Daniel Bukin

Score is available for purchase through TUX People’s Music.

Full score and are available for purchase through TUX People’s Music.

Score is available for purchase through TUX People’s Music.

Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Fisherman and His Wife”, this piece tells the story of a poor fisherman. One day, a poor fisherman prepares to venture out to sea to catch some fish for his family. Their meager house is in a fragile state. Their fields are barren of any crops. Their animals sick and dying. Fishing out at sea is their last resort. The fisherman bids his family farewell and sails off. The waves are endless and grow ever stronger until the fisherman realizes he is sailing through a storm. The sea thrashes vigorously. He narrowly avoiding capsizing and manages to catches a single goldfish. But this is no ordinary fish. It pleads for the fisherman to spare its life in exchange for a single wish. The fisherman wishes simply for his family to never want for food and to live in modest prosperity. The fish obliges the man’s wish and swims off. The sea is calm as the fisherman makes his way home. Then, suddenly a great wave rushes behind the fisherman’s boat, but it magically remains afloat as he is pushed with great speed back to shore. As he gets closer to shore, he sees his family smiling happily. Their previously dilapidated home is now a pristine cottage. The once barren fields are now filled with fresh crops. The once sick animals are now alive and well. As the family gathers around the dinner table, the fisherman recounts his adventure out at sea. When everyone retires for the evening, the man’s thoughts go to that magic goldfish, and where in the vast sea it might be heading now. This piece is a re-working of a chamber music piece with the same name, originally for violin, cello, piano, celeste, and percussion.

Score is available for purchase through TUX People’s Music.

This piece is a love letter to all the video games I played as a young child. Specifically, all the fantasy, role-playing, and turn-based action games. Series such as Golden Sun, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts. They were and still are, something I can get lost in for hours on end. And of course, the music from these games is catchy and simple, yet also emotional and complex. In fact, many stylistic conventions of video game music have made it into my own compositional process throughout the years. This piece, “Gamer’s Suite”, it is a direct homage to all those video games. The piece is divided into six movements, each of which characterizes a specific aspect of these video games. It starts off with the Overture to Adventure, which introduces the main theme of our hypothetical game, and encapsulates the aura of the start menu. The very first thing you see and hear in a new game. The 2nd movement, Hometown, is a simple and jaunty tune that paints a picture of the first area of the game you get to explore, your hometown. Very often it is also the area that teaches you how to play the game and introduces you to some of the main characters. Shortly after leaving this quaint area, we enter the 3rd movement, Battle! A short but raucous ride that plays alongside random battles fought throughout the game. In addition to exploration and battles, video games also have many characters, some of whom form very powerful bonds with each other throughout the game. A well-constructed story in a game even has the potential for you, the player, to go on an emotional journey and bond with these characters as well. Hence the 4th movement, Friendship. The 5th movement, Ancient Magic, describes what is usually, but not always, an integral part of fantasy games. A mysterious force that our characters must discover and master, a powerful magical being who helps our characters along, something unfathomably huge and cosmic that ends up being an important part of the story. Whatever form it takes, it is the source of our character’s power needed to face the upcoming big bad. The final movement, Final Battle and Finale, encompasses two major events at the end of many video games, the final boss battle and the conclusion of the game. The final boss battle is the last obstacle to overcome and is usually a larger-than-life event, both in terms of visual/aural aesthetics and in terms of gameplay difficulty. Hence why it is the most complex of the six movements. But after the boss battle is concluded, we return to our original theme from the first movement to highlight the end of our journey. The end of the game. In addition to the wide array of standard band instruments in this piece, I’ve also included an electric keyboard part which plays a major role in the overall timbre of the piece. In each movement, the keyboard part changes patches to add unique blends of sound to an otherwise typical concert band ensemble. Pizzicato strings for a little extra pluck, harp for lush arpeggiations, and my personal favorite, a full dark cathedral organ that starts the final movement with a fortissimo d-minor chord. I hope you enjoy performing “Gamer’s Suite” as much as I enjoyed composing it. Be well and play on!

For more info on scores and parts, use the contact me page.

Sergeii Rachmaninov’s Italian Polka, originally composed for piano four-hands, arranged for Concert Band.

This piece is not available for purchase at this time.

A medley of music from the video game series “Kingdom Hearts”, arranged for Concert Band. Featuring tunes such as “Dearly Beloved”, “Traverse Town”, and “Simple and Clean”. Original music by Yoko Shimomura.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687) was a French composer during the Baroque era who, in collaboration with other artists at the time, helped to pioneer early forms of performing arts that we know today, including ballet. Together with the author Molière and choreographer Pierre Beauchamp, the trio wrote Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman). It is a five-act comédie-ballet – a play intermingled with music, dance, and singing – satirizing bourgeois personality, and poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middleclass, and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. Marche pour la Ceremonie des Turcs (The March for the Turkish Ceremony) is taken from Act IV and depicts the grand procession of Turkish musicians and dancers.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

A suffrage anthem originally by Ethyl Smyth.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Meraki is a Greek word which roughly translates to “the love of doing something.” It is often attributed to someone who loves to cook or to make a home, but I saw it as something that could easily be applied to music as well. From 2016 – 2019, I was a part of the Triad Area Medical Orchestra (TAMO), a community orchestra based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina consisting of primarily medical students, medical professionals, and other locals who simply wished to play in an orchestra. I first joined as Assistant Conductor, and finally moved up to Music Director and Conductor in my last year. One thing that I thoroughly admire about TAMO is their friendliness, their joy, and their passion for making music. I looked forward to our rehearsals every Sunday, and the concerts we put together were not only a blast to perform, but also incorporated philanthropic causes. I wanted to do something unique to give back to the orchestra, and so I composed this piece, Meraki, specifically for TAMO. It was originally premiered in 2018. I later arranged this version for concert band, which is nearly the same music except for the transposition down a whole step.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641) was an Italian composer, singer, and lutenist in the early Baroque era. She composed extensively for both voice and strings, and her only surviving stage work, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (The Liberation of Ruggiero from the island of Alcina) is widely considered to be the first opera written by a woman composer. The work is a comic opera in four scenes that tells the story of Ruggerio, a knight who has been bewitched by the
evil sorceress Alcina, and his subsequent escape from Alcina’s island with the help of Melissa, the good sorceress. This sinfonia begins the opera, much like an overture in later operatic works. The original score calls for three treble instruments and one bass instrument. What makes this piece interesting is the use of horizontal harmony rather than the vertical harmony that our 21st century ears are used to. The top three voices cross over each other constantly which creates a captivating musical conversation.

General Performance Notes:
The tempos indicated are approximations based on live performances referenced during the arranging process. You may use slower or faster tempos if you wish.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Our story begins in the far distant future, in a city that miraculously floats in the sky, filled with technology beyond our wildest imaginings. Every year, this city holds a week-long festival of merriment and gaiety that concludes with the highly anticipated city-wide race. Racers from all over the city spend months constructing elaborate racing machines and honing their skills, all for the chance to be crowned this year’s winner. And this year, there is a newcomer to the racetrack, a scrappy youngster who has poured every bit of their soul into a modest and carefully constructed racer. With elbow grease, duct tape, and a prayer, they’re determined to win! The piece begins on the day of the race. All the streets are temporarily closed except to those heading to the starting line, and the sidewalks are jam-packed with cheering people who are anxious to see their favorite racer cross the finish line. Woodwinds rip across multiple scales while brass and percussion honk out many different timbres, representative of the joyful din that is race day. The racers take their mark and our protagonist takes their final checks before the starting beacon. Finally, with a unison rhythm played across nearly the entire ensemble, the starting bell is heard, and the racers are off! The racetrack starts as a simple straightway, represented by the soprano sax and E-flat clarinets solos. But before long, our protagonist dashes by a group of their fellow supporters, represented by the flutes and sleigh bells, who are relentless in their support for the youngster. Then, the track starts to get very treacherous as the road narrows and becomes very winding, represented by the uneven time signatures and complex scales in the full band. Amid the action, our protagonist has an idea. Carefully timing the turn into the next straightway, the racer activates a very special tool they have been saving: TURBO BOOST! The racer whooshes into the front of the pack and makes some great distance from the other racers. They have a brief moment of repose in the straightway as they look out at a beautiful view of the city, represented first by the English Horn and muted trumpets followed by the full ensemble. Finally, they see the finish line. Now is the time to focus. Now is the time to win! They notice behind them that some of the other racers have nearly caught up to him. The crowd is getting louder as the finish line gets closer. And just when things are so close that everyone’s breath stands still, our protagonist dashes across the finish line with the slightest edge on those behind them, winning the race! The piece ends with their vehicle screeching to a halt, represented in the piccolo and percussion, and as gently as a suddenly breaking racer can be, bumps into a padded wall to come to a full stop. The vehicle is definitely on the verge of collapse and disrepair, but our protagonist has never felt better!

Full score and parts will be available for purchase soon!

A medley of music from the show “Steven Universe” arranged for Concert Band. It includes tunes such as “We Are the Crystal Gems”, “Giant Woman”, and “Stronger Than You”. Original music by Rebecca Sugar, Jeff Liu, Aivi Tran, & Steven “Surasshu” Velma.

Score and parts are not available for purchase at this time.

A medley of music from the video game “Super Mario Galaxy”, arranged for concert band. Original music by Mahito Yokata and Koji Kondo.

Full score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.

Score and parts are not available for purchase at this time.

A medley of music from the video game Final Fantasy X arranged for Concert Band. Original music by Nobuo Uematsu.

For more info on scores and parts, use the contact me page.

As the title suggests, this piece was inspired largely by my three cats: Binx, Lily, and Eddy. Each one has a distinct personality, and thus each movement is a reflection of each one of them. The first movement, Aria, describes Binx, the eldest cat. He is usually very calm and relaxed, but when he sees something like cat grass or cat treats, he basically sings to get our attention. And thus, inspiration came for an aria. The chromatic figures initially played in the flute are meant to mimic his whining call. The second movement, Intermezzo, describes Lily, one of the two younger cats. She is very demure and usually keeps to herself, but she is never still for long as she likes to explore. The final movement, Scherzo, describes Eddy, also one of the two younger cats. He is the most energetic of the three and has a playful nature about him, which often gets him into trouble.

Full Score and parts are available for purchase via TUX People’s Music.