Project 12: Staying on Track
This past week was a tough one. Originally I planned to get a lot of work done—working on not only my solo work for Project 12, but also finishing up the last movement of a duo work for THREE OCTAVES OF GONGS and a lot of other percussion (“Going Mental,” commissioned by composer-performer Drew Morris and percussionist, Chris Schrerer of the Thought Form Collective), and getting ahead on some admin work. Unfortunately—as seems to be the trend of 2020—my plans were thwarted when I fell quite ill, losing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday completely. Thankfully, with the other projects having looser deadlines, I was able to focus all my energy on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to complete the latest installment of Project 12, Mercurial Aims for solo piano.
Wrap-Up: Mercurial Aims
Carol Anne and I had a Zoom call a few weeks prior about her goals for the commission, and it was so exciting to work with a composer-performer. She told me that she loved big majestic chords, trills and tremolos, fast scalar passages, and works that encompass both a wide variety of textures, as well as have a deeper, more narrative/poetic meaning. Like many musicians this year, Carol Anne’s plans for 2020 were thrown in disarray, and she wanted a piece that reflected both the hopes and disappointments of the last year.
The title, Mercurial Aims, alludes to the need to continually change direction (also, admittedly, ever since Taylor Swift casually slid the word “mercurial” into a song on her latest album, I’ve noticed the word’s resurgence in our lexicon). The pieces goes through a huge variety of different ideas, and jumbles them up into juxtaposing mosaics.
Giving Carol Anne a variety of moods to jump between, I also varied the dynamic and duration of each mood as it arrives, creating a dynamic—and at times, somewhat jarring—series of textures. Throughout the piece, a small series of intervals keeps coming back up; while it arrives in small moments quietly to begin with, it soon takes over the piece, the ending culminating in a triumphant series of modulations with the motive.
Since Carol Anne had so little time to look over initial drafts, I anticipate some adjustments will need to be made in the coming weeks, and I greatly look forward to getting her feedback!
Wind-Up: Quite Like the Quiet
Who wouldn’t want to work with this group??
This week, I’m very excited to be working with an amazing ensemble, the Bassless Trio. Comprised of Joshua Thomas (saxophone), Cara Cheung (cello), and Lisa Williamson (soprano), they have a history of doing really fun and unique projects—including works that adapt children’s stories for adults, pieces based on marginalia, and music that depicts the perspective of inanimate objects during quarantine. After a simply lovely chat with all three of them this past weekend, we decided to do a piece from the perspective of a Portland train (though I hope the text I’m writing will be general enough to apply to many cities). The piece will incorporate a number of extramusical sound effects and theatrics, and I can’t wait to work more with this incredible group!
