COMPOSITIONS

PROGRAM NOTES FOR (p)neumes:

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(p)neumes is a a portmanteau of the prefix “pneum-“ –meaning lungs or having to do with breathing– and “neumes” –a system of musical symbols associated with Medieval music. In writing this piece, I sought to maintain long, breath-like, slow-moving melodic lines underneath increasingly faster surface textures. Although the work doesn’t reference any pre-existing melodic material, it evokes some ways that Medieval repertoire was recycled into the music of the Renaissance. The piece was largely written before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and so the topic of breath carries no intentional commentary on current events. That said, composing the latter half of the piece during the pandemic likely lead me to embrace some more consonant and comforting harmonic textures in the second half of the piece: a mix of my desire for catharsis and optimism amidst our collective stress and uncertainty.