TREBLE CHOIR
Much of my choral and vocal music can be purchased through J.W. Pepper
Treble
Black Riders Came from the Sea | SA
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier | SSA
Dotted Silver Threads | SSAA
I Celebrate Myself | SSAA
Dotted Silver Threads (2026)
Self-published - buy digital score download
A cappella SSAA choir
Composed for the Texas Woman's University Concert Choir's 2026 tour of Greece and Bulgaria.
Rain is both mighty and gentle, fleeting and transformative. Setting text from Khalil Gibran’s poem “Song of the Rain VII,” Dotted Silver Threads explores the multifaceted nature of rain: small droplets descending from the heavens to bless the fields and flowers, arriving announced by thunder yet departing with a rainbow in their wake.
My Heart for Thee (2026)
Carl Fischer
SA choir and descant
My Heart for Thee, set to a Sufi-inspired text by Ameen Rihani, reflects the mystical tradition in which the heart symbolizes devotion, openness, and the soul’s longing for connection. Through images of fields, homes, pearls, and “magic things,” the poem offers the heart fully and without reservation. Thomas’s gently moving piano writing adds life and momentum, creating a lyrical and expressive SSA piece that feels intimate and meaningful.
Lady, Run (2026)
Carl Fischer
SSA choir
In this fun and humorous piece, the choir warns against insincere men, urging listeners to "better run" from such unreliable suitors. The text draws from Dorothy Parker's Social Note" and two other poems from her 1926 collection Enough Rope. Parker's characteristic sharp wit is on full display - transforming social commentary into biting humor, exposing the absurdities of romantic relationships and contemporary society.
You Shall Know (2025)
Self-published - buy digital score download
SSAA choir, piano four hands, violin, crotales, and tom-toms
Composed for the Texas Woman's University Concert Choir's performance at the 2025 ACDA Conference.
You Shall Know sets excerpts of the farewell address from Kahlil Gibran’s twentieth-century masterpiece The Prophet.
The first portion of the composition presents a turbulent search for a meaning beyond our material reality. The music shifts following the promise of “you shall see and you shall hear” as the restless ascending chord progression reverses upon itself and gradually builds with each repetition of the stepwise descent to the tonic. In the end, it is through blessing both the light and the darkness - the knowable and the unknowable - that we may truly know who we are and what our place is in this world.
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier (2023)
BriLee Press
SSA choir
The familiar text of this American and Irish folk song is graced with a fresh melody and refrain before partnering with the original folk tune in this beautiful setting for treble choir. It is a solid choice for developing lyrical legato lines and allows singers to develop a mature tone that will translate well for performances.
The Cold Winds Blow (2023)
Carl Fischer
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
Texas PML - Grade 3 Tenor-Bass Chorus
Virginia CDA Music List - Grade 2 (Treble)
Voicing Options:
TB choir
SA choir
Walter de la Mare's adventuring text is aptly set in this wonderful piece for tenor-bass choirs. A natural fit for any winter concert, the piano accompaniment brings the roll of the sea while the vocal lines bravely traverse the wintery wind and waves with confidence and strong harmonies that suit the story.
Black Riders Came from the Sea (2023)
Michael John Trotta Emerging Series/BriLee Press
Texas PML - Grade 3 Tenor-Bass Chorus
Voicing options:
TB choir
SA choir
Beginning with an ominous ostinato from the choir, "dum digga digga dum," this piece sets Stephen Crane's short but vivid poem describing the invasion of a fast-approaching enemy army. An engaging concert work for developing tenor-bass choirs that they're sure to like!
I'll Never Study (2022)
Mark Foster/Hal Leonard
2021 American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention
Treble All-State Piece for Texas (2025), NAME All-Eastern Honors Choir (2025), Virginia (2025), Kentucky (2023), and Tennessee (2023)
Virginia CDA Music List - Grade 5
SSAA choir
Composed in honor of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote. With satirical lyrics, liberation and empowerment are the important messages in this blues-infused music. Composed for the TWU Concert Choir performance at the
2020 Texas Music Educators Association Convention.
The Winter Owl (2020)
BriLee Press
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
Voicing Options:
SA choir
TB choir
3-part Mixed
This compelling setting of a William Shakespeare text vividly describes the winter season with its frigid temperatures and chilling wind. In contrast, the owl hooting merrily is illustrated with a change in meter and accented syncopated phrases. This minor-mode piece provides an interesting change of pace for winter concerts.
Two Landscapes of Song (2019)
Carl Fischer
Texas PML - Grade 3 Treble Chorus (O Cool is the Valley Now)
SA choir
Who Robbed the Woods? and O Cool is the Valley Now combine to create a set that both explores the subtle beauty, serenity, fragility, and resiliency of nature and examines our relationship to the natural world around us. For SA voices, this enchanting, contrasting pair of songs can be performed as a set, or each can stand alone nicely.
The Brook (2019)
BriLee Press
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
Texas PML - Grade 2 Tenor-Bass Chorus
Texas PML - Grade 2 Treble Chorus
Florida Vocal Association Music List (SA)
Voicing Options:
SA choir
TB choir
Like an ever-moving brook, chattering along, captured by the perpetual motion of the piano part, the use of the asymmetrical meter creates a constant sense of forward momentum in this delightful piece for treble choirs. Opportunities abound for literary connections, diction, tone, and meter with this text from a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Out, Damned Spot (2018)
Mark Foster/Hal Leonard
2019 American Prize 2nd Place Winner
Florida Vocal Association Music List
Virginia CDA Music List - Grade 6
SSAA choir
In depicting the manic nature of this Shakespeare text, the music features numerous key changes and employs a variety of time signatures. The combination of the dramatic text along with the ever-shifting music will require a full range of emotions and vocal virtuosity from your treble choir.
I Celebrate Myself (2018)
Mark Foster/Hal Leonard
SSAA choir
The Walt Whitman poem Song of Myself conveys both a sense of confidence and a spirit of adventure and is powerfully set in this treble voice arrangement. The text affirms our uniqueness as individuals but also stresses our interconnectedness to each other and the world. The music captures these characteristics with a constant drive and sense of excited anticipation.
I Saw Three Ships (2018)
BriLee Press
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
Voicing Options:
SA choir
Three-part Mixed choir
SATB choir
TB choir
Jolly and jaunty, rhythmic and fun, this energetic setting of the traditional English carol is sure to be a holiday favorite for your choir. Accessible ranges and a supportive accompaniment make this a great choice for developing choirs. Add the optional frame drum and flute parts for a more stylistic interpretation.
Where Can I Go? (2017)
Carl Fischer
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
Florida Vocal Association Music List
S(S)A choir
This spiritual setting of the Psalm 139 text, supported by a driving piano accompaniment and optional tambourine, really rocks! Wonderful harmonic moments and fun interplay between the voices provide opportunities to create excitement and explore expressive singing. Treble choirs of all levels will enjoy performing this unique spiritual which will delight audiences at any concert performance.
The Hurricane (2016)
BriLee Press
J.W. Pepper Editors' Choice
J.W. Pepper Basic Library
Texas PML - Grade 2 Mixed Chorus
Texas PML - Grade 2 Treble Chorus
Florida Vocal Association Music List
Ohio MEA Music List - Class B
Voicing Options:
S(S)A choir
Three-part Mixed choir
This setting of a text by William Cullen Bryant really conveys the excitement of a hurricane! Knee slaps, finger snaps, and blowing sounds effectively imitate the rain and wind while the piano contributes just the right percussive effects to complete the illusion of the storm. "Lord of the winds! I feel thee nigh, I know thy breath in the burning sky!"