Some fairly lush piano music, based on the major sixth chord (or minor seventh chord) in various inversions. According to the composer and music historian Alec Wilder, the major sixth chord has a “compelling power,” so here’s a string of them.

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An Afternoon in the Arboretum is now available on Bandcamp! This album contains solely instrumental music, mostly for keyboard, from as early as 1976 to as late as 2022. All selections were composed and performed by Doug Skinner, and recorded and mixed by Brian Dewan: An Afternoon in the Arboretum (2020) Radio Valentine (1976) Ulterior […]

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A piano piece, all in the middle octave of the keyboard: G3 to G4, extended briefly to F#3 to G#4 every ninth measure.

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In this song from “Doug and Mike’s Adult Entertainment,” I gave the recipe for our signature cocktail, the Gibsonetto, while Michael Smith followed the directions. It was a Gibson made with Amaretto instead of gin; in the puppet show that followed, Doug and Mike explained to their horrified guests that “it’s really not that sweet.”

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What’s Christmas without frankincense? I wrote this for Meg Reichardt’s annual Holiday Recording Party, and recorded it with Brian Dewan at the controls. It marks my debut on the bass recorder. Here’s the first page, and you can listen to it here.

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Some music for psaltery and harpsichord: a diatonic melody with chromatic accompaniment.

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A lively piece all in the treble register, for sopranino recorder, piano, and desk bell. “Yet” is a word with many meanings; among other things, it’s the antonym of “not yet.”

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A quiet piece for Bb whistle and percussion. The Bb whistle is lower than the standard instrument in D; it’s like the viola to the D’s violin. No percussion sound is repeated.  

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Three songs with words by Edna St. Vincent Millay: “Song of Shattering,” “Spring,” and “The True Encounter.” Here’s the beginning of “Song of Shattering.”

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A duet for two monochords, based on dividing the strings by Sophie Germain and safe primes. (A Sophie Germain prime is any prime for which 2p + 1 is another prime, and that second prime is the safe prime. So, 5 is a Sophie Germain prime, and the safe prime is 11.)

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