The first project I undertook was composing a 10-minute piece for orchestra and guitar titled Unforeseen Destinations. It will be premiered in April of 2020 by conductor Julius Williams and the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra with Peter Clemente as the guitar soloist.

I also created a choral setting of “Elegy,” a lovely movement from a string orchestra work by British composer John Ireland (1879-1962). For years I’ve wanted to do this and finally sat down to write the lyrics work and out all the musical challenges. There has also been more time to devote to practicing guitar, writing solo pieces, and getting out to play music I really love without caring whether the gig pays well—or at all.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I am dedicating more time to spiritual development.  For most of my adult life, I’ve worked at this through prayer, pondering and studying the scriptures, serving loved ones and strangers, and overall, striving to improve as a person. For me, making music is fantastic and I believe it can help us grow spiritually, but there will come a day when the music stops. People looking toward retirement spend a lot of time planning for it financially, but like everything else we experience, retirement is just another phase. We are all going somewhere after this and need to be prepared. I hope to go there without dread of facing the music but singing “the song of redeeming love.”

Now that colder weather has descended on the Northeast, I’ve put the hammock into the basement. But the music flows regardless of the season. Let’s see what the muse shows up with in wintertime. Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll post new developments as they happen.

In New England, as everywhere else in the world, the spring of 2020 was unusual, unprecedented. Cool and often rainy days from March through May added to the sense of isolation many have felt during these times of decreased sociality. Taking frequent solitary walks around the woods and ponds in my area and happening upon scenes of sunlight on the path ahead buoy my optimism that brighter days are certainly coming.

I’ve spent time writing music, studying scores, practicing a lot, and reading great literature. I’ve also completed several writing assignments. Days before social distancing began in March, I got together with Ben Verdery in his teaching studio at Yale. A distillation of our wide-ranging conversation about his latest album, Scenes from Ellis Island, will appear in the July/August issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. I also had the pleasure of doing a phone interview with Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta. She was a classical guitarist before embarking on her conducting career and hosts the biennial JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition with the Buffalo Philharmonic. She’s been that orchestra’s music director since 1998, and is a champion of the guitar concerto repertoire. That article will appear in Soundboard magazine’s fall issue. I got a call to write liner notes for a great nuevo flamenco album, En Casa Limón, by David Broza. For those who don’t know him, he’s a multiplatinum-selling Israeli songwriter who recorded his first album of original instrumentals showcasing his formidable guitar skills. Former Paco de Lucia producer Javier Limón did a masterful job behind the board for the album, which was released in June.

In a previous post, I mentioned the planned April 25 premiere of Unforeseen Destinations, a single-movement work I wrote for guitar and orchestra. That was canceled, but when a new date is scheduled I’ll post the details. Exploring further my interest in vocal music, I recently finished an a cappella choir setting of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Under the Harvest Moon.” I love the message of Sandburg’s words. I’m on to new projects now.

Faith, family, and music and are great motivators drawing me toward sunlight on the path ahead. There will always be shadowy patches to pass through. I hope you too will pause when you feel the warmth of the sun to gather enthusiasm and strength to move through the shadows to where light more fully illumines the pathway.

Like many during the quiet times of the past year, I occupied myself with various projects. One I am particularly excited about is a new album of solo instrumental guitar pieces: Toward a Fork in the Road. With the exception of one piece by Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz, I arranged or composed the rest of the music. The tracks run the gamut from the Albéniz to three songs by Sting to hymn tunes to my originals—including the title cut. It was recorded it in few sessions spread over the past couple years at Squam Sound in New Hampshire with my longtime friend Randy Roos engineering, mixing, and mastering. Another friend Ray Sewell, created the cover art and design. I am very pleased with how things turned out. The music is available on major streaming services and CDs are offered on this site and through CD Baby.

I also began working with Canadian music publisher Productions d’Oz to get my original solo guitar pieces to the public. Thus far they have released “Please Thank Lyle Mays,” a tribute penned after the 2020 passing of the former Pat Metheny Group pianist and composer Lyle Mays. Bill Kanengiser of the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet premiered it June 29, 2020 at Boston GuitarFest and it remains part of his current program. D’Oz also published my latest offering: Five Situations, which comprises five solo guitar pieces with descriptive titles including “Toward a Fork in the Road,” the title track on my album. Upcoming editions include Allegretto, Elegy, and Passacaglia, a concert work which is also on the album. Visit https://productionsdoz.com/nos-artistes/small-mark.

Last year, I also kept busy with journalistic pursuits. I did magazine profiles of classical guitarists Sharon Isbin, Manuel Barruecco, Ben Verdery, and Irina Kulikova, as well as conductor JoAnn Falletta (who just won another Grammy). So far this year, I completed reviews of Pat Metheny’s Road to the Sun album and the Newman & Oltman guitar duo’s Leo Brouwer album for Acoustic Guitar magazine. I am very excited to have written for Soundboard magazine a tribute to one of my heroes: classical guitar giant John Williams who turned 80 in April. I also penned liner notes for David Broza’s En Casa Limon flamenco album.

I hope you also made the best of the past year and have already or will soon receive the Covid-19 vaccine. I’ve gotten mine, and like everyone else, am anxious to live freely again. Thanks for visiting my site. Here’s wishing you all the best.

One of my heroes: classical guitar giant John Williams who turned 80 in April.

For many, the start of a new year is a time for glances back to the old year and forward toward the new one. A high-water mark in 2023 for me was attending the premiere of my three-movement guitar and cello work, The Path of the Low Valley. Russian guitar virtuoso Irina Kulikova and Scandinavian cello phenom Andreas Brantelid performed it at the Mai Festival in Relligen, Germany on May 12. It was an evening I will long remember. The sheet music for this piece is available through Les Productions d’Oz.

The newest project for 2024 will be writing a book. In the final quarter of last year, I lost a longtime friend, Lee Berk, who served for 25 years as the president of Berklee College of Music. (The appellation “Berklee” was derived from the reversal of Lee’s names and became the official name of the school in 1955 at the behest of Lee’s father and Berklee founder, Lawrence Berk.)

After devoting his career building Berklee into the world’s largest music institution, Lee remained a lifelong supporter of music and musicians by producing concerts until his final day in October 2023. I was honored to be asked by his wife Susan Berk to write his biography. It will be a heavy lift, but I am equipped to take this on. I was a Berklee student in the 1970s and later spent three decades working at the college, the majority of those years working with Lee. The book is currently in its early stages, but I will post updates here.

Ongoing projects include writing and publishing my musical compositions and arrangements.  Thus far, Les Productions d’Oz has released seven editions of my work.  We have plans for new releases too. This year, I also hope to solidify arrangements for the premiere for my one-movement concerto for guitar and orchestra, Unforeseen Destinations. Finally, at the end of last year, I was called to be the choir director at my church. Hence, my calendar is filled with projects that will keep me busy through the next 12 months. Thanks for visiting my site and feel free to reach out to me.

Guitarist Irina Kulikova and Mark Small at the 2023 Mai Festival in Rellingen, Germany