My graduation picture in 1974, the same year I composed this Psalm Offering.
As I appear today.
NOTES: Psalm Offering 8 was principally written for myself. It was not done with narcissistic intent or malice. Rather, I had written all this other music for others, I wanted one specific song I could call my own. I was soaking in musical influences from the Baroque Period to the Modern Period of music. I learned as much as I could from composers like Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Listz, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Ravel and so on. One composer that struck my fancy was the 20th century German composer Paul Hindemith. He did not follow strictly the atonal school of composition that Schoenberg and others like Schoenberg had established. Rather he dipped into all the musical influences from the past and present to establish his own style. Dissonance was as much at home in his music as consonance. His piano suite Ludus Tonalis, was a particular favorite of mine. It was in the style of Hindemith in which I wrote this Psalm Offering. I would compose more in this style, particularly Psalm Offering 1 Opus 2. While I played this at home, as I developed more and more into a liturgical musician, I began to use this short little piece of music as a prelude to Mass or at post-communion. It remains for me today, one of my favorite compositions for piano.
THE MUSIC: This Psalm Offering is in simple three part, ABA, form. Melody A is introduced, repeated then segues into melody B. There is a recapitulation of melody A to the Coda.
