Ensemble Pieces

Full Score – Gripes

This violin duet was written to demonstrate a sort of “melodic dissagreement”. The two violins play against each other as if they have some unspoken feud going on. Instead of playing harmonically against one another the chords these two violins create against one another are rather chromatic, stilted, and tense. 

Full Score - Tachycardia

"Tachycardia" was inspired by my own experiences with having a condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (or POTS for short). POTS is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system and inhibits proper blood circulation. My body has to work incredibly hard to circulate my blood and quite often I am left feeling exhausted or dizzy from very simple daily tasks. Every time I stand I can feel my chest tighten, my vision go blurry and my head pound. Although quite the challenge, I thought it would be fun to attempt to replicate these feelings in an original piece.

The piece begins with a dull piano melody. A slow plucking sound from the Cello emerges to emulate the rapid rise I feel in my heartbeat. All the instruments swell and sway, acting as auditoral demonstration of my blood moving from my head into my legs. I lose my sense of reality as the world begins to blur. While starting out with this hypnotic and almost nauseating sensation, eventually those feelings subside as the piece begins to play a sweet melody. For awhile, it seems like every part of the body (and ensemble) is working perfectly well. This sense of peace is only temporary however, as the dizziness eventually returns. Leaving the ensemble to revert back to the original opening motif. "Tachycardia" is a muscial metephor for what the condtion of POTS is like. The melody can sway from being a loud, pulsing enharmonic tiring mess to moments where those pulses aren't even noticable anymore. With every day I life I don't know when I will have moments of peace or when those attacks will happen.

Score – Drip Drip

Drip Drip was inspired by the concept of repeating patterns over and over again. You will see throughout the score there are instances where one melody is cycled through one time before another percussion instrument picks up the same melody. I was curious to see what harmonies I could create through keeping such a simple series of patterns going. While not too difficult notation wise to understand, the repetitions throughout give a soft meditative like feel throughout. For both player and the listeners.

Score – Stepping Stones

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Score - The Final Test

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