For flute, viola, and fixed electronics
performed by Brittany Foster, flute and Laurie Dixon, viola

Faced with a ban on political activity on-campus, students of the University of California at Berkley formed the Free Speech Movement in 1964, under the informal leadership of Mario Savio. In his famous speech on the steps of Sproul Hall, Savio spoke of the importance of civil protest against the powers that sought to limit human rights saying, "you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it -- that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

The audio of the address was generously provided by the Pacifica Radio Archives and used with their permission and that of Mrs. Lynne Hollander Savio. 

Bodies Upon the Gears

I found this track on my hard-drive. It was for a recording project I had to do in college. I'm proud to say I did all the production myself, and the assignment got an A+ for being the hardest gangsta track ever heard by human ears. I have to honestly say this is the best piece of music I've ever put my self to do, and I'm proud of it. 

Gansgta Accordion

This is what I came up with when I gave myself 30 minutes to improvise something. This is all done by me, on alto flute, in four parts. 
*minimal sound editing. Due to time limitations.

Sunday Alto Jam

**PLEASE USE HEADPHONES TO HEAR THE FULL SPECTRUM OF QUIET TIMBRES**

the armless clock understands time [ii]
for alto flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Written for Ensemble Surplus

Recording:
World Premiere: August 19, 2015
@ Akademie Schloss Solitude 
Stuttgart, Germany
Ensemble SurPlus


Program Notes:

Imagine a clock with no arms: just a face with no way to communicate or express itself, a clock that lost its intended function. What is the clock, but not a clock? The clock continues to go through its revolutions, but cannot outwardly tell time. Any attempt to use the clock for its function reveals stagnancy; the clock sustains internally. 

	The clock’s gears consist of stagnant revolutions, each evenly and meticulously timed. The performers, attempting to view the clock’s hidden understanding of time, move through the revolutions at different speeds and densities, attempting to understand the clock’s individual pieces. Gears turn together, the springs rebound at different rates, the wires, the verge – none provide any understanding of time by the clock. The clock’s pieces work together, and the performers cannot understand one part of the clock without reference to the others. As the parts move, they produce new meaning as they fit together differently than they had before, and the clock remembers where the parts were in time as different than they currently were. One cog perceives its role as time, based on its revolution, differently than the cog it, in turn, revolves, but is always aware of its role as time to revolve and be revolved by the wire. 

	As we observe this clock, we ask it “What is the time?” The clock, however, asks, “Are you?”


the armless clock understands time [ii]

A reading of Leanna Keith's graphic score "same current," commissioned in 2019 by the Onomatopoeia Trio.

same current

I saw the ocean and could not fathom
the ships
the size of my thumb
on the horizon
A beetle flew in a spiral
into the tall grass
a maze
of shifting winds
The grass in my pal
the sand between
my toes
Is there truly a divide if it all moves
with the same current?

This piece was inspired after exploring Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island and being completely taken by the sounds of water next to sounds of the grass shifting in the wind. The poem and sketches of the graphic score were created that evening.

Same Current (Leanna Keith)

Text from Emily Dickinson's poem "Summer Shower"
SSAA, Performed by UMD vocalists

Summer Shower

This piece is inspired by "Fragmentary Blue" by Robert Frost. Performed by Dal Niente at the University of Maryland on 2/27/2020.

Sunday Alto Jam

Leanna Keith - Flutist