music        news/events        bio        contact        recordings Fabrication 30: Imitation 2015 clarinet guitar piano violin duration 4' SCORE PROGRAM NOTE I typically write music with fairly involved programmatic intentions along with forms that echo or amplify them. However, I also enjoy music that simply unfolds a process or a ‘conceit’. Fabrication 30: Imitation is a component part of a larger 32-movement cycle for various ensembles ranging from solos and duos to works for orchestra. These Fabrications explore more mechanical approaches to generating music. Each has a subtitle; a synonym of ‘fabrication’ which says something about the piece itself. A certain type of composer likes to astound audiences with tales of how speedily a piece was written. In reality, however, the more experience one has as a composer – and the more unused ideas – the easier it is to write a work (or, perhaps, write a work down) in a short time, especially if the work has a utilitarian purpose. This came from a pedagogical push; a visiting ensemble came to give a workshop of student compositions. There were, however, dismayingly few submissions, so this was written using a fair amount of cutting and pasting (the ‘imitation’), copied, and parts made in a few hours and then sent to the students to urge them to do the same and provide pieces for the workshop the next day. This was heavy-handed but it worked, and we saw a further eighteen submissions. Despite such an ignoble birth it fits here as another example of 'mechanical' composing. see also Fabrications