Voice and piano. 2019.

Line is both an aphoristic commentary on Grace Andrews’s lyrics and an embodiment of the creative process her poetry brings so vividly and intimately to life. For the technically-minded, the piece draws on a preoccupation with doubly-chromatic mediants and their intersection with symmetrical scales. The expressive aim of the piece, though, is a distilled evocation of artistic concentration, persistent effort, and surprised wonder.

Soprano and Piano. 2017.

A setting of verses from two hymn tunes by C. O. Hartsfield.

Soprano, piano. 2017.

Somewhat fantastic renderings of five lullabies in five languages. Composed for soprano Roberta Duhs, based on her Master's research into the charming and fearful ways mothers might sing their children to sleep. 

1.  Duérmete Niño   (Spanish)

2.  Dodo Piti Popo   (Trinidad French Patois)

3.  Na Wojtusia   (Polish)

4.  Nana Nenê   (Portuguese)

5.  Ninna Nanna   (Italian)

Female Voice and Jazz Piano/Combo. 2016.

What if I wrote a song voicing my wife's perspective? 

For worship leader, congregation, and instruments. 2006.

Composed for my brother, the late Rev. Joel Sauerwein, for use in Advent services at his Lutheran church. Texts are based on Joel's rendering of traditional antiphons in modern English.

Soprano, flute, violin, piano. 2006.

Composed for the close of Joseph Frost's production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. The text is drawn from Vanya's concluding comments.

Choir (SATB), fl, cl, hn, tpt, pno. 2004.

Composed in collaboration with Dave Stuntz, music director at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (Durham, NC).  Premiered by the Blacknall choir during CFAMC's "Forging Links" conference in 2004.

Choir (SATB), piano, two trumpets. 2004.

Commissioned by Greg Scheer and performed under his direction at Trinity Reformed Church (Orange City, IA).

Choir (SATB), piano. 2002.

The first (and, so far, the only) of seven settings of texts drawn from John Donne's seven-sonnet cycle of Holy Sonnets. 

"...

Now thou art lifted up, draw me to thee,

And at thy death giving such liberal dole,

Moist, with one drop of thy blood, my dry soule."

Choir (SATB) a cappella. Text in Hebrew. 2000, revised 2016.

Commissioned by the North Carolina - Israel Project for a tour of Israel, which asked for an American composer to set a Hebrew text, and vice versa. Performed by the NCIP choir seven times in various locales.

Choir (SATB), piano. 1999.

Text from Jeremiah 17:5-9, closing with the opening verse of the hymn, "If thou but suffer God to guide thee."

Choir (SATB) a cappella. 1999.

A Christmas carol, setting an original text.  Performed annually since 2007 by the Belhaven University Singing Christmas Tree, as well as in church services in various states (e.g. CO, NC, MI, MS).

Choir (SATB), piano. 1997.

Composed for a Pentecost Sunday service at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (Durham, NC). The text is from an old Lutheran hymn, but the music is a fiery adventure.

Soprano, piano. 1997.

Composed for soprano Angela Case.  Texts selected from Robert Louis Stevenson's charming A Child's Garden of Verses. Songs 2-4 are a set which Stevenson entitled "Northwest Passage".

1. The Land of Nod

2. Good Night

3. Shadow March

4. In Port

5. Where Go the Boats?

Soprano, vibraphone, piano. 1990.

An atmospheric journey along an Oregon coast, setting a text by Jane Gibson.