Compositions

Foiled Unity, 2017
for string quartet

Inspired by some false dichotomies that I’ve encountered in my life, I wrote this piece in effort to sort out my own understanding of binaries and why they might exist. A double fugue seemed the best way to do this because it allows the musical material to pave its own journey, rather than the composer dictating its every move.

The two subjects were composed to be diametrically opposed to each other –via rhythm, contour, and other musical characteristics. The dramatic irony is that they are both born from the same 9-note scale, or in another sense, these subjects are character foils to each other. The process of the fugue allowed me to see how these opposing forces converse and how their relationships may change over time.

DRIVEN TO— , 2017

for solo clarinet

Something I catch myself saying a lot is: “I’m not good with words; that’s why I’m a musician.”  This piece was a first, conscious attempt to help bridge my gap between language and music. I found theater to be an effective means to connect them, and a way to express urgency in a cloud of inarticulateness.

With rhetoric ruled by musical models instead of grammar, I wrote the score as if it was a script.  The audience, however, only hears one character’s dialogue in this story. I invite the listener to imagine what may provoke the protagonist’s speech and articulation, and to reflect on how that dialogue may resonate with them.

Who are you? Who am I?, 2017

Podcomp (podcast + composition)

2017 was a year, in particular, where I couldn’t turn on the news without hearing yet another tragic event and discourses contributing to many misunderstandings.  Using my background in journalism and composition, I took this piece as an opportunity for me to better understand the progression of political conflict in America, and also better understand where I might stand in this long history.  After merely googling “being black in America”, I chose the first four interviews I came across, and decided to see could come out of them for this project. It was staggering to see that there were so many points of intersection, contrast, multiplicity of emotions elected from this relatively random selection of perspectives.  Through a podcast, I give a historical context for the speakers, and through composition, I elaborate on the contrasts, motifs, and emotions that develop between the speakers.  Hence, this is my first experiment with the idea of a “podcomp.”

Who Are We?, 2018

for 8 voices

After some experimenting with my radio and science communication experience, I was led to something I call a “podcomp:” a work that’s both a podcast and composition. My first podcomp connected interviews of famous African-American figures from different decades, revealing a plethora of perspectives on what it means to be black in America. I wrote the music as a means to empathize with each speaker, and to document my own reflections and discoveries.

One of the lessons I’ve learned from journalism is that it’s impossible to be truly unbiased, especially when there’s overwhelming amounts of information. After I completed this story, I realized that my moral compass shaped the podcomp’s structure very similarly to the stages of grief. For this piece, I wanted to expand upon this particular theme from the podcomp. Much like the process of grieving, the musical material does not develop linearly, but simply “feels”, and tries to make sense of itself.