Snoid Variations is an outgrowth of my first musical, Mr. Natural, which was first performed in Ithaca, New York, in July, 1990. As a thank you gesture to the stage director Ronald Bukoff, I wrote a set of variations for bassoon on one of the songs from the show. "Very funny, Mr. Snoid" was sung by the comic villain of the show, the Snoid. In this piece I altered the vocal line to something that would sound more interesting when played on an instrument. Therefore, the introduction leads directly to the first variation, and the theme is left unstated.

Snoid Variations was first performed by Ron Bukoff in 1995 in Mansfield, Pa. Eventually I decided to get in on the fun, and made an arrangement for clarinet.