gathering dust (2017)
Percussion Duo
Duration: 11’
Premiered by Icarus Duo (Matt Keown, Jeff Stern) November 17, 2017 at Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library in New Haven, CT.
program note
Following my parents' divorce in 2014, I was responsible for packing up the family library in our "study room." I spent hours loading hundreds of books into boxes, which I would ultimately load into my car and drive to a public library to donate to their collection. While sifting through these books and packaging them, I stumbled not only upon literary gems, but also upon my parents' characters. I learned an incredible amount about them not from the content of the books, but the very books they wanted to read. I also learned that my dad would often misplace books and continue to buy multiple copies despite having at least 3 version of the same book. I learned that my dad wanted to learn Portuguese. I dusted off my mom's favorite novels, objects that transported her into a different universe. I began to realize that a book is a way into another's heart and mind. By seeing what people want to read, we gain a greater perspective into what they wish they knew more about, what worlds they want to explore, what information they want to learn. Maybe we might be able to learn more about who people wish they were, or how they see themselves as individuals in relation to their surrounding world. I didn't know how the act of owning books could be such a vulnerable experience. Even today, watching people read in public seems like a voyeuristic act.
gathering dust, does not want to go anywhere. A childlike melody eventually unfolds over the course of the piece. The relationship between background and foreground is in a state of constant flux, for what might be a textural figure at one point may emerge as a melody in a different context later on. The individual layers - melody, middleground, background, and other gestural figures - develop at different rates. Often, layers enter in a pre-developed state and decompose over time. My non-linear approach to form and content reflects my engagement with packing up the family library, where I encountered plots, motives, deals, and insecurities in various forms.