Other Compositions (in pdf format)
David H. Smith Jr. was born in Aurora, Colorado on March 1, 1967. However, most of his youth was spent composing songs at his home in the town of Chemung, NY. After attending high school in Waverly, NY, he began a four-year tour with the Army Band of Ft. Knox K.Y. as a vocal soloist and Tuba player. Afterwards, he received his B.S. in Music Education from SUNY Potsdam and his Masters Degree in music education from Ithaca College. He taught nine years in the vocal/general music at Northside Blodgett Middle School, Corning, N.Y. There, he directed the seventh chorus, eighth grade chorus, boy’s ensemble and women's chorale. Prior to his tenure at Corning, he directed the high school and middle school choirs in the Chatham Central School District.
His many compositions include pieces for brass quintet, sacred anthems, children's songs, sight-reading etudes, choral works, a requiem, instrumental/vocal solos, marches, and a musical. Scrooge, The Musical, was first performed in Athens, PA. This was presented in an oratorio format by The Valley Chorus, which he conducted from 1998 to 2003. His choral works include a commission to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the 1st Baptist Church of Painted Post.
Some of his music has been heard on cable television’s E! Magazine, as well as local radio stations. Currently, he is the choral director and theory instructor at CPP West High School, Corning, N.Y., as well as the choir director at the United Methodist Church in Athens, PA. Some of the organizations and groups that have performed/recorded his compositions include: The Palace Theatre, Lockport NY, Masterworks Theatre Group, Back Porch Productions, 1st Baptist Church of Painted Post, Athens United Methodist Church, The Valley Chorus, 113th Army Band at Fort Knox, Lehigh Valley Middle School, Chatham Central Schools, CPP School District, The Northside Tiger Jazz Band, 171 Cedar Arts Company, The Sam Pallet Band, and Mojo .
After a day of teaching at Northside Blodgett Middle School, I sat at my desk to catch up on some work before Thanksgiving break. I noticed that someone had left an English Literature book, so I picked it up and started to leaf through it. I read a few of the short stories in it- one being A Christmas Carol. When reading it, I noticed how well defined each of the characters were and thought this would make a great musical. At first, I let the idea fall by the wayside, until I found myself at The annual Valley Chorus Christmas Concert. During warm-ups, someone asked me, Dave, what are we going to do for next year? Somehow, for some reason, I found myself blurting out a reply that was in no way rehearsed or planned. We are doing the story of A Christmas Carol set to music that I will compose, I said. The room filled with a mix of cheers and blank stares- mostly blank stares. You’ll see, I said. It’ll be fun. Well, I had backed myself into a corner, at that was the only response I could think of. Immmediately, thoughts raced through my head as to how much work this was going to be. But after all I thought, I had a whole year. As it would happen, any ideas of working on it vanished from my mind until summer, when someone saw me and said, How’s that musical coming along? Just fine.., I replied. My family was leaving for vacation this week and Valley Chorus rehearsals started in one month. It was at this point that the work most hastily began. I took my laptop along on vacation, and kept that English Literature book as a reference. On our long drive to the shore, I read the story again and began to type out the libretto in a way that simply told the same story through poety versus prose. Over that week of vacation I had most of the libretto typed and some of the melodies already in my head.: Its Never Too Late To Say Merry Christmas, and God Bless Us Every One.
Maybe I thought that if I had a strong opening and ending, the rest of the show would write itself.- well it didnt. When we returned from vacation, it seemed I never left that small room at 248 East Pulteney St. With a computer and keyboard, I would stay awake late into the night (early morning), and work on putting music to the libretto I had written. After many days of these patterns of little of no sleep, heavy caffeine usage, and a good supply of peanut M&Ms, I became jumpy and frightened easily. Every time a door would close, or the furnace would come on, or I heard any other sound in the wee hours of the morning, my heart would race and I’d jump a bit in my seat. Over the next 3 weeks I would literally hear the songs in my sleep. There were times when I’d hear a new melody in my dreams, and wake up, go to the piano and work it out. A little weary and fatigued, I managed to finish the piano/vocal/bass/drum scores in time for our rehearsals. Joe Stutzman came into my classroom and heard me running through the trio music. He said, Hey! What ya playin? I explained the whole thing, and he went on to say that he knew of a theatre group that might be willing to produce it. The rest, I guess is history. Meetings started happening and Joe kept the idea going. Over the next months, the music unwent a few minor changes: adding Christmas Times the Only Time For Me and adding a sung part to the Lacymosa. The orchestra parts however, we not even started until about 40 days before George Martinec wanted to rehearse the orchestra for the Angels in The Wings full production the following year. Thank you to all who helped in making a silly dream a reality.