El Cuy, or the Guinea Pig, is a piece for solo flute. This piece is in two movements, Frenético and Gracioso, and it reflects upon arguments between textures that embody a frantic guinea pig.
I primarily named this piece "El Cuy" because it was my "guinea pig" with working on a new compositional ideology called Gebrauchsmusik, or utility music. This means that it is music that exists for its own sake and not driven or initiated from literature, emotions, or other artistic influences. With this idea in mind I found myself playing with colors only the flute possesses and tri-chord motifs that answer one another through melodic gestures.

Performed at Temple University on March 24, 2014 by Maddy Allwein.

El Cuy

This is an electronic piece that refers to Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness". Each sound is made by humans, knuckles cracking, throat singing, whistles, and other sounds made by the mouth.

Oraciones de los Visitantes del Pasado

Joshua Carey, Double Bass

Text in Quechua and English

Maypatan Shamunky

Where do you come from?

Imatan Ruraicanky

What are you doing?

Maypatan Aywanky

Where are you going?

Muna Aywayta Camuna

I'll go with you.

Iremos Juntos

Performed on November 4th 2015 by Nellie Smith

Aron

La Leyenda de los Amaru refers to a genesis story from the Jauja province of Perú. The setting takes place in a great lake that became the resting place of the Amaru. Later, a rainbow fathered another Amaru to be companion to the first. The two monsters challenged each other for supremacy over the lake. In these frequent struggles, the violence of which raised waterspouts to great heights in space, agitating the lake. Irritated, the god Tikse unloaded a tempest over them, the tempest's lightning killed them both, and they fell, undone, with flooding rains over the already agitated lake, increasing its volume until it broke its banks and emptied itself to the south.
When the valley had been formed in this way, there came forth from Wari-puquio the first two human beings, called “Mama” and “Taita,” who up to then had remained for a long time under the earth for fear of the Amarus.
This pair's descendants constructed, later, the Temple of Wariwillka, the ruins of which still exist today The Appearance of Human Beings on the Earth

from Jauja Province, Department of Junín, Peru

Premiered on Feb. 7th 2015 by the Momenta Quartet

La Leyenda De Los Amaru

This is designed to showcase a unique instrument I have obtained in the heart of Cusco, Perú that goes by the name, Quenacho. It has been fascinating to combine this primitive woodwind instrument with  Western instruments such as the flute, contrabass, electric guitar, and even a Moog Synthesizer. I make use of the sound occurring from the two contrasting eras from which these instruments are from in order to unify and define a modern day Perúvian-Americans' music.

Time Dances

Turtle Preludes

Tirol

Send Off

Go to bed with this then tell me what you're feeling the next morning.

Sleep Lavander Town

El Apu refers to the tutelary spirit that resides in the Andes of Perú

Canción Por El Apu

Watch Medley and Carlos take screws and found objects to a piano at The New School.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfJvvHPFomA

Fuhr

Sun Rises

Snake Music

The Celestial River

Intro

Jam 2_PO 20

Arcade Dance Love_PO 20

Everyone Blinks_PO 20

Forma(l)ine_PO 20

Catch Some Sleep_PO 20

Carousel Music

Mermaid Pussy

I had the opportunity to write for two music students from the Shanghai conservatory. They came to Interlochen Arts Academy in 2013 for an aesthetic music intensive that was being offered. The instruments used in this piece are the Erhu and Guzheng. The title translates to Without You. The composers at Interlochen were given one night to write for these instruments. I was able to pull together these two instrumentalists to help me make the piece come alive. I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with these two students.

See them play this piece live at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bZMCxdFkwo

Sin Ti for Erhu and Guzheng

Over the summer of 2012, I wanted to write a piece that would represent my style of writing in a brief piece for piano. I was interviewed by WITF radio station.

You can listen to it here:

http://www.witf.org/arts-culture/2012/08/york-symphony-orchestra-summer-song-writing-camp.php

At the time my piece was called Prelude No. 1. However my former piano teacher gave me other suggestions and I went with Impromptu No. 1 and I changed it a little bit.

Impromptu No. 1

One day I was messing around on the piano and played four notes I very much liked. However, I could not classify them into a specific chord. I had these four notes memorized as I walked into my composition class and asked my teacher to identify what I just played. She said that I just played a quartal harmony.
Quartal harmonies sound nothing familiar to the human ear. If anything they sound very large and vast. This is what gave Aaron Copland his title of being an american style composer; Because he incorporated these into his pieces and it began to resemble the vast prairies and plains that make up the mid-western part of the United States.
As an alternative way to compose I decided to graph out and illustrate what the music I was hearing in my mind would look like to me. In my opinion if you hold up the score the illustrations I drew they would reflect the notes I composed.
I decided to incorporate Pan Pipes as I have heard them played live multiple times and am so enticed by the rustic sound it brings when I think of Perú. In my piece I play alot with color by the chords I chose and register some instruments are in. I renamed this piece from Colours of the Rain to Mi Noche con los que Vuelan because I incorporated bird calls in the piece, an idea from listening to a piece by Somei Satoh named Birds in Warped Time II for violin and piano.
The tone colors and dynamics are central to creating the title's imagery. The unusual instrument in the ensemble is called a pan pipe. It is a native Peruvian woodwind whose timbre gives a rustic quality ti the piece. Listen closely and you can hear humming birds, ducks, and other birds. This piece also expresses serenity to those that live in cities and might not ever get an opportunity to hear these rustic sounds. This was performed in Interlochen Arts Academy 2013. This piece was conducted by Dr. Matthew Schlomer.

Soloist: Pan Pipes- Cobby Brzenski

This can be seen on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKte2dcpgWQ

Popular tracks by Carlos Johns-Dávila