About the Director
Tim Ostrow is a product of Florida’s school system. He graduated from Melbourne High School, attended Brevard Community College for his AA degree, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Stetson University. His passion for composition, performance, and teaching blossomed at Stetson. At Stetson, he performed as a saxophonist under Mr. James Bishop and bassoonist under Dr. Ashley Heintzen. He performed with the Stetson Concert and Jazz Bands every year as both a saxophonist and bassoonist. He graduated Stetson Summa Cum Laude and was admitted by invitation into the Pi Kappa Lambda honors music fraternity by composition chair Dr. Sydney Hodkinson and recommended by Dr. Bobby Adams. Tim is also a member of the Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity.
His first and current teaching position is at L.A. Ainger Middle School in Rotonda West, Florida where he began teaching in the fall of 2007. In his tenure, the bands have grown from around 80 student members to well over 200. He currently teaches two beginning bands, one intermediate band, one advanced band, a 7/8th grade percussion ensemble, and a jazz band. He is an active member of the Florida Music Educators Association and the Florida Band Master’s Association. In the past thirteen years, Mr. Ostrow’s students have participated heavily in FBA’s solo and ensemble, jazz band music performance assessments, and concert band music performance assessments. The students and ensembles consistently earn superior ratings. In 2015, Mr. Ostrow was recognized as the Charlotte County Teacher of the Year (see the accompanying videos below). In the spring of 2017, the advanced band was selected to perform along with the Charlotte County Symphony in a professional joint performance. The band performed Nelhybel's “March to Nowhere” and Ticheli’s “Joy”. Tim has also served three student interns from FGCU including Mr. Kevin Devitt who teaches at Challenger MS in Lee County, Mr. Tommy Bunnens who teaches at Charlotte HS in Charlotte County, and Mr. Philip Eyrich who now works with Mr. Ostrow as the director of bands at Lemon Bay HS in Charlotte County.
Privately, Tim is happily married to Melissa Ostrow who teaches Digital Design and multiple certifications at Charlotte Technical College. They have two sons, Sammy and Liam. Tim enjoys performing and teaching saxophone and bassoon, and composes solo, chamber, and large ensemble music in his free time. In the summer of 2011 he was selected to stay at the Hermitage for the STAR (StateTeachers Artist Residency). During his stay, he arranged a piece for concert band titled “Tin Pan Alley” as well as worked on a bassoon concerto and a flute sonata which can be viewed below. As a performer, Tim has performed locally with the Punta Gorda Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Charlotte Symphony), the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Charlotte County Big Band, and the Charlotte Chorale. He has also taught and/or coordinated summer music camps for Stetson University Saxophone and Double Reed Summer Workshops, the Oviedo Middle School Summer Band Camp, the Charlotte Symphony Summer Music Camp, and his own beginning band summer recruitment camp.
His first and current teaching position is at L.A. Ainger Middle School in Rotonda West, Florida where he began teaching in the fall of 2007. In his tenure, the bands have grown from around 80 student members to well over 200. He currently teaches two beginning bands, one intermediate band, one advanced band, a 7/8th grade percussion ensemble, and a jazz band. He is an active member of the Florida Music Educators Association and the Florida Band Master’s Association. In the past thirteen years, Mr. Ostrow’s students have participated heavily in FBA’s solo and ensemble, jazz band music performance assessments, and concert band music performance assessments. The students and ensembles consistently earn superior ratings. In 2015, Mr. Ostrow was recognized as the Charlotte County Teacher of the Year (see the accompanying videos below). In the spring of 2017, the advanced band was selected to perform along with the Charlotte County Symphony in a professional joint performance. The band performed Nelhybel's “March to Nowhere” and Ticheli’s “Joy”. Tim has also served three student interns from FGCU including Mr. Kevin Devitt who teaches at Challenger MS in Lee County, Mr. Tommy Bunnens who teaches at Charlotte HS in Charlotte County, and Mr. Philip Eyrich who now works with Mr. Ostrow as the director of bands at Lemon Bay HS in Charlotte County.
Privately, Tim is happily married to Melissa Ostrow who teaches Digital Design and multiple certifications at Charlotte Technical College. They have two sons, Sammy and Liam. Tim enjoys performing and teaching saxophone and bassoon, and composes solo, chamber, and large ensemble music in his free time. In the summer of 2011 he was selected to stay at the Hermitage for the STAR (StateTeachers Artist Residency). During his stay, he arranged a piece for concert band titled “Tin Pan Alley” as well as worked on a bassoon concerto and a flute sonata which can be viewed below. As a performer, Tim has performed locally with the Punta Gorda Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Charlotte Symphony), the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Charlotte County Big Band, and the Charlotte Chorale. He has also taught and/or coordinated summer music camps for Stetson University Saxophone and Double Reed Summer Workshops, the Oviedo Middle School Summer Band Camp, the Charlotte Symphony Summer Music Camp, and his own beginning band summer recruitment camp.
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If I Could Teach My Students JUST ONE Lesson...
Why I Became a Teacher
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Compositions by Mr. Ostrow
Flute Sonata, Mvt. 2
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college. (Special thanks to Trista Grossnicklaus on Flute and Al Rozier on Piano)
This particular movement was originally composed for a music theory four project. It was originally titled “Liquid Tension”. I had to compose in the impressionist style of composers such as Ravel and Debussy, explain the techniques to the class, and have it performed. The piece was so well liked, it was recommended by the professors to be performed at a regularly scheduled weekly recital.
The piece used the ternary format with a fun twist to the ending giving the piano the melody upon the return. Techniques used included modal melodies, extended and borrowed chords, rhythmic blur, altered dominants, and just about every other technique impressionist composers used. During my stay at the Hermitage I revisited the piece and made it into a separate ballad movement.
Flute Sonata, Mvt. 3
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in the summer of 2011. (Special thanks to Trista Grossnicklaus on Flute)
This was my original composition project during my stay at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. I needed a piece to be performed on the beach that would express my stay at the Hermitage.
For days I floundered walking the grounds of the gorgeous beachfront property until I finally found my inspiration. Late one evening, I and a fellow Hermitage STAR artist and writer Melissa Pranke decided to walk the beach in hopes of seeing sea turtles lay eggs. This was a very moving thing to observe. Over the course of my stay, I watched one Leatherback returning to the sea, many loggerheads laying eggs, and one morning I even observed the baby turtles struggle in their journey from nest to ocean. The struggle of the baby turtles became the underlying theme of this movement which I call the Sea Turtle movement.
Like the second movement, this movement is modal using minor and major sounding modes to give impression of the struggle. It is Rondo format with A, B, A’, C, A, Coda. The Coda is a large section that features the final battle of the sea turtles against the rhythmic batter of the oncoming waves. In the end, the sea turtles make it! Most of them…
Bassoon Concerto, Mvt. 1
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college.
This was composed for my bassoon instructor at Stetson, Dr. Ashley Heintzen. I began to work on this as a type of “revenge” work for making me perform as principal chair for Harrison’s Dream by Peter Graham for the CBDNA conference. I spent countless hours on my secondary instrument that year preparing for the diabolical solo. The semester of the performance I earned my only B grade which took away my perfect 4.0. I still graduated with a 3.97!
The work is scale based with Baroque era instrumentation. The accompaniment for the era included the harpsichord (piano was not invented yet) and cello. The cellist often acts as a dance partner with bassoonist when it is not functioning as a bass line. This was an attempt to write for Baroque era instrumentation with modern harmonies.
The second/third movement is considerably longer and much more difficult featuring a difficult cadenza prior to the final coda section. It is still under construction as I was informed that it was too difficult for Dr. Heintzen to perform.
Tin Pan Alley (for Concert Band)
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in the summer of 2011.
In my fourth year of teaching middle school band, my grandmother who is a lifelong pianist, Jean Ostrow, gave me six boxes of piano sheet music that she had obtained through an early American relative.She had catalogued the music herself and kept them in great condition.
The music that I received ranges from the mid 1800’s to the 1950’s. She explained to me that it was a combination of her collection and the distant relative. This relative played some of this music for silent movies with piano accompaniment.
During my stay at the Hermitage, I had planned to study the works I found and arrange some of them for concert band just like Clare Grundman did with his arrangement of American folk songs in Kentucky 1800. This would be a great way to share American music with my students!
I discovered that many of the pieces and songs were from the early 1900’s, specifically from the Tin Pan Alley composers. This time period and music fascinated me as I had never studied it in college. I soon found out that even George Gershwin came from Tin Pan Alley. I then chose three of the top hits in that time period and began to arrange them for concert band. The pieces are heard in the order of Alexander’s Ragtime Band by Irving Berlin, In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree by Egbert Van Alstyne, and I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl that Married Dear Old Dad by Harry Von Tilzner.
In the beginning you will hear the Suwanee River theme song performed as a woodwind chorale. The trumpet and brass heralds a transition to the first theme of Alexander’s Ragtime Band which displays the high woodwinds and trumpets with a brief low woodwind and trombone soli. There is a metric modulation to the second theme where the quarter note becomes the eighth note. The key is also pivoted to a minor key. This section was originally composed in a major tonality which I believed did not fit the lyrics. In the lyrics, the gentleman sings of his wife buried In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree. This minor key theme is performed by a clarinet choir then modulates to the relative major key. This time the theme is rhythmically augmented and is played through twice with the sonority of French horns, 1st clarinet, and tenor saxophone. This section comes to a close with a cadential fermata. A trombone solo then takes the listener to the upbeat final theme of I Want a Girl which illustrates a conversation between the trumpets and woodwinds. For the coda section, the slower chorale of Suwanee River is heard once more, this time with the full band joining in. The work ends with a typical harmonic “back and forth” with a hint of Gershwin played by the 1st clarinets.
Piano for Two, Mvt. 1 and Mvt. 2
Click here for a .pdf for mvt. 1 and .pdf for mvt. 2
Composed in college.
The first movement is subtitled “Fast and Furious”. It is intended for two very good piano players to perform. When I initially began to work on it, I felt that the majority of my time was spentpracticing and doing homework. As soon as my recital was over, I replaced my practice time with time spent composing. I have continued working on this now in my spare time as a band director. I have since worked on a second movement which is subtitled "Impassioned" or with passion.
This piece is scale based. The form of the work is motivic based on interval relationships and rhythmic diminutions and augmentations. It would take a many words to analyze the different techniques used. Please check out the .pdfs above if you would like to read, study, or perform. I plan on writing a third movement in the near future.
This piece also began after I arranged a piece for orchestra. I discovered that it was fairly easy to arrange piano for two for a larger ensemble. Perhaps in the future I will arrange this and the second movement for band or orchestra.
Diatribe for Pipe Organ
Click here fore a .pdf
Composed in college.
(Special thanks to Josiah Armes for the recording at Stetson University's Elizabeth Chapel)
Diatribe is a program work in four sections. Each section evokes the wild back and forth nature of someone in a "diatribe" or rant. At the time, the 2004 Bush and Kerry election for President was very heated. I felt that the candidates and their coherts couldn't do much other than rant. This piece describes such a diatribe.
The first section is the Introduction of the speaker which starts soft and small and builds to a tumultuous climax with the dissonance of the minor second interval leading to an E major chord. This is the speaker presenting himself. He then begins to rant until he enters a mocking waltz which I titled "grotesque waltz". After the waltz section he confirms his platform to the audience in the "Fantasia" section (which is nothing but fantasy). The mood quickly darkens in the "Lament" section. Here the speaker tells us what will happen if the other candidate is elected. In the final section the main theme is restated and confirmed with an extended cadence.
This work is scale based with the intervals of the minor 2nd and tritone hear throughout. It opens with the octatonic scale which is clearly grounded to a tonal center of the pitch E. The grotesque waltz section is in F minor which is a sharp contrast from the first section. Here you will find some stacked chords including a C7 in the left hand with a G#7 in the right hand. There is a short transition leading to the Fantasia which tonally focuses between the Db major chord and the G manjor chord (Tritone apart). The Lament section has hints of the octatonic scale heard in the beginning which comes to a head with the accelerating transition section in 3/4 time. The finale completes the diatribe with the octatonic scale in full view again. This time, when the pedals are played, there are more stacked chords (chromatic mediants) to be heard before the final fermata.
Invention #3
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college.
During my studies of music theory at Brevard Community College I was very interested in writing polyphonic music. I studied and enjoyed the inventions and fugues by J.S. Bach. I decided at this time to try to write a few. I wrote a total of four.
Variations
Variation #10 Variation #6 Variation #15 Variation #8 Variation #13
.pdf of Variation #10 .pdf of Variation #6 .pdf of Variation #15 .pdf of Variation #8 .pdf of Variation #13
Composed in college
I began writing the above variations while attending Brevard Community College. I thought it would be a great way to develop the ability to compose. I recognized that many composers have written long works by developing a theme- especially the greats! Point and case- Beethoven's Symphony #5 repeats the same 4 note motive for eight and half minutes in the first movement.
I used the same formula in each variation with a self-composed theme in monophonic, followed by a homophonic (with harmony), and then polyphonic (multiple voices). Other techniques I used include rhythmic augmentation and diminution, melodic variation (changing an element of the melody), texture change (change from major to minor or minor to major), and melodic sequence.
Funkasaurus (for Jazz Combo)
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in High School.
In my senior year of high school I began to play open mic nights in downtown Melbourne. I would jam with my friends from high school band/jazz band. At such an event, I was recruited by keyboardist Eric Young and singer Billy Lee to start a 8-9 piece funk and soul group called the “Billy Lee Soul Revue”. At first I was just a player, and soon found myself arranging cover tunes for the horn players. I did this while I attended the local Brevard Community College until I transferred to Stetson University. In my final year at Stetson, I had heard the band was getting back together and they needed horn players. I then recruited some friends and we spend late nights and weekends practicing and performing more than three hours from school until we graduated.
As a teenager, I intended for the Soul Revue to perform Funkasaurus. We never did, but it remains a good memory. This was composed before I had much knowledge of music theory and compositional techniques, but I still had my ear to tell me what did or did not sound good. I also began using the Finale notation software to compose and arrange. Today I use an updated form of Finale.
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college. (Special thanks to Trista Grossnicklaus on Flute and Al Rozier on Piano)
This particular movement was originally composed for a music theory four project. It was originally titled “Liquid Tension”. I had to compose in the impressionist style of composers such as Ravel and Debussy, explain the techniques to the class, and have it performed. The piece was so well liked, it was recommended by the professors to be performed at a regularly scheduled weekly recital.
The piece used the ternary format with a fun twist to the ending giving the piano the melody upon the return. Techniques used included modal melodies, extended and borrowed chords, rhythmic blur, altered dominants, and just about every other technique impressionist composers used. During my stay at the Hermitage I revisited the piece and made it into a separate ballad movement.
Flute Sonata, Mvt. 3
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in the summer of 2011. (Special thanks to Trista Grossnicklaus on Flute)
This was my original composition project during my stay at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. I needed a piece to be performed on the beach that would express my stay at the Hermitage.
For days I floundered walking the grounds of the gorgeous beachfront property until I finally found my inspiration. Late one evening, I and a fellow Hermitage STAR artist and writer Melissa Pranke decided to walk the beach in hopes of seeing sea turtles lay eggs. This was a very moving thing to observe. Over the course of my stay, I watched one Leatherback returning to the sea, many loggerheads laying eggs, and one morning I even observed the baby turtles struggle in their journey from nest to ocean. The struggle of the baby turtles became the underlying theme of this movement which I call the Sea Turtle movement.
Like the second movement, this movement is modal using minor and major sounding modes to give impression of the struggle. It is Rondo format with A, B, A’, C, A, Coda. The Coda is a large section that features the final battle of the sea turtles against the rhythmic batter of the oncoming waves. In the end, the sea turtles make it! Most of them…
Bassoon Concerto, Mvt. 1
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college.
This was composed for my bassoon instructor at Stetson, Dr. Ashley Heintzen. I began to work on this as a type of “revenge” work for making me perform as principal chair for Harrison’s Dream by Peter Graham for the CBDNA conference. I spent countless hours on my secondary instrument that year preparing for the diabolical solo. The semester of the performance I earned my only B grade which took away my perfect 4.0. I still graduated with a 3.97!
The work is scale based with Baroque era instrumentation. The accompaniment for the era included the harpsichord (piano was not invented yet) and cello. The cellist often acts as a dance partner with bassoonist when it is not functioning as a bass line. This was an attempt to write for Baroque era instrumentation with modern harmonies.
The second/third movement is considerably longer and much more difficult featuring a difficult cadenza prior to the final coda section. It is still under construction as I was informed that it was too difficult for Dr. Heintzen to perform.
Tin Pan Alley (for Concert Band)
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in the summer of 2011.
In my fourth year of teaching middle school band, my grandmother who is a lifelong pianist, Jean Ostrow, gave me six boxes of piano sheet music that she had obtained through an early American relative.She had catalogued the music herself and kept them in great condition.
The music that I received ranges from the mid 1800’s to the 1950’s. She explained to me that it was a combination of her collection and the distant relative. This relative played some of this music for silent movies with piano accompaniment.
During my stay at the Hermitage, I had planned to study the works I found and arrange some of them for concert band just like Clare Grundman did with his arrangement of American folk songs in Kentucky 1800. This would be a great way to share American music with my students!
I discovered that many of the pieces and songs were from the early 1900’s, specifically from the Tin Pan Alley composers. This time period and music fascinated me as I had never studied it in college. I soon found out that even George Gershwin came from Tin Pan Alley. I then chose three of the top hits in that time period and began to arrange them for concert band. The pieces are heard in the order of Alexander’s Ragtime Band by Irving Berlin, In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree by Egbert Van Alstyne, and I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl that Married Dear Old Dad by Harry Von Tilzner.
In the beginning you will hear the Suwanee River theme song performed as a woodwind chorale. The trumpet and brass heralds a transition to the first theme of Alexander’s Ragtime Band which displays the high woodwinds and trumpets with a brief low woodwind and trombone soli. There is a metric modulation to the second theme where the quarter note becomes the eighth note. The key is also pivoted to a minor key. This section was originally composed in a major tonality which I believed did not fit the lyrics. In the lyrics, the gentleman sings of his wife buried In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree. This minor key theme is performed by a clarinet choir then modulates to the relative major key. This time the theme is rhythmically augmented and is played through twice with the sonority of French horns, 1st clarinet, and tenor saxophone. This section comes to a close with a cadential fermata. A trombone solo then takes the listener to the upbeat final theme of I Want a Girl which illustrates a conversation between the trumpets and woodwinds. For the coda section, the slower chorale of Suwanee River is heard once more, this time with the full band joining in. The work ends with a typical harmonic “back and forth” with a hint of Gershwin played by the 1st clarinets.
Piano for Two, Mvt. 1 and Mvt. 2
Click here for a .pdf for mvt. 1 and .pdf for mvt. 2
Composed in college.
The first movement is subtitled “Fast and Furious”. It is intended for two very good piano players to perform. When I initially began to work on it, I felt that the majority of my time was spentpracticing and doing homework. As soon as my recital was over, I replaced my practice time with time spent composing. I have continued working on this now in my spare time as a band director. I have since worked on a second movement which is subtitled "Impassioned" or with passion.
This piece is scale based. The form of the work is motivic based on interval relationships and rhythmic diminutions and augmentations. It would take a many words to analyze the different techniques used. Please check out the .pdfs above if you would like to read, study, or perform. I plan on writing a third movement in the near future.
This piece also began after I arranged a piece for orchestra. I discovered that it was fairly easy to arrange piano for two for a larger ensemble. Perhaps in the future I will arrange this and the second movement for band or orchestra.
Diatribe for Pipe Organ
Click here fore a .pdf
Composed in college.
(Special thanks to Josiah Armes for the recording at Stetson University's Elizabeth Chapel)
Diatribe is a program work in four sections. Each section evokes the wild back and forth nature of someone in a "diatribe" or rant. At the time, the 2004 Bush and Kerry election for President was very heated. I felt that the candidates and their coherts couldn't do much other than rant. This piece describes such a diatribe.
The first section is the Introduction of the speaker which starts soft and small and builds to a tumultuous climax with the dissonance of the minor second interval leading to an E major chord. This is the speaker presenting himself. He then begins to rant until he enters a mocking waltz which I titled "grotesque waltz". After the waltz section he confirms his platform to the audience in the "Fantasia" section (which is nothing but fantasy). The mood quickly darkens in the "Lament" section. Here the speaker tells us what will happen if the other candidate is elected. In the final section the main theme is restated and confirmed with an extended cadence.
This work is scale based with the intervals of the minor 2nd and tritone hear throughout. It opens with the octatonic scale which is clearly grounded to a tonal center of the pitch E. The grotesque waltz section is in F minor which is a sharp contrast from the first section. Here you will find some stacked chords including a C7 in the left hand with a G#7 in the right hand. There is a short transition leading to the Fantasia which tonally focuses between the Db major chord and the G manjor chord (Tritone apart). The Lament section has hints of the octatonic scale heard in the beginning which comes to a head with the accelerating transition section in 3/4 time. The finale completes the diatribe with the octatonic scale in full view again. This time, when the pedals are played, there are more stacked chords (chromatic mediants) to be heard before the final fermata.
Invention #3
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in college.
During my studies of music theory at Brevard Community College I was very interested in writing polyphonic music. I studied and enjoyed the inventions and fugues by J.S. Bach. I decided at this time to try to write a few. I wrote a total of four.
Variations
Variation #10 Variation #6 Variation #15 Variation #8 Variation #13
.pdf of Variation #10 .pdf of Variation #6 .pdf of Variation #15 .pdf of Variation #8 .pdf of Variation #13
Composed in college
I began writing the above variations while attending Brevard Community College. I thought it would be a great way to develop the ability to compose. I recognized that many composers have written long works by developing a theme- especially the greats! Point and case- Beethoven's Symphony #5 repeats the same 4 note motive for eight and half minutes in the first movement.
I used the same formula in each variation with a self-composed theme in monophonic, followed by a homophonic (with harmony), and then polyphonic (multiple voices). Other techniques I used include rhythmic augmentation and diminution, melodic variation (changing an element of the melody), texture change (change from major to minor or minor to major), and melodic sequence.
Funkasaurus (for Jazz Combo)
Click here for a .pdf
Composed in High School.
In my senior year of high school I began to play open mic nights in downtown Melbourne. I would jam with my friends from high school band/jazz band. At such an event, I was recruited by keyboardist Eric Young and singer Billy Lee to start a 8-9 piece funk and soul group called the “Billy Lee Soul Revue”. At first I was just a player, and soon found myself arranging cover tunes for the horn players. I did this while I attended the local Brevard Community College until I transferred to Stetson University. In my final year at Stetson, I had heard the band was getting back together and they needed horn players. I then recruited some friends and we spend late nights and weekends practicing and performing more than three hours from school until we graduated.
As a teenager, I intended for the Soul Revue to perform Funkasaurus. We never did, but it remains a good memory. This was composed before I had much knowledge of music theory and compositional techniques, but I still had my ear to tell me what did or did not sound good. I also began using the Finale notation software to compose and arrange. Today I use an updated form of Finale.
