Matthew Prins, composer

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Works published in 2008

September 19th, 2008 · No Comments

Before I get into the list of handbell pieces I had published in 2008, a little background.  My first published handbell pieces were published in 2005.  Excluding a short stint in self-publishing and with an uber-small publisher that soon went belly-up, here’s the number of pieces I’ve had published each year:

2005: 2
2006: 4
2007: 11
2008: 4
2009: at least 8

Kind of a precarious drop-off from 2007 to 2008, eh?  There’s a few reasons for that.  By far the primary one was that there was an 8-month period in early- to mid-2007 where I submitted almost no pieces to publishers.  Por que? I knew there was a chance my family and I would be moving halfway across the country (which we did), and I didn’t want have publishers accept a piece, then not be able to find me (or reject a piece and I not know that the piece was no longer under consideration).  And it’s about a year from submission to publication for most publishers, the lack of submissions in 2007 is coming back to bite me in 2008.  2009 is shaping up to be back to 2007’s form, however — my best guess is I’ll have about 11 to 13 pieces published next year.

Anyway, the four pieces I had published in 2008:

“Alleluia Sotto Voce” (5 octaves): “Alleluia Sotto Voce” is written in the Taizé style: a simple melody that repeats many times with slight variations in accompaniment, creating an ethereal, meditative feeling. “Alleluia Sotto Voce” uses those musical ideas of Taizé, taking a simple 3-measure phrase and building different accompaniments and countermelodies on top of it before deconstructing it and returning to the simple, 3-measure phrase.

“Fantasie on ‘Let Us Break Bread Together’” (handbell duet): A hauntingly beautiful rendition of the favorite sacred tune.

“Let Vibrate” (2-4 octaves or small ensemble): A meditatative handbell piece that lets the bells ring from beginning to end — the bells don’t damp until the very last note.  Last page gives playing instructions to perform as a handbell trio, quartet, or quintet with various levels of difficulty.

“Ten Christmas Hymn Introductions” (3-5 octaves): This collection of ten Christmas hymn introductions provides an opportunity to incorporate handbell into congregational hymn singing during the Christmas season. The collection includes 3-5 octave handbell introductions plus harmonizations for one verse of ten popular Christmas carols. The introductions are for bell choir only and the harmonizations can stand alone or augment the standard keyboard accompaniment.

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Recent performances of my works

August 6th, 2008 · No Comments

First off, welcome to the news section of my website. This part of matthewprins.com is mainly going to discuss new works I’ve completed, new works I’ve recently had published, and recent or upcoming performances of my works.

Anyway, to start this off, here’s a few recent performances of my music — some at concerts, and some as part of church services. I certainly don’t know about every performance of one of my pieces, but sometimes the performer will let me know, sometimes someone else who hears it will let me know, sometimes I’ll find it via Google or via the Handbell-L, or sometimes I’ll be associated with the performance somehow.

Some performances since April of this year:

“Be Thou Still”
performed by Nancy Bucknell & Denise Scholz

July 20, 2008 at Covenant Presbyterian Church; Omaha, Neb.

“Cumulonuimbus”
performed by Chicago Bronze

April 26, 2008 at Mt. Mercy College; Cedar Rapids, Iowa
May 18, 2008 at Cutting Hall; Palatine, Ill.

“Good Vibrations”
performed by Embellishments

April 19, 2008 at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Birmingham, Ala.
August 5, 2008 at the International Handbell Symposium; Orlando, Fl.
performed by Enchantment Handbell Ensemble
June 13, 2008 at the AGEHR Area XI Festival; Albuquerque, N.M.

“I Need Thee Every Hour”
performed by Bells of the Saviour

June 1, 2008 at Church of the Saviour; Cleveland Heights, Ohio

“Korobeiniki”
performed by Denver Bronze

May 11, 2008 at Hampden Hall at Englewood Civic Center; Englewood, Colo.
May 17, 2008 at Parker Auditorium at Parker Mainstreet Center; Parker, Colo.
performed by the Rouge Ringers
June 15, 2008 at First Presbyterian Church; Medford, Ore.

“Let Vibrate”
performed by the Church Bells of Park Ridge Presbyterian

May 18, 2008 at Park Ridge Presbyterian Church; Park Ridge, Ill.

I also know of a few performances of my music coming up this fall and this Christmas season, but I’ll post those in the news section when we get a little closer to the actual dates.

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