Dreams is a collaboration with Jackie Matava and Christina Feigel. For years, they have texted each other their dreams in the morning, and in this piece I set six of those dreams to music.

What is fascinating about dreams is how the abnormal seems normal, and jarring scene changes are completely natural (“…well I’m at Mt. Rushmore, but the Queen of England is unhappy because I didn’t bring my waffle maker… and now I’m on Mars and I’m glad I have my monkey…”) Jackie and Christina’s dreams have this quality, which makes them wonderfully fun to set to music. The form and styles in the songs vary wildly depending on what is happening in the dream, with little to no transition between them.

Another fascinating thing about dreams is that faces are always pulled from faces we see in everyday life, though not always in their proper context. Places and events also come from our previous experience. To that end, the piece contains many musical quotations, though often mangled and incomplete. 

One quick note: Townsend Plant was the director of admissions and financial aid at the Jacobs School of Music from 2008 to 2012.


Music Shop / After Party

Stairs

Mansion

Townsend Plant

Tornado

Woffle Ball

Doodles is a set of miniatures based on doodles of mine. I’ve always liked doodling, so, a couple of years ago, I tried “serious” doodling. I set out a piece of paper with 2-inch squares and began making abstract black-and-white doodles, which took whatever form they wanted, with no preconceived plan. As they developed, they formed unique little worlds. 

Like the doodles, the miniatures are fairly abstract and quite different from one another. Most of the melody and harmony was generated by tone rows, allowing me to focus on using texture and gesture to musically recreate each doodle. Despite the abstractness, they are just meant to be fun little musical pictures. Even serious doodling is still doodling, after all.

Christina Feigel, bassoon
Stephanie Lebens, trombone
Jose Francisco Cortes Alvarez, piano
Ethan Geller, percussion
Emily Greetham, violin
Miles Edwards, cello

droplets

spiral

dots

amoeba

crosshatches

Koala Infestation was inspired by the comedian Mitch Hedberg, and each movement is titled after one of his jokes. The piece began life with the ostinato in the first movement, which was jammed out on a Casio keyboard. Originally, I had no intention to put it in a "classical" piece, but it became a fun challenge to write around. I decided to add two more movements with ostinati - one longer and one shorter.

“Koala Infestation”, the “cutest infestation ever,” begins happily, with a lyrical violin melody. As it progresses, the melody's tonal center moves farther and farther from the ostinato until it loops back to finish in the same key. The texture and musical tension follow the same curve.

“Bigfoot IS Blurry” starts slow and lumbering, with a long ostinato that repeats every 40 seconds or so. The melodic material begins sparse, but becomes rhapsodic and a bit sad in the middle. After all, it must be hard to find friends when you’re a large, out-of-focus monster.

“Coke in a Glass Harmonica” has a short, “space invaders”-ish ostinato that alternates with more ambient sections. The form was inspired by Lutoslawski's Venetian Games, to which the movement pays homage. The movement is best enjoyed while eating individually wrapped cashews.

Michael Acosta, violin
Nicholas Mariscal, cello
Mike Sweeney, piano


I. Koala Infestation

Bigfoot IS Blurry

Coke in a Glass Harmonica

TheMichaelSweeney

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