Commissioned by the 2011 Xavier University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Matthew Westgate, conductor. The work was premiered February 29, 2012 at Mt. Healthy High School, Mt. Healthy, Ohio.
In art, objects can be painted or drawn in two distinct ways, with hard or soft edges. Hard edges clearly delineate shapes and often draw the viewer’s focus to particular objects or spaces. Soft edges, necessary to produce images such as clouds and tress, allow objects to blend into the surroundings and fade seamlessly from one space to another.
Negotiating a balance between hard and soft edges often dictates the success of producing a convincing work of art. In this piece, I created musical material using these two techniques, equating visual edges with the manner of which notes are produced (hard or soft attacks), texture, consonance and dissonance, and timbre.
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