Here is a YouTube playlist featuring many of the pieces listed below
Click on a specific piece for its video and full program note.
Andrew Anderson, Non utimini nomine - in the tradition of utterances that avoid using the name of the person talked about
Stacey Barelos, A Meditation on Trump Tweets - using prepared D-flats, the pianist improvises on the rhythms of tweets
Armando Bayolo, Not a Real Catastrophe (Like Katrina) - “like the breath of a Vengeful God,” Puerto Rico's National Anthem
David Bohn, Twitler Tantrump - He never says anything original, often gets things wrong, and is rarely coherent
James Bohn, Word Salad
Don Bowyer, The Best Notes - arm cluster, and a nod to "Hail to the Chief"
Don Bowyer, A Very Stable Genius - quotation of "If I Only Had a Brain"
Don Bowyer, You're the Puppet - both hands wearing a sock puppet, quotation of "When You Wish Upon a Star"
Mark Buller, States of Resistance - repetitive figures that don't change in any meaningful way, obstinacy breeds immunity
Vanessa Cornett, Tao Te Trump - sitting belligerently with arms crossed (and the spiritual insight of a very stable genius), 45 sec
Vanessa Corentt/Salam Murtada The Patriot (for Colin Kaepernick) - Star-Spangled Banner, kneeling (optional)
Corey Cunningham, A Lot of People are Saying - uses 45s verbal tics as source for musical motive, with frequent interruptions
Rob Deemer, Kneel - minimalistic unfolding of The National Anthem, representing both protest and perceived expectations
Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, Hail No! - distorted quotes of "Hail to the Chief" represent sense of dread
Paul Dickinson, #45words - improvisatory piece and computer program with 45 different words spoken by 45
David Drexler, Very Fine People - a canonic study on "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (with apologies to the Dead Kennedys)
Jack Curtis Dubowsky, Umbrella at Air Force One
Jack Curtis Dubowsky, DJIA - graphic score representing the plummeting index. So much winning!
Jack Curtis Dubowsky, i really don't care, do u? - the infamous Zara jacket worn by the First Lady during family separation crisis
Jack Curtis Dubowsky, S&P 500 - graphic score representing the plummeting index. So much winning!
Mohammed Fairouz, Piano Miniature #21.5
"Paradox of the Pluribus"
Danield Felsenfeld, America Obscura - anthems gone to seed, the reign of fear, and a whiff of hope, Ives quotations
Wes Flinn, Betsy's Yachts (What Do You Do With a Wealthy Sailor) - quotes the famous shanty, and gives DeVos a grade
Joel Friedman, Bomb(ast) and Circumstance - a portrait of #45's fractured and impatient personality
Michael Goodman, The Wettest Storm - play on words related to both Stormy Daniels and Hurricane Florence
Michael Hall, A-Hole in One - shifting mood markings, like "explosive and combative, insecurity, argumentative, delusion"
Lee Hartman, Very Stable Genius - 140-note matrix, with repeated "As" depicting the screams of sane people everywhere
Jason Hoogerhyde, King Midas and His Fool's Gold - like an aging monarch, emotionally unhinged, enamored with his own voice
Joshua Jandreau, Little King Trash Mouth - played with the knuckles
Kyle Johnson, A Small Handful of Forty-Five Note Miniatures for SmalL Hands
Jennifer Jolley, Democracy Dies in Darkness - cells of 1-6 notes, played loudly/accented/repeated, "pensive at a typewriter"
Heidi Joosten, Distracted - for piano and cellular phones!
Olivia Kieffer, Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices - Fake News!
Brendan Kinsella, SAD! (for speaking pianist) - uses text from campaign speeches/early presidency, punctuated with "SAD!"
Brian Linnell, President Trump's Twitter Feed - inspired by childish taunts, "Money, Money, Money," Russian National Anthem
Isaac Mayhew, Through and Through - a fast-paced, irritating portrait of a presidency
Robert McClure, F*!#face von Clownstick - words associated with #45 used to construct melodies in this piece with 140 beats
Marc Mellits, Etude No.45: Tweets of Orange Fear
Lila Meretzky, How I Learned to Worry - 140 pressure-packed and vacuum-sealed measures of escalation
Greg Nahabedian, 45 Takes a Bow and Goes Home - scores to a dream where #45 does a one-many Broadway show
Jim Olsen, Permutations on 45 - spatial notation used to show how a-metrical and a-rhythmic #45 is as a public speaker
Nick Omiccioli, LOCK HER UP! - based on the eponymous campaign chant, and other text about HRC, with "Dies Irae" chant
Bob Owens, I Alone Can Fix It - a reference to #45s self-important speech at the RNC
Samara Rice, Building the Wall - deconstructed/reconstructed melodic material from US/Mexico anthems
Logan Rutledge, Fortify - an etude inspired by the false sense of security a wall along the US/Mexico border would bring
Adam Schumaker, J is for Genius - for speaking pianist
Garrett Schumann, Supremacy (toccata) - complex becomes simple through systematic removal of notes until one remains
Alan Shockley, The Mouth
Jason Sifford, Look, Having Nuclear - interpretation of the speech pattern from an epic speech, with a "GASBAG" ostinato
Andrew Martin Smith, Substratum - a great, march-y, polytonal waltz mingling anthems of the US and USSR
Juan Maria Solare, Bad Hombres Jumping Over My Wall While Yelling Arriba! Arriba!
Nolan Stolz, Variations on a Nambian [sic] Folk Song - in response to #45's invented African country of Nambia in a speech
Nolan Stolz, Dotard - inspired by North Korean leader's comment about #45
Kathleen Theisen, Separated - dedicated to the families torn apart at the US/Mexico border
Nicholas Tran, Biggest Wall Possibly Ever - a piece that builds a wall of sound which is clearly of little substance and ineffective
Josh Trentadue, Bread and Circuses - raucous spectacle of sound and chaos; cluttered, unfocused, toxic, an incessant tantrum
Andy Villemez, Donald's Daily Affirmations - for singing pianist, awkward and slightly inspirational, over a chorale
Ethan Wickman, Through a Glass, Darkly - a palindromic chaconne, drawing on ideas of reflection, with a "wall" in the middle
Mark Winges, 45: What Comes After is More Important - loud, repeated high Ds, guttural sounds, followed by beauty
Bryan Wysocki, I Like Beer! - "after Brett Kavanaugh" for speaking pianist
©2020 Nicholas Phillips