitch material was derived from serial and pitch-class sets. For me, it was the beginning of my consideration of lyric painting and approaching “song” from a compositional perspective rather than, say, the more subconscious and intuitive approach of pop songwriting.



The A section material is all loosely serial and derived from a pitch matrix of my design (see below). The first nine measures are broken up into 3 measure sections that play through an entire row (PO, P3, and P1). All the material is the same in terms of intervallic content and is simply moved into different “keys” (I consider P to be a “key”, RI to be a “key”, etc.). In measure 10, I switch to the row RI 2 and the sixteenth note line is supposed to signify a sort of double take as the author looks back after seeing the grey on first glance.

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The piece really transitions from the “A” section in measure with the cell-derived chord in measure 14 (0,1, 5, 7: A=0). Both the voice and the accompaniment start off in a cellular fashion. The end of measure 15 features a cell where Bb=0. Measures 17 and 18 obviously recall the texture of the A section, although this time the texture is played in a pitch cell (E=0, descending). Beginning in measure 19, there is an 8-bar segment that uses an A pedal in the bass and each possible variation of my [0,1,5,7] with in the cell (A=0 ascending and descending, etc.). The vocal line follows the cells formed in the right hand. I use the accelerating tempo in order to add to the sense of build in the B section, a growing fear as the narrator ruminates on his age. In measure 27, the right hand switches back to a serial line (RI 2) in order to transition the piece back into the final A. The tempo again shifts here in order to bring us back out of the internal dialogue of the narrator and back into the original scene, however the new largo tempo gives the restated “A” a different feel, one that dwells on the dissonance present in the original.

 

 

 

Autumn Light (unknown author)


In mild autumn light
Grey strands in daughter’s hair
Have I grown so old

Screen Shot 2021-12-15 at 10.22.11 AM.png
05 Autumn LightPerformed by Vineet Shende (Vocalist) and Robbie Greenlee (Piano)
00:00 / 02:13

Project 3

Title: The Great Filter Sweep

Type: Song

Role: Songwriter, Performer, Co-arranger, Co-producer

Specific credits: Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizers, drum machine

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Performance Credits

Vocals, Guitars, Synths, Drum Machine—Henry Hoagland

Piano—Ellis Ludwig-Leone

Dulcitone—Nico Muhly

Violins—Nathan Schram

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Strings and keyboards (Piano, Dulcitone) arranged by Ellis Ludwig-Leone & Nico Muhly

Produced by Kyle Joseph & Henry Hoagland

Mixed by Kyle Joseph

Mastered by Ryan Schwabe

 

The Great Filter Sweep was the first single released as part of my new singer-songwriter project. For me, this project is all about exploring a more personal lyrical voice, and is a vehicle for me to collaborate in a studio context while leaning into my idiosyncrasies as a performer. 

 

The starting point was the traditional campfire song, vocals and nylon string guitar. I ended up landing on an alternate guitar tuning—D A D A C# E—which allowed for the IV chord (D Major) to carry the most bass weight while also enabling octave doubling of some of the fills in the inner voices. I wanted to keep the harmony simple—pretty much vi V IV throughout—in order to sink more easily into the conversational style of the lyrical world. My hope was to then color that acoustic and vocal performance with analog synthesizers (a Moog for the bass, various pads on the prophet, and a kick side-chained to white noise) to help create simultaneously organic and inorganic spaces, mirroring the inner and outer worlds

 

Lyrically, The Great Filter Sweep unfolds as a series of semi-connected reveries. Stale reunions with old friends, half-remembered late night conversations, esoteric puns, and inadvertent intimacies all become entangled in the longing that lies between proximity and closeness.

 

I originally thought this recording was going to be a demo. I recorded the vocals, guitars, synthesizers, and drum machine before sending them off to my longtime collaborator, Brooklyn-based engineer/producer Kyle Joseph. He passed the track along to Ellis Ludwig-Leone (San Fermin) who happened to be hanging with Nico Muhly at the time, and they liked the song and put together the string, piano, and dulcitone arrangement which really round out the sound world and which I can claim absolutely no credit for. 

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I've included the audio of the song below.

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The Great Filter Sweep

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Is this the story where you flirted with your barber
and he bought you coke that you ended up spilling on the bathroom floor
Or is this the time when she caught you in a lie
Trying to leave her birthday party
To meet a girl who’d sent you pictures of her body

Or is it another one
you told me

Have we traded all our old whore stories
Are we running out of things to say
One on one


Don’t tell me that now
There are rules for this


Like when we stayed up making jokes just meant for us
And you kept coming up with names for bands to be in
The best by far—I still remember we’d been talking bout
The end of the world and what will win the race
Between what we can build and what we can break—
Was the Great Filter Sweep
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha


You said nothing comes from nothing we were sent here
We’re gonna find the note they left for us saying
“We would’ve loved to meet you, but”

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Don’t tell me that now
There are rules for this

For old friends and old lovers
How we dance around each other 
How we dance around the things I wanna tell my
Old friends and old lovers
How we dance around each other
How we dance around the things
I wanna tell you

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I shouldn’t have shown you how to find the seven sisters
I shouldn’t have tried to walk you home
Or told you about my grandmother’s ghost
What would my father say if he knew what I’d do to you
In another body
There are rules for this

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For old friends and old lovers
How we dance around each other
How we dance around the things 
I wanna tell you

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Don’t tell me now
Don’t tell me that now

There are rules for this.

The Great Filter Sweep Henry Hoagland
00:00 / 04:22

Project 4

Title: But I Was Going to Say When Truth Broke In…
Type: Sextet for Oboe, Horn in F, Violin, Cello, Piano, & Percussion
Role: Composer

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Oboe, English Horn – Dot Rupert
Horn in F – Loren Fields
Percussion – Sarah Drewal
Piano – George Lopez
Violin – Susan Krongold
Violoncello – Christina Chute

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I composed this chamber piece for my semester-long capstone project under the supervision of my composition advisor, Vineet Shende. I have included the full score as well as a recording of a reading of the piece. Disclaimer: the players had not rehearsed the piece very much, so the performance is quite shaky—intonation, rhythm—but it’s what I have.

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But I was going to say, when Truth broke in is a sextet for oboe doubling on English horn, horn in F, percussion, piano, violin and cello. The piece gets its title and inspiration from Robert Frost’s poem Birches. Like the poem that inspires it, the sextet plays with the creation and infiltration of setting. Scenes are set and broken. At times these changes happen subtly throughout a scene, but at others we are wrenched into another musical space- one that betrays an unsettling anxiety. Shifts in harmonic color, in melody, in density, and dynamics all signal a shifting of place. 

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The piece is split into three tableaus, each with a connection to the poem. The opening tableau clearly introduces ideas of interruption and imagination. We enter a peaceful setting without sharp edges, one that flows out of itself. However, the density thickens, the scene darkens and suddenly we enter a nervous, bustling space. The former scene seeks to be reestablished but only gives way to a more forceful interruption.

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The second tableau acts as a new beginning (But I was going to say, when Truth broke in). While retaining some degree of warmth from the opening, the music has more bubbling underneath it, interruptions that flow into the narrative and color it. Eventually, only a small fragment of the initial theme remains and we accelerate into a brief glimpse of the raw, interrupting material. 

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The third tableau is more ruminating, with contrapuntal voices shaping the changing colors and moods. We once again proceed towards a less settled space but, at the end, we enter a thematic recapitulation of the second tableau. This section acts as a coda for the piece, one that brings a degree of peace.

 

Below, I've included the full score, a few excerpts where the performance is closest to the composition, and an audio file of the performance in its entirety.  

But I was going to say when Truth broke in (Excerpt 1) mm 48-67
00:00 / 01:14
But I was going to say when Truth broke in (Excerpt 2)mm 78-84
00:00 / 00:35
But I was going to say when Truth broke in (Excerpt 3)mm 126-Ending
00:00 / 01:43
04 But I was going to say, when Truth broke inFull Piece
00:00 / 11:30

Supplemental Materials

Title: After the Show

Type: Song

Role: Songwriter, Performer, co-arranger, co-producer

Specific credits: Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizers, drum machine

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Performance Credits

Vocals, Guitars, Synths, Drum Machine—Henry Hoagland

Additional Drum Production—Kyle Joseph

Piano—Ellis Ludwig-Leone

Strings—Godfrey Furchtgott

Trumpet—Sam Pearce

Drums—Spencer Inch

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Strings and Piano arranged by Ellis Ludwig-Leone

Produced by Kyle Joseph & Henry Hoagland

Recorded by Mikel McCavana, Henry Hoagland

Mixed by Kyle Joseph

Mastered by Ryan Schwabe

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I thought I would include another song from my current songwriting project. It is currently set to be released in winter 2022. 

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After the Show

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don't you remember buying fireworks from out of state
and getting weekday drunk in the park behind your cousin's place
and when i burned my hand
when we lit the fuse and ran
i tore my knee running on the ice
said something dumb like
it was worth it though right

and you believed me

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things are better now,
i know it, i know it but
can you just remind me how
I'm really asking you
weren't we supposed to be the ones who made it far from here
we're living near our hometowns, waiting 'til we're fathers

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don't you still remember our old house party band
playing rage against the machine and everybody danced
and after the show I told you this was just the start
and not some high point we'd look back on when you sold your old guitar

and you believed me

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how long have you known that I could come to nothing
have you know for long, just waiting for me to ask you
how many times will I tell you I am fine
before I forget to lie

And you believe me

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After the ShowHenry Hoagland
00:00 / 04:10

Title: Herbert Ashe Hemmerich

Type: Mixed Media, sound and fiction

Role: Composer
Instrumentation: Synthesizer

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This was a short fiction/sound project I shared over instagram in winter/spring 2021. I’ve included the text of the posts as well as links to the short videos I made where I included the sounds the character (my fake great-uncle Herbert Ashe Hemmerich) had made as well as excerpts from his journals. 

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Doorbell I

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Back in April, my quarantined aunt cleared out her attic and found a few boxes that belonged to my great uncle. Uncle Herbie (Herbert Ashe Hemmerich) was an electrical engineer and spent most of his life working in the home appliance division of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. He was an amateur musician and never had a family of his own, so I’ve ended up with the collection.

The boxes contain notebooks and cassettes arranged in chronological order. The notebooks start in 1955, the tapes in 1967. Some of the tapes are too degraded to hear and others are just recordings of him playing classical piano, but I was quite taken with a series of tapes he made in the mid to late 70’s—all part of a vast composition project reimagining the sounds of home appliances.

I won’t pretend to understand any of his schematics —something to do with wiring piezoelectric speakers and synthesizer components into circuit boards—but the collection includes recordings of dozens of his doorbells, alarm clocks, coffee maker bleeps, etc. as well as Herbie’s musings on the nature of home products and sound.

I’ll be typing up and periodically sharing some of his work as I continue going through it. Perhaps I should feel a bit guilty because I’m sure Herbie didn’t show these to anyone while he was alive, but I really think there are worthy ideas in here. I’ve enjoyed stepping into his world.

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Doorbell II

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My great uncle’s second attempt at crafting a doorbell as well as excerpts from his journal. I haven’t included any of his writings between April and May of ‘74 because they’re mostly schematic tweaks and logs of each and every time the doorbell was pressed over that period (who rang, what was Uncle Herbie doing at the time, how did the doorbell sound in that part of the house, did the guest say anything about the doorbell, etc.

Doorbell VII

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Think I finally figured out why Uncle Herbie wrote all these doorbells…

 

I’ve skipped Doorbells III-VI, because they were all variations on the same themes. He didn’t write much in the summer/fall of 1974. He did have some sort of epiphany on a flight to Minneapolis which I do think played some role in his formulation of Doorbell VII.

He wrote many pages on the “aspirational humanism” in the geometry of cornfields and roads, their sharpness vis a vis the coastlines of the Great Lakes. And then, how repeating rhythms—beats, dance, etc.—are geometric expressions through sound.

Otherwise, it doesn’t seem like he had an awful lot going on. As I’ve previously mentioned, he never married and had no family, so it seems like he just went to work and then came home to fiddle around with circuit boards.
 

Alarm Clock I

 

I’m not sure I even like Uncle Herbie’s first “alarm clock,” though the technical limits of his circuit boards, oscillators, filters, etc probably made anything more tuneful a bit difficult.

Alarm Clock IV

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Lastly, I've included a few songs from the two full-length albums I released as Adler Hall .

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Album: Beware the Water​

Song: Incognito

Contribution: Songwriter, piano, synthesizer, vocals

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Spencer Inch: Drums, percussion, marimba, vocals
Kyle Joseph: Guitar, programming, vocals
Ryan Kershaw: Guitar, vocals
Robin Buyer: Bass

Produced by Kyle Joseph
Mixed by Kyle Joseph at Perimeter Recording

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Album: (Tourist)​

Song: Tourist pt. 1

Contribution: Songwriter, arranger, vocals, guitar, synth, bass, piano, programming, percussion

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Kyle Joseph: Drums, bass, guitar, programming

 

Additional Performances by

Dan Gouker: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
John Guari: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Karl Lyden: Trombone, Bass Trombone
Laura Schatz: Cello

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Produced and Mixed by Kyle Joseph

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