turbulence
for solo flute | 2017
Duration
3 minutes, 40 seconds
Program Notes
While writing this piece, I took a plane flight and experienced the bumps of choppy skies that so often
occur during air travel. It got me thinking about how this turbulence, and indeed the whole journey of a
flight, can be analogous to some of the grander narratives in life.
turbulence begins slowly, with an introduction that is to be played with gentleness and sensitivity.
As it
develops, it gains velocity, finally taking off by the end of the first section. The faster middle section
utilizes broken rhythmic concepts over a steady underlying groove to depict that uncertain aerial rockiness
after which the piece is named. These parts come together for the slower final section, which briefly
revisits the turbulent rhythmic brokenness then finally lands, ending as gently as the piece began.
Winner of the 2019 CSU Lower Division Composition Contest.
