With a Kiss (2023)
Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? (Bible ESV, Luke 22:48)

it free Wonderful
"Alternate universe jazz." —Lucy Shirley

Noir (2022)
Noir, being my first contemporary solo piece, displays raw guttural instincts that evoke darkness and uncertainty. With an imposing demeanor, Noir has a personality that expresses clashing, unconstrained emotion.

Spring and Fall (2023)
“Spring and Fall” is a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins in which with the subtitle “to a young child.” The narrator is comforting a young child who is crying over the dying leaves of Fall. The narrator realizes that this child’s sadness is not from the leaves alone, but rather the child’s first realization of their own mortality.

Waves (2023)
Before beginning to write “Waves”, I did not have much experience writing for any solo instrument, and wrote more frequently for ensembles. However, after graduating from my Undergraduate college, I felt the need to write a piece for my private instructor, in a way to thank him for everything he did for me in the previous four years. As he is a low brass specialist, specifically Tuba, I wrote a solo for him. Waves features many runs that intersect the melodic lines, giving a flowing feeling to the piece. The Tuba part as a whole is aggressive, as the feeling of the piece is meant to replicate how being in a robust and rough sea may feel.

Bar Scene (2022)
Bar Scene attempts to illustrate the perspective of a bartender working during a busy shift. The piece aims to capture the feeling of stress and anxiety, and how the two impact one’s perception of the environment they are in.

Conception (2023)
"conception" attempts to discuss the elements that contribute to climate change. The first movement, "heat" is meant to portray the brewing of a storm, which is caused by rising temperatures in the earth's atmosphere due to greenhouse gases being emitted by the burning of fossil fuels, as well as the clearing of land for agriculture. Movement two, "storm" is the result of the created heat. Areas which already have high precipitation rates are more likely to get even more rain, which then could lead to flooding. The last movement, "ghg" (short for greenhouse gasses) is meant to portray the whole process. The greenhouse gasses being emitted into the atmosphere, and then the heat brewing, and then the storm. Say, the "conception" of the result of climate change.

The Three Sisters (2023)
"The Three Sisters" reflects on the Indigenous agricultural concept of the same name. The idea describes the practice of companion planting varieties of corn, beans, and squash, the three of which act symbiotically to help one another grow and thrive. In this piece, each instrument plays the role of one of these crops: the piano represents the corn, the double bass represents the beans, and the percussion represents the squash. Through four sections, the piece explores the behavior of the Three Sisters, beginning with a sonic introduction of the three plants' natures. Then, each crop begins to come into their own and offer up their gifts to the others. A rhythmic canonic section interweaves the three instruments, presenting a narrative of interdependence and symbiosis. Finally, the Sisters present themselves in full force, not three but one, before departing as they arrived in gentle serenity.

I believe that understanding and utilizing the environmental practices of Indigenous Americans is incredibly important in situating our own relationship to this land. The practice of Three Sisters planting demonstrates Indigenous philosophies of reciprocity and gratitude that have been lost in modern agriculture since the colonization of Indigenous people. Bowling Green State University’s campuses are situated on the homelands of the Wyandot, Kickapoo, Miami, Potawatomi, Odawa, and multiple other Indigenous nations, present and past, who were forcibly removed to and from the area.

From Here to Where the Stars Disappear
Although we are a species with the ability to grasp some very complex ideas, there are many simple ideas that, on a certain scale, we simply cannot comprehend. For example, extreme distances or lengths of time might seem easy to imagine, but it’s a lot more difficult to visualize beyond just a concept. At a certain point, time and distance become virtually meaningless through our eyes. This piece explores the loss of grasp on time and distance through the story of a journey from Earth to the edge of the observable universe. As the piece goes on, the ”travelers” on this journey lose their sense of meaningful time and space, slowly morphing the music from a driving feeling to complete ambience. The end of the piece begs the question, “Is there ever really an end to this journey or is the existence of such a destination just a romanticized dream in our minds?”