Verbs of Perception (2024)
trombone, piano
c. 10 minutes 15 seconds
Composed for and dedicated to Matthew C. Saunders
When Matt and I first discussed this piece, our conversations included talks of the opera Carmen—the piece that introduced Matt to classical music—and his father’s love of the French language. Much of our conversation reminded me of my own grandfather, a physical chemist with a lifetime love for opera and French, who pursued classes in both areas during his retirement.
As I sat down to start writing this piece, I came across a set of flashcards in my grandfather’s handwriting from one such French class. One card labeled “Verbs of perception” immediately caught my attention, and I began to envision a piece that used the flashcard as a formal tool, moving through each verb—to hear, to listen, to see, to feel, etc.—in order.
While the piece eventually drifted away from this initial concept, certain motifs that I composed to represent the verbs remain central to the work. In particular, the grace notes leading to a high repeated note, which first enter at rehearsal A, originally evoked both the idea of listening (by means of a decaying echo) and the idea of feeling (in the sense of feeling for a pulse). This fragment has since become an underpinning motif of the work, returning in a transformed form in both the trombone and piano in the final moments. The dramatic opening material, which reappears even bolder and bigger at the piece’s climax, is a nod to Matt and my grandfather’s love of opera, and celebrates of a lifetime of curiosity and learning.
c. 10 minutes 15 seconds
Composed for and dedicated to Matthew C. Saunders
When Matt and I first discussed this piece, our conversations included talks of the opera Carmen—the piece that introduced Matt to classical music—and his father’s love of the French language. Much of our conversation reminded me of my own grandfather, a physical chemist with a lifetime love for opera and French, who pursued classes in both areas during his retirement.
As I sat down to start writing this piece, I came across a set of flashcards in my grandfather’s handwriting from one such French class. One card labeled “Verbs of perception” immediately caught my attention, and I began to envision a piece that used the flashcard as a formal tool, moving through each verb—to hear, to listen, to see, to feel, etc.—in order.
While the piece eventually drifted away from this initial concept, certain motifs that I composed to represent the verbs remain central to the work. In particular, the grace notes leading to a high repeated note, which first enter at rehearsal A, originally evoked both the idea of listening (by means of a decaying echo) and the idea of feeling (in the sense of feeling for a pulse). This fragment has since become an underpinning motif of the work, returning in a transformed form in both the trombone and piano in the final moments. The dramatic opening material, which reappears even bolder and bigger at the piece’s climax, is a nod to Matt and my grandfather’s love of opera, and celebrates of a lifetime of curiosity and learning.
