Tag: Saint Patrick

SubscribeStar Saturday: “Irish Clover”

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

With Saint Patrick’s Day earlier this week, I decided to compose a little piece to commemorate the holiday.  Due to some pressing work, it took me a few days to finish it, but it’s a jaunty little piece.

Here’s the manuscript of the piece, which I jotted down on Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March 2025):

“Irish Clover” is written for piccolo, flute, classical guitar, and harp.  I have no idea if I composed the harp part correctly (in other words, if it is actually playable on a harp), but it sounds good!  That’s the beauty of electronic music:  you can do whatever you want!

That said, I always try to make the pieces realistically playable.  I love the idea that someday, someone somewhere will put together a little ensemble and play some of my pieces.

Regardless, today I’m sharing the WAV recording of the piece, as well as a little video, for subscribers.  Don’t worry, non-subs:  you’ll get to hear the piece soon!

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Saint Patrick’s Day

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day throughout the Western world, a day to venerate and celebrate the life, death, and Christian service of Saint Patrick (the day coincides with the supposed date of St. Patrick’s death).  Of course, now the holiday has devolved into a drunken festivity in which everyone pretends to be Irish for a day, downing pints of green beer and wearing green.

The real story of Saint Patrick is far more interesting than the debauched modern celebration.  Patrick was the son of a wealthy family in what is now Britain in the declining years of the Roman Empire.  Irish raiders captured Patrick and sold him into slavery in the Emerald Isle.  Working alone as a shepherd, isolated and afraid, Patrick turned to Christ for solace and strength.

After escaping captivity, God called him back to Ireland, not as a slave, but to deliver Ireland from its spiritual bondage.  After his ordination, Patrick returned and preached the Gospel to the pagan Irish, sparking a major religious revival among the people there.  Ultimately, Ireland became second perhaps only to France in its dedication to the Catholic Church, and unlike its Gallic co-religionists, maintained that devotion well into the twentieth century.

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