Dusty Cliffside

Dusty Cliffside

Dusty Cliffside is the first song from my writing partnership with Kyle. A couple of years ago, Kyle wandered into my virtual studio looking for composition lessons. Kyle was writing music, but didn’t have much in the way of formal music theory or composition training. The sample music he sent to me blew me away – amazing instincts! Oh. And he was still in high school. He and I worked together as teacher and student for a couple of years and when he graduated, I offered him mentor him while we moved into a writing partnership. I was over the moon when he said yes.

I was nervous moving from a student-teacher relationship to a partnership. The “power dynamic” (such as it was) shifted – I hoped he felt comfortable speaking up! My fears were unfounded. Our music embodies the idea of being greater than its two component parts. Dusty Cliffside started as a little riff that I wrote a couple of years ago – it resided in my “song graveyard” because I wasn’t feeling it at the time. Kyle expanded my original melody while I wrote the Duduk duet. He created a killer drum line and I built the atmospheric underbed.

Dusty Cliffside becomes the first song on our desert-themed album. All of the music on this album will use the landscape, animals, and weather of the desert as inspiration. As you listen to Dusty, imagine perching at the edge of a cliff for a moment before you spread your wings and take flight.

Head over to YouTube to check it out:

Check out my other arrangements and compositions. My library grows every month and now has a variety of styles. Besides world fusion instrumentals, it features electronic music, pop, and a few arrangements of old hymns and carols.