I learned to play most musical instruments by ear, but oddly learned to play the drums backwards. So I learned righthanded on a left handed kit, and formed a band called Eclipse. At Wharton, I was a voice major when Dr. Wendtland, our stageband director pulled me out of class one day during madrigals. His drummer broke a leg just before a big jazz band festival in Colorado. Doc questioned my method, until he heard me play. We were the first junior college jazz band to win a national college stageband festival. Doc said the judges liked the drumming. So I won the Wharton Stageband MVP Award that year even though I never actually signed up for band.

After winning a few songwriting contests and talks with Lone Wolf Productions (Bill Ham / ZZ Top) I bought a piano and signed up for counterpoint and more theory with Paul Cooper and Marcia Citron at the Shepherd School of Music. But most of my time was spent at the library studying the scores of Ginastera, Piston and Copland, who are without a doubt my favorite composers. One day Witold Lutowslawski gave a master class at Rice after conducting a concert of his music with the Houston Symphony. I'll never forget how he explained the most difficult things so clearly. That was the day I became a composer. I did two seasons as a tenor with the Houston Symphony Chorale. Then the music business began its great decline. Today I continue to create original music, art and film work at Michaelmas Studios and still perform with my longtime musical group, The Eclipse Orchestra.

For three decades the music business has been broken. But now, via the net, artists can sell their music. So I'm recording again and plan to release for the first time all the music I've been working on all my life. The influence of my favorite composers, new and old, is weaved into my music. This is my way of paying homage to the great composers and groups who have passed this special craft to me. Your comments are important. We can change the world. Pray for peace.



Michael Barela Houston, Texas 2012