This piece attempts to explore the idea of an artist's “creative process” by delving into the mind as it moves through creative stages. A setting of an original work of flash fiction, the text is written as a frame narrative (a story within a story). The main character of the outer “frame” of this story is a writer; the text follows this writer's internal dialogue as she searches for inspiration, brainstorms ideas, and rephrases wordings. This “frame” surrounds the “inner” story, in which a poet describes their time sitting in a cave by the ocean. The piece utilizes a mixture of narrated and sung vocals to represent these two characters, and flows between abstract/improvised and conventional notation to create the impression of an artistic idea slowly forming and coming into focus. This piece was completed as part of my doctoral dissertation, And the Ocean Taught Me: Where Composition Meets Improvisation.
For all inquiries regarding this piece, please use the contact form here and mention the score name you are interested in.