Goat Herd (2002) 5'
Instrumentation:
Flute, clarinet, percussion, violin, cello, piano
Premiere:
Summer 2002, the Walden School, New Hampshire, performed by the Non Sequitor ensemble at the Walden School in 2002
Awards:
2003 ASCAP Morton S. Gould Young Composers Competition Award
Listen to Goat Herd (9.01MB .MP3)
Goat Herd depicts the journey of a herd of goats that "wander willy nilly" and encounter daunting obstacles such as a precipice and a stream. An old goat, impersonated by a lyric cello line, gives advice ignored by the rest of the herd and a frisky youngster, impersonated by the florid clarinet scales, runs ahead of the others. The piece explores six motifs. The motifs are recur as a groove in which all motifs are played simultaneously by the entire ensemble and are explored as individual melodic lines through solos and duets drawn from within the ensemble. These motivic developments are juxtaposed with textural, chordal passages.