Favorite/Recent Projects


Updated September 2008

A primary goal for my time in Columbia is to do more writing. It seems I always plan to do more of this, but then I get bogged down at work. Work isn't necessarily bad - I'm a musician in the Army. However, my work in the Army is performance oriented, and I prefer the composition and recording aspects of music. This page is a large, but incomplete, list of my creative projects over the years, particularly large or favorite music projects.

Compositions and Recordings

  1. JFB, aka "Cold Duck" - This was my Jazz Funk Band at Fort Bliss. Although this was an Army ensemble, we decided to record on our own as civilians using our own equipment instead of the government's. Check out the Music Section for some mp3s, plus there may be one or two on my MySpace band account.
  2. Fav'rit Things - This was my first completed big band arrangement. The bulk of it was done in my time at Fort Leonard Wood, but I finally finished it in 2007 while at Fort Bliss. It is an arrangement of Rogers and Hammerstein's My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music. I put in some meter changes, with the bulk of it being in 11/8, but with some 5/8 measures and straight ahead swing in the "When the dog bites" section. We never worked it up to concert performance level, but I did get some rough recordings of it. I learned a few things not to do in a big band arrangement, but I was pleasantly surprised at its reception in the band and the quality of the arrangement (for a first attempt).
  3. Lost Love Songs - In 2007 I finally finished the songs I had written dealing with a breakup I'd had years earlier. Not all of the songs deal %100 literally with that relationship, but that was the primary inspiration (or instigation). I doubt the quality of some of them, but a couple of them are reasonably good, often receiving positive inquiries when I play them on solo piano (without singing). Because of the strong emotions and memories these songs invoke in me, I may never get around to recording all of them, although I made an attempt with a couple of them - The Love We Imagined as an instrumental version in my music section, and Time Heals, available on my MySpace band account if you can stand my singing. In my music section down towards the bottom under "Scores", all of the songs are available in playable Scorch notation format, using your computer's midi instruments, although these are not the final versions of all the songs (not completely proofread, and two lines of lyrics changes). Scorch is a free plugin available from Sibelius.com. I would be humbly honored if anyone else wanted to record them, but only check them out if you don't mind sappy/country/emo/depressing music.
  4. I Love This Land - This is a song written by Frank Suri, a Sergeant Major in the Army Band field. I helped in the recording, did most of the mixing, and performed the piano parts. I think the song is rather good - and it's his first completed song, too!
  5. Blue Lotus Quintet - Recordings by Nate DeRusha from Fall 2005 are available in the "Music" section, or by clicking here. A description of the group and my involvement is in the performance section below.
  6. My Sweet Child - I don't remember when I made this, but I'm pretty sure it was in 2004 when I was playing around with and trying to learn Reason, an awesome software synthesize/sequencer program. It's not an original tune, but rather an electronica arrangement of a rock song popular in the early 90s. GnR did it first, then Sheryl Crow, and now me! I used the file as the background music for a movie with pictures of myself from 2002 through 2005 that can be seen on my .mac website - here is a shortcut. I'm really not too egotistical of a person - I created the movie due to family complaints that I didn't have enough pictures of myself posted with my other photos.
  7. The Love We Imagined - September 2001 - Songwriter/Performer - A song I wrote and recorded for the "Armed Forces School of Music, Class 150 Keyboard Projects" CD.  An MP3 file is located in my Music section.
  8. Oberlin Pop - Fall 1999 to Summer 2000 - Co-Producer/Songwriter - An Oberlin all student project with lyrics by Angela Howard (also Executive Producer) and music by Huang Ruo, Fan Yang, Jeremiah Rosenthal, and myself. The result was a complete pop album, with some R&B and jazz influences. The performers were also Oberlin College and Conservatory students. An MP3 file of the song I wrote for this project is located in my Music section.
  9. The Transfiguration of Christ - Spring 2000 - Composer, Performer - My TIMARA Senior Recital, for which I composed all original music. Performers: Laura Street, Voice; Ying Zhang, Organ; Christopher Goodman, Keyboards/Electronics, Recordings, Spoken Word. An excerpt is located in my Music section.
  10. Tattered Hat Album - Spring 2000 - Engineer, Co-Producer, Keyboardist - Tattered Hat is a group composed of Toshio Mana (most of the writing, also bass and lead vocals), Jonathan Hoffman (guitars), Charles Daum (Drums), and myself. Usually, Toshio would come to us with a song and we would tear it apart and then record it. Sometimes another person (usually Jon) would bring a riff or song idea, or a song would develop out of our hour long improv sessions.
    Check out Oberlin Conservatory's Article about us and our first album, Strangling a Weasel with No Neck. The second album includes a couple rerecordings of the better songs from our first album.  Some songs from our second album are in my Music section.
  11. Huang Ruo's Being - December 1999-January 2000 - Recording Engineer - Specifically for the version on track 13 of America's Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax Vol. 4, Arizona University Recordings. 
  12. Holy Spirit, Breath of God - Spring 1999 - Composer, Performer - My Junior TIMARA Recital, based on the theme of Pentecost. I composed all the music and text (except Bible verses). Performers: Claire Thompson, Voice; Michael Preacely, Voice; Joshua McFadden, Live Engineer; Christopher Goodman, Keyboards/Electronics, Recordings, Spoken Word. 
  13. Phoney and Boney's Love Tour - November/December 1998 - Co-Creator, Stage Manager, Performer - A mammoth performance art work completed with seven other Oberlin students - Maura Brown, Amy Wolf, Diana Zumas, Jacob Ciocci, Aaron Bennett, Eliza Valk, Avi Smith. Basically a roaming play with audience participation (and art, and a puppet show, and a party afterwards in which we stayed in character). I recorded some sound effects, did an arrangement of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" for my and my partner's scene, sang in another scene, and stage managed the whole thing.  Here's a picture of the group, with me in the middle in the tuxedo.
  14. Masterworks for Learning: A College Collection Catalogue - Spring 1998 - Music Director - Subject to the approval of Jenny Wilker (Project Director), I chose, edited, and prepared the music for the CDROM version of Allen Memorial Art Museum's Masterworks for Learning (chosen from the recordings of students and faculty). 

Performance Work

  1. 282nd Army Band - When I arrived in May 2008, I was looking forward to joining this band, but it's been a rocky start. However, I expect improvements once there are some personnel changes. Currently I'm in a Show Band similar to the one I was initially in at Fort Bliss, although it seems as though the horns are dismissed at the beginning of every rehearsal. I'm also in a Jazz Combo led by a guitarist, with no horns. There's talent in this group, but it has really demonstrated for me the importance of interpersonal relationships in a small ensemble. We're hanging in there, and we are making good music, but it is the least fun I've ever had in a band. Fortunately, I am starting to develop some projects outside of work, and I'm getting most of my weekends off, which allows me to work on my own music. Surprisingly, though, Concert Band is actually fun at the 282nd. I spend most of the rehearsal playing - often on keyboards - instead of sitting in the back twiddling my thumbs.
  2. 62nd Army Band - keyboards and various - I reported Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas on June 30, 2005, joining the 62nd Army Band. The structure at the time wass similar to the 399th (particularly marching and concert bands), except that the Show Band was a band that encompasses everything from a rock combo to a full swing band adjusting to whatever song we are playing, even in the same performance. In time, though, the Show Band was replaced by the Rock and Country Bands (with mostly the same personnel) and the Jazz Combo morphed into the Jazz Funk Band, lead by SFC Collier on Sax, and with SPC Buell on trumpet. For awhile, I also had a jazz combo (the JV Jazztet) that would sub for the Jazz Funk Band on some gigs (I was the only person in both groups).
  3. Blue Lotus Quintet - keyboards - Fall 2005 - MP3s are available on my Music page. This quintet did the widest range of music that I've done with a single group since college - from a funked out Nardis to Bebop to original free jazz like Island of Engle's Elves. This group was undoubtedly my best jazz experience to date. Sadly, we've somewhat disbanded since our lead horns moved away, but we have come together for a couple of jobs with different horn players. The new horn players are good, but when you have major personnel change the group dynamic just changes.
  4. 399th Army Band - From December 2003 through June 2005 I was in Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and was in the following components -
  5. Protestant Chapel Service, Central Iowa Chapel - music director, keyboardist, organist - For roughly a year, I was a government contractor, directing the music for an on-post trainee church service on Fort Leonard Wood. Two vocalists shared much of the responsibilities with me, and introduced me to some more contemporary Christian music. This was a very rewarding experience...
  6. Capricho's - Keyboards and Bass - This was an ad hoc group that gathered at a coffee shop of the same name in Waynesville, MO, but the instrumentation was interesting - keyboards, violin, vocalist - playing jazz standards and folk. Sometimes we added guitar, bass, or some random instrument. The violinist, David McKay, was also in the 399th Army Band as a clarinet player, so we did a few Army gigs as a duo. We sounded like something you would hear on NPR's "Prairie Home Companion".
  7. 1st Armored Division Band - Most of my performance work in 2002 and 2003 was with the First Armored Division Band (or 1AD Band).
  8. MBQ - Keyboards - my primary civilian jazz combo, led by Mark Botwinick. Bass, drums, sax, and me. It was a Quartet or a Quintet depending on whether or not we had a guitarist.
  9. Ferrous - Keyboards - another jazz combo. Bass, drums, sax, and me. Sometimes we added other woodwinds and brass.
  10. His Name Is Jesus - November/December 2000 - Pianist - Christmas Cantata at First Baptist Church in Ridgeway. Although primarily there to play piano, I helped accomplish some minor arranging necessities as well.

Web Sites

The following is a list of web sites I have developed and/or maintained.
  1. I don't know if you can really count it as web work, but extensively "pimped" my Myspace account. :-D
  2. Peace Community Church - Summer 2000 - This site is now maintained by one of the pastors, Steve Hammond, but I designed it and got it up and running. Steve has caught on quickly - I only had to spend a few minutes with him, and he's been wonderful about maintaining the site. 
  3. Christopher.Goodman.net (the current site) - Up since Summer 2000 - My professional site, where I post my resumes, current projects, and anything else affecting my career.
  4. Goodman's Apple Home - April 2002 - showcasing my photographs from my various travels.

Papers

Click HERE for the Papers main menu.