for Solo Percussion, 2019 - 9”

commissioned by Mina June Guvenc 

“At a Time” aims to reflect this time span by controlling what we can and can’t control as performers and humans. While trying to figure out what we can affect some control over in our lives, we are often swept up by things, seen or unseen, that we often can’t control. The musical materials in the piece are frequently balancing and shifting their position on the spectrum between control and chaos, often looping back around from one extreme, to the other, like a torus. I let the performer decide the words to say, but I don’t let them decide entirely what to speak about. I let them decide what sounds or instruments to use, but I tell them where to place them and in what manner they should create sound. I give the performer a “chorale” that doesn’t have any rhythms or dynamics or tempi – for the performer and their story should dictate how to play and shape that particular Chapter. Everything in this piece hinges on the performer being able to be honest with themselves, and their audience about the way we’re all just making it up in life – we’re all improvising.

Performed by Bryan Wysocki

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