Nebulous for Trombone and Piano

Instrumentation: Trombone and Piano

Duration: 10’00”

Purchase – IM Brassworks

Program Note:

When Ben Zindler first approached me to write a piece about both the universe and the process of formulating an idea, the title Nebulous immediately came to my mind. I found that the double meaning of this word fit perfectly into what I imagined of the piece: the vastness and complexity of outer space, combined with the constant development and, often times, ambiguity behind the creation of an idea. Musically, I set out to evoke these qualities through the juxtaposition of intricate, note-heavy lines with slow-moving melodic passages, a constant, almost minimalistic, repetition of established material, and the use of short, fragmented motives to create larger landscapes. Additionally, the formal structure of this piece evokes the diversity behind idea creation by sometimes clearly displaying the expansion and growth of material, while other times including unclear and inconsistent transitions between sections.