Hello Friends,

How is your summer so far? Today the windows are open, and I am enjoying the breeze that will bring rain later this afternoon. Across the street, a neighbor’s roof is being replaced, and it is a noisy business!

Spring was a bucking bronco of crazy weather (I put away my winter clothes three different times), and lots of travel. I visited five different universities in support of Time Unfolding and had a blast! It is a luxury to work in person with ensembles to help shape a piece—one of my favorite parts of the process. Each performance had its own energy and spirit, thanks to the saxophonists, band directors, and students who pulled out all the stops. I taught many composition lessons and gave presentations on making a life in music. It was fun to visit several states for the first time! Arkansas! Indiana! Mississippi! Ohio! Meeting friends old and new made this time extra special.

Since then, I’ve been taking an actual, proper, much-needed break. The “no deadlines and no rushing” switch is ON. This has looked like taking care of home-related projects, an annual beach trip with friends, making cucumber sandwiches with cucumbers from our garden (the best summer lunch), meditating regularly, and getting outside as much as possible. There are full days when I don’t turn on the computer!!

This hiatus is part of a larger “creative pathway adjustment” that has been nudging me for quite a long time. After feeling like a blob of amorphous goo for the past couple of years, things are starting to gel, and I am getting sparks of insight that light the way forward. 🦋

🎵 NEWLY AVAILABLE SCORES 🎵

Inspired by images from the James Webb Space Telescope, Time Unfolding for alto saxophone and wind ensemble is out of exclusivity and now available!

The full wind ensemble version and the piano reduction are available in digital format in my sheet music store.

Physical sheet music is available from Murphy Music Press, also for wind ensemble and piano reduction versions.

🎼 AUGUST PERFORMANCES 🎼

August 1, 2026
Perseids will be performed by the Minnesota All-State Concert Band, conducted by Dr. Betsy McCann. ☄️

☀️ OUT & ABOUT ☀️

📚 READING
Author Jeanette Winterson is on Substack and her weekly essays are solid gold. ⭐️

Recently finished The Overstory by Richard Powers. It took me a while to get through it—I found the first chapter so upsetting that I put it down for a while. But I’m very glad I picked it back up. If his intention was to write something with a sprawling structure like the root system of a forest… mission accomplished!

Currently in the midst of The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. SO good! The internal dialogue of 11-year-old Meg is incredibly smart and hilarious.

👂🏼 Listening
We Are A Murmuration is such a cool listening project! Call in and contribute!

The New York Vocal Collective performing a glorious arrangement of Blackbird. All chills all the time!

😜 Shenanigans

A totally brilliant birth announcement. (Be sure to click through to see both photos!)