These pieces represent me as a composer who takes inspiration from either incredibly stark memories or daily and sometimes even mundane activities that are easily repeatable. DENSITY was written when black artists were essentially being paid reparations through collaborations and commissions for witnessing what happened to George Floyd. This piece helped me find the joys in writing music again considering a tragic event marked the start of my career. The First Time I Felt the Wind is about my daily commute through Michigan State’s serene historic campus to the music building, capturing the soundscape of the carillon bell tower echoing through the trees. When writing cream earl grey, I enjoyed a cup of Cream Earl Grey every morning, engaging all five senses throughout the entirety of the tea-making process—from the scent of opening the bag of tea leaves to the first taste, and everything in between.

I’d encourage you to listen to these pieces either in order of appearance (DENSITY, The First Time I Felt the Wind, cream earl grey) or in reverse. These pieces take you on a journey from abstract to traditional (or traditional to abstract) in regards to the notation, and how musical gestures are treated and transformed. In DENSITY the performer is asked to “play” the visual gesture that stands out the most amidst the chaos; in The First Time I Felt the Wind the gestures start as extended vocal techniques symbolizing the wind and eventually become the musically notated gestures symbolizing Michigan State’s Beaumont Tower Carillon; in cream earl grey the whole-step gesture is expanded and layered on top of another amongst other textures, detailing all of steps to make a cup of tea.