Barefoot (2001)

for Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Violin and Cello

Percussion Details:

Vibraphone, 3 tom-toms, 2 suspended cymbals – 1 player

Duration: 6:30 min

Commission: newEar contemporary chamber ensemble

Premiere: newEar contemporary chamber ensemble-January 25, 2002; Kansas City, MO

Program Note: We meet the world around us through our senses. We store these experiences inside and, through memory we can conjure up these stored experiences and flip through them much like a sensory photo album. Sometimes these snapshots are triggered, reflexively, by something outside ourselves. Just the word “barefoot” takes me to a hot, sunny day. I can smell the freshly cut grass and feel the warm sand between my toes. I can see the ripe, fullness of summer and feel the carefree joy of just being. As the world grows more unpredictable, writing this piece has been my refuge, my path to the place in my memory, and my existence, where I can feel the comfort and the strength of beauty in its simplest form. Barefoot was commissioned by newEar contemporary chamber ensemble and was written following the events of September 11, 2001.