Member Since: 5/6/2007
Band Website: travisjweller.com
Influences: Within the band world: Andrew Boysen Jr., W. Francis McBeth, J. Clifton Williams, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Mark Camphouse, Eric Whitacre, Samuel Hazo, Quincy Hilliard, Timothy Mahr, Claude T. Smith, Alfred Reed, Timothy Loest, Frank Erickson and Roland Barrett.New favorites: Patrick Burns, Drew Fennell, David Gillingham, David MaslankaAnd others: Frederic Chopin, Gustav Holst, John Williams, Philip Glass, Igor Stravinsky, James Horner, Joel McNeely, Alan Menken, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Sting,
Sounds Like: This is really the tough one. I once heard Tom Petty say that everything you have ever heard comes out of you when you play or sing - and I am sure the same holds true for composers. There are shades of just about everyone I have studied in my music. From the selection of timbre combinations, to the orchestration of a chord, to the style of a certain section I find myself recalling another composer and how they might treat a similar passage. Ultimately I try to write music that the performer will enjoy playing (and practicing), and music that will engage the audience from different perspectives. What do I hope people say about my music? I hope I conceive the large form as well as Camphouse and Boysen. I hope it is colored like Alfred Reed and David Gillingham (though I am new to his music). I hope I have unique rhythmic sensibility like Claude T. Smith. I hope it creates unique moments that appeal to a wide range of listeners like Hazo and Hilliard. I hope it creates dramatic and emotionally powerful moments like McBeth and Whitacre. I enjoy the challenge of writing each and every day. The death of any composer is to repeat themself, and that is something I have sought to do every time I begin the process anew. I enjoy including sections of small groups within the ensemble for variety in texture. I don't try to create new sounds within the percussion section - I like the idea of using them to enrich and accentuate the ensemble. I try to give every section of the band a moment to shine in each piece - and sometimes that means putting instrumentalists on an island. I am constantly fascinated by rhythm and meter, and more than anything else that is the musical element I will gamble with the most. Most of all I just hope that they enjoy it. I hope that it gives them a new admiration for music. I hope I sound like the composer God intended for me to be.
Record Label: The FJH Music Company, Florida
Type of Label: Major