The Music of the Night My Dad was a massive fan of the arts — specifically music and poetry. As an early adolescent (in the late 80’s) my family belonged to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. I was fortunate to see every Broadway show you can […]

Fantastic Beasts The Fantastic Beasts movies — as with the Harry Potter predecessors — seem to be set in winter more often then not. For that reason, I think of the films, and the music by James Newton Howard, as seasonal. To me, it only […]

Johann Johannsson Jóhann Jóhannsson was an extraordinary Icelandic composer. For a period of time, he lead the modern post-classical movement — which is identified with experimental, minimalist, and electronic music. He passed away in February 2018 at the age of 48. Jóhann is best known […]

Comptine d’un autre été, l’après midi Comptine d’un autre été, l’après midi (Nursery rhyme from another summer, the afternoon) is a piece of music by composer, Yann Tiersen. As the principle song from Amelie, it’s by far his most popular song at 326 million plays […]

Harry in Winter Harry in Winter is a glorious melody that (I’m convinced) will be recognized as a modern classic at some point. While I haven’t seen many of the Harry Potter films — the music is fantastic, deeply thematic, and it resonates with me. […]

The Last Duel This is the central theme from The Last Duel. This motif is manifested on quite a few tracks from the soundtrack by, Harry Gregson Williams. The song ‘Managing the Estate’ is specifically what I used to create this guitar arrangement. ‘The Last […]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol — also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy. It is one of the oldest carols, dating back to the 16th century. I was inspired by Loreena McKennitt’s ethereal […]

Abby and Owen This motif is an unreleased track from The Last Of Us Part II by Gustavo Santaolalla. It’s relatively easy to play and works as a perfectly as an etude (a composition built on a technical motive — but played for its artistic […]

Hurt Hurt was originally written and performed by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor). It was actually a pivotal NIN song long before the seminal Johnny Cash cover. [The dissonant note in my intro is an ode to the NIN original.] In a similar but reverse […]

Mare of Easttown Mare of Easttown was an awesome limited series on HBO. I was emailing back and forth with my friend Derek about the finale this week. His synoptic take was better than anything I could write: “Mare of Easttown was a stunning piece […]

Calmamente Calmamente is from the soundtrack of Qhapaq Ñan — Gustavo Santaolalla’s docuseries about the pre-Columbian ‘Inca road system’, which winds for 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) through the Andean region. It’s a serene song that exemplifies Santaolalla’s minimalist ability to extract the maximum from a few […]

Chevaliers De Sangreal Chevaliers De Sangreal (The Da Vinci Code) is a glorious piece by Hans Zimmer. He has this knack for writing film music with a slight pop sensibility. If we think of Gladiator, Inception and Interstellar — the underpinning of the music is […]