Pocket Anxiety

This is a reading from the Ball State Wind Symphony from their reading session May 2022. These performers had about 25 minutes to prepare and perform this work - my appreciation to them!

'Afflatus' is a Latin word the means 'divinely inspired' - though this piece does not pretend to be inspired by supernatural forces. Instead, it is inspired some of my favorite wind band composers - Vincent Persichetti, David Maslanka, and Clifton Williams.

Afflatus

A rip roaring tune loosely composed through set theory, this piece blasts through different styles and moods, all the while emulating the energy and fun of a big band sound. Grade 4 concert band work.

Ready, Set

Movement 7 of a collection of 10 pieces for string quartet, performed by Harmony Kelly, Gabby Lindhurst, Kennedy Dixon, and Becca Spurbeck. This piece was a study work loosely based on the string quartets of Bartok and Stravinsky.

10 Short Pieces for String Quartet, Mvmt 7

10 Short Pieces for String Quartet, Movement 2

Impostor Syndrome is an growing epidemic in our world today, especially in academia.  This is the irrational fear that you don't belong, that you are a pretender hiding your inadequacy from the world.  This is a debilitating state of mind that can cause us to doubt everything we do, and can keep us from achieving our goals or pursuing real relationships.

When I experience this, one of the only ways I can recover is through the help of my friends and loved ones, and the encouragement that they provide for me.

Impostor Syndrome

Working with my good friend and incredible clarinetist Conor Sprunger, I aimed to create a work that allowed the player an extreme degree of freedom in the performance of the piece.  Besides approximate tempo and expression markings, the musician is free to direct the nervous, panicked energy that this piece creates.

Panicked Study for Solo Clarinet

One part of a larger cycle based on the Hero's Journey, a literary model that most stories follow, whether they are aware or not.

In this section, the hero has received the call to adventure, but is refusing that call.  The realization is setting in that the journey they are about to embark on is long and perilous, and it may be a while until it return home.  The nerves turn to fear, the fear turns to panic, and this panic boils over, until the hero manages to drift off to sleep.

Songs Of A Travelling Hero, Mvmt II

A set of dances for duo marimba that forces the player to work with each other, and against each other.  The intricate interlocking parts and rhythmic overlapping lead to a tilted, twisted slow dance, where the dancers are constantly falling in and out of time with each other.  The rhythmic instability only increases until the two parts collide together, and sheepishly start over again.

Tangled Dance for Duo Marimba

Naphthalene captures our fear of the unknown, the hatred that stems from our ignorance.  Often, this hatred is baseless; we don't understand, or misinterpret an aspect of our world, and learn to fear it.

A growing number of people fear pesticides, citing it as one of our greatest health concerns.  However, these pesticides, like the chemical Naphthalene, not only pose no threat to humans once the food is on the table, but are extremely beneficial in producing the enormous quantities of food needed to keep the population fed.

I strove to create 'creepy' or 'unsettling' sounds using nothing but common household products: pencils, fans, pots, pans, etc.  The hope was to create a similar fear of the unknown with the knife you used to butter your toast.

Ethan Fegan

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