A World of Our Creation for metallic percussion septet (2019)
Writing a work for Matt Ehlers and the McCallum High School Percussion Ensemble was an extremely personal project: as a Mac Percussion alum (class of 2013, Go Knights!), I reflected on my time at McCallum, and what I hold in common with the performers in today's ensemble. On the positive side of things, McCallum is a truly magical place, one that strongly encourages creativity and individuality. I owe a large part of my musical and personal upbringing to this culture of accepting and understanding.
However, at the same time, high school is a time when young people are presented with the knowledge that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows; nothing illustrates this better to me than the sense of urgency with which students have address the issue of a rapidly changing climate. As a response to this idea, I decided to write a piece that uses no wooden instruments, including keyboards or drum shells, and is entirely metallic. In this, "A World Of Our Creation" is a call for creative solutions. In presenting some of my favorite creative sounds (bowed vibes, steelpans, desk bells), I hope to encourage a sense of continued activism, constantly searching for creative solutions to those issues that we know about, and those that are about to come.
Performance History:
premiere: December 2019, McCallum High School, Chicago, IL [Midwest Clinic]
additional performances: Bowie High School [Western International Band Clinic] (2021), Université de Moncton (2021), Northwestern State University (2020)