“Cypher” is a piece for mixed chamber ensemble that was written for the Common Tone New Music Festival. The theme of the festival was the theme of “tribute” – and in my original proposal, I said I wanted to pay tribute to the people and places that made me who I am. Philosophically, I think it is a flawed notion to think that musical ideas can be made to represent real people, with complex and complicated lives and relationships. So, instead, I used a simple cipher to hide the performers’ names into the piece. You could go through and find the names of the people who are important to me by running the melodies through the cipher. However, I realized that if the piece is limited to only the people I know, then it wouldn’t be entirely honest – because the musicians that perform my work (both presently, and in the past/future) also make my work possible. I invite the ensemble to insert themselves into the piece by asking them to translate and “play” their name. It is a simple act, but one that I think is quite meaningful; and if you are reading this, I am glad that our journeys have intersected in some way.