Composer

To purchase music email (roberthsloan@gmail.com - in your email please indicate title as well as what school or booster group will pay the invoice).

Checks should be made payable to “Robert H. Sloan”. Credit card payment is accepted via PayPal (@RHSMusic) and Venmo (@RHS-Music).

COLOSSUS (grade 3.5) - Colossus – a thing of enormous size. ($100 / $15)

A colossus is usually a statue that is larger than life. This colossus as an angry giant. A giant whose footsteps echo across the land. A giant whose angry screams strike fear into all who hear them. A giant who smashes and destroys. Someone must battle the giant.

But for many that “giant” can be an inner struggle. For those who struggle with mental illness their giant cannot be seen and yet it is very real. Mental illness can have echoing footsteps, and angry screams. Mental illness can smash and destroy. I hope that those who have this giant in their lives will always battle and never give up. Written with teenagers in mind – we all need help battling our mental giants.

HEARTBEATS (grade 3.5) - Coming Soon.

HER BEAUTY… IN MY EYES (grade 4) - Dawn Sloan.  My wife.  My perfection.  Even her imperfections are perfect. ($100 / $15)

 I hope we all have a beautiful person in our lives.  Beautiful on the outside.  Beautiful on the inside.  When I sat down to write a piece for my wife I decided not to make this an extended ballad.  Dawn, by nature, is not a “ballad” kind of person.  She prefers hair bands to boy bands… she prefers football to Hallmark.  I wanted to write a piece that would remind me of her.  And “ballad” just wouldn’t do that.  There is musical beauty (usually in the flutes because that is her instrument).  There is also laughter, and quirkiness, and fun, and joy, and a hint of sorrow (that’s for when I make her mad).

MADNESS MARCH (grade 3) - Coming Soon

ONE SMALL STEP (grade 4) - was commissioned by the St. Marys Area Community Band in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Auglaize County native Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.  In July 1969 Apollo 11 made the historic journey from Earth to the moon in fulfillment of the promise made years before by president John F. Kennedy. ($75 / $15)

ORB OF APOLLO (grade 3) - Apollo is the god of, among other things, the Sun.  The “Orb of Apollo” is a musical representation of a Sunrise, busy day, and Sunset.

 Alternatively, this piece is dedicated to my son.  Every father knows the Sun rises and sets on your children.  Not only does “Orb of Apollo” represent the day but also my son, Harrison.  It is thoughtful, beautiful, playful, quirky, serious, loud, and soft.  All the extremes he represents. Soloists include flute (for my wife Dawn, his mother), French horn (my dream instrument), trumpet (Harrison’s instrument) and features prominent percussion (my actual instrument). ($75 / $15)

SUMMER FANFARE (grade 3) - This short fanfare is meant to encapsulate the joy and playfulness of summer.  Children playing baseball, concerts in a park, marching bands at a parade, fireworks, and all of the other simple joys of summer were inspiration for this work.  Commissioned by the St. Marys Community Band (Dane Newlove, conductor) this fanfare premiered in the summer of 2015.  After 20 years of arranging for marching bands the composer is glad to have accepted this composition from his good friend Dane Newlove.  This is the first original composition for Mr. Sloan. ($75 / $15)

VAPOR TRAIL (grade 4) - A Vapor Trail is the trail of condensation made by the exhaust of an aircraft engine.  It is also a song, and album title, by the Canadian rock band RUSH. This piece is written in honor of Neil Peart following his passing in January 2020. ($100 / $15)

THE WARRIOR PRINCESS (grade 1) - Written for the Cory-Rawson 5th Grade (Beginning) Band in honor of their (Warrior Princess) director, Wendi Davis. ($25 / $10)

WINTER’S ELEGY (grade 2) - I hate winter. I hate the cold, and the grey, and the wind chills, and all the rest. Living in Ohio we have a lot of winter (though admittedly not as much as many other places). But just because I live in it doesn’t mean I have to like it. This is a celebration of the end of Winter. ($50 / $15)

WITHSTAND THE FURY (grade 3.5) - “Withstand the Fury” is about storms.  Storms can be hurricanes, blizzards, or thunderstorms.  But storms can also be emotional upheaval in our lives.  Whether weather related or emotionally related everyone experiences fury.  How we deal with these storms is far more important than the storms themselves. Below is the premiere performance by the Parkway HS Band under the direction of Ryan Twigg. ($100 / $15)