There were a few years after the divorce from my first wife and the collapse of the company for which I was working when I was poor. It was often very difficult to afford "boughten" Xmas gifts for my children -- so, I made gifts for them out of materials I had on hand.  For my daughter, Marjorie, who was taking piano lessons, I chose to write short pieces of music dedicated to her which were not too difficult for her to play. On this page you'll find a few of these Xmas pieces.

Xmas 1990:

For my daughter, who was taking piano lessons, I wrote a Rondo named 64x3RondoForMRJ1990. That is, a 64-measure piece in triple time for MRJ (Marjorie Ruth Jones) in the year 1990. Hear it by clicking the play button below:

I continued this practice for almost a decade, whether money was plentiful or not.

Xmas 1991:

This years' piece is lost to history.

Xmas 1992:

This year, the piece was a Passacaglia, in C Minor. On the manuscript, there is one section where the words to "I'm A Little Tea Pot" should be sung. (I don't!)

Xmas 1993:

A set of variations on the basic chord progression in Bach's "Goldberg Variations"

Xmas 1994:

Lost to history

Xmas 1995:

An actual song - with words! I had moved to Long Island to be with Flora and was therefore exposed to a lot of Jazz music from her and her son, Dan Heck. This was an attempt to meld Jazz features with Hindemithian harmonic principles. It's title is "Frog Songs". This is a reference to French art songs for which Flora showed great disdain. This rendition is done with synthetic voices doing Ooohs and Ahhhs. The actual lyrics can be found below the music player item.

Verse 1:

Frog songs don't move you,

Kraut lieder seem too tame.

Are you just too jazzy for my simple song?

Verse 2:

Dance till tomorrow,

Sleep till  you hear your name served

with with coffee, love and kisses

Coda:

Yes! how could it be much better?

Look for a silver train.

In it, we'll ride some and sing Frog songs....

Oh! wait a minute!

Frog songs don't move you,

Kraut lieder seem too tame.

Are you just too jazzy for my simple song?

Xmas 1996:

Another lost to history

Xmas 1997:

A fugue in G minor. Here you have a double treat: a performance with synthetic voices and another with video of me performing it.

Vocal version: 

Youtube video of live performance:  G Minor Fugue

 

Xmas 1998:

Another song with words: "Bitter Sweet". Here realized with synthetic voices and piano.