A tale of woes written in May 2020, fabulously performed by Dayne Reliford on the keys, and with vocals from myself in the fall of 2020.

Lyrics:
These quarantine days, they got us
Locked inside our homes
These walls seal me in, I’m feeling so alone

These quarantine days, they got me
Feeling glum
I ain’t seen my friends for over a whole month

Slow quarantine days and long digital calls
Weeks blend into haze but we’ll be free before long

How long must we wait until we
At long last can reunite?
How sweet will that day be full of pure delight

(interlude)

Slow pandemic days and zoom calls all around
Stay home stay safe and wear a mask to go out!

These quarantine days, they got me
Feeling blue
I ain’t seen my love at all this whole time too
But each of us gotta do what we must do
Remember this virus is not “just the flu!”

Quarantine Days - with Dayne Reliford

This is an electronic piece with live recorded elements from October 2020. It was created for phenominal dancer Arianna Alford to dance to in a performance she entitled "Take Your Time."

Live musicians:
Flute: William Phi
Violin: Genesis Leal & Karen Amorous
Viola: Payton McIntyre
Bass: Leo Hernandez

Take Your Time

This is the first of three short piano pieces, each based upon a particular compositional technique or two. Each also aims to evoke a particular feeling. "Unsure" is built on ostinato.

This was recorded in the fall of 2020.

Composer: Amy Austria
Piano: Dr. Hank Hehmsoth

Three Songs for Piano

I. Unsure

This is the second of three short piano pieces, each based upon a particular compositional technique or two. Each also aims to evoke a particular feeling. "Insight" is built on parallel motion and thematic fragments.

This was recorded in the fall of 2020.

Composer: Amy Austria
Piano: Dr. Hank Hehmsoth

II. Insight

This is the final of three short piano pieces, each based upon a particular compositional technique or two. Each also aims to evoke a particular feeling. "Tiptoe" is built on tritones and mirroring/inversion.

This was recorded in the fall of 2020.

Composer: Amy Austria
Piano: Dr. Hank Hehmsoth

III. Tiptoe

This piece was the product of a collaboration with poet Dallas Klein. The text is from her poem which the piece is titled after. She gave me much freedom to interpret the poem and set it to music. I took an approach of text-painting, having the music often mirror what the text is saying or attempt to evoke the meaning of the words. I also modified the form to repeat the first line of the poem at the end, giving it a cyclical “forever floating” nature.

This audio is extracted from Finale's Garritan sound library.

Lyrics from Dallas Klein:

Picture the clearest veins,
forever floating,
with mountains in my periphery
and a blue sky mirror
overhead; 

the wind laughing through
my hair, and lake water—
rapturous childhood memories
collected from silky eyelids—
running through my fingers;

picture me serene,
blissed out,
closing my eyes, but
still able to see
the light of the sun;
 
never as the woman crying,
alone in rainy New England woods,
because she only just realized
she has a body.

Picture the clearest veins,
forever floating.

When You Think of Me (2020) - Garritan Sounds

Performed by the Kealing Middle School band at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center on December 6, 2023.

Commissioned by the Kealing Middle School band program, The Days We Knew was written in dedication to the memory Ava "Asher" Zumwalt. It paints colors of mourning, yet joy for life lived. The flute was Ava's instrument, and is prominently featured in the piece. I hope that the sweeping melodies and light, energetic portions of the piece can comfort all who wish to honor the memory of someone with a song of remembrance.

The Days We Knew - Kealing Middle School 12.6.23

Performed by Amy Austria, William Phi, Samantha Chavira, and Daniel Cavazos on December 9, 2020.

The instrumentation for this piece was selected based on the Hub New Music ensemble, a unique chamber group that held a residency at Texas State University. It holds a somewhat ABA form, playing on a few themes that occur at the beginning of the piece. It's goal is capture the feeling of being in a rut, seemingly unable to escape a no matter how much one wants to, as well as the eventual "full circle" nature of such situations. The middle section is somewhat free and takes a step back from the moving nature of the introduction, as we sometimes must remove ourselves from a situation to reflect on how we got there and where we desire to go. While the piece begins hovering around E Minor, it ends in E Major, a more hopeful feel, signifying that, while we cannot always change the cycles of life we are a part of, we can mold our perspective to one of hope.

Carousel - Live

Performed by Azariah Reese on November 30, 2021.

Chaconne is an unaccompanied solo for viola, inspired by Bach's own chaconne from his Partita in D minor for solo violin. It uses a repeated harmonic progression and theme throughout the course of the piece, with slight variation and some modern harmonies. Enjoy the peaks and valleys in range, dynamic, and rhythm as the repeated progression weaves its way around this beautiful instrument.

Many thanks to my friend Azariah Reese, who asked me to write the piece, and who first gave it life.

Chaconne

A winning entry in the 2018 Sarah and Ernest Butler Austin Symphony Texas Young Composers Competition

“In This Moment” was composed during a season of change. It is meant to embody both the peace of nostalgia we so often lean on during times of change, and the energy that embarking on a new path produces. The introduction, which recurs near the end of the piece, is broad and puts one slightly on edge, the way a new journey does. There is a feel of pressing forward that sneaks in throughout the work, as time must press forward on despite our fears of what lies ahead.

The slow middle section is yearning for a time that was, but can never be again. It is tender, singing of the moments we can only carry in our hearts as memories. This melody is not entirely lost as the style of the piece changes, as all the moments of our pasts have played a part in molding us into the people we are today.

There are jazz-influenced licks that nod to the innovators of music in the 20th century. Improvisation acknowledges the beauty of an unforeseen moment. It embraces uncertainty, and paves a beautiful moment of spontaneity. Those moments which we cannot feel fully prepared for can often be the greatest of our lives. I attempted to write in styles that were a new challenge for me in this piece, yet still leaned on what I knew from past experience. My hope is that this work may elicit some sense of what anyone may feel when living out a new moment—a reminiscent glance back, and a bold step forward.

In This Moment - Finale Playback

Premiered by Conductor Seth Davis and students at Texas State University on April 6, 2019

Inspired by a line in the Bible, this piece is about rebirth. The ESV translation of 2 Corinthians 5:17 uses the titular phrase to describe a new creation replacing the old within ourselves. Written during a time where this line prompted much personal reflection, this seemed a fitting subject matter to frame a fanfare-esque piece around. The opening of the piece is somewhat somber and distant in tone, and is soon replaced by a bold statement of brass and bells ushering in something new and exciting. The cascading entrances of the horns and uplifting melodies transform throughout the piece and make a clear statement at the end, definitively announcing that something new is on the horizon. A slower ballad-like pause in the middle of the piece is meant to allow a fresh melody to soar, keeping with the theme of something new appearing, while telling a story of someone who is aware of the change occurring and torn between fear of the unknown and peace with who they are becoming. The presence of these two emotions is constant throughout the piece in the open harmonies battling for consonance but unavoidably finding dissonance, until the very end, where the piece has reached a confident acceptance of what has transpired.

Amy Austria

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