Rolling In The Deep

The Things I've Been Meaning to Say was commissioned by Copland House for its
CULTIVATE 2025 Emerging Composers Institute. It was premiered by members
of the Copland House Ensemble (Moran Katz, clarinet; Pala Garcia, violin; Alexis Pia
Gerlach, cello; and Margaret Kampmeier, piano) on June 10, 2025 at Elebash Hall, The
Graduate Center of the City University of New York. CULTIVATE 2025 fellowships
and commissions were supported by the ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Alice M.
Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Friends of Copland House, Jandon Foundation,
and NewMusicUSA. Additional program funding was provided by the Aaron Copland
Fund for Music, Amphion Foundation, ArtsWestchester, Elzbieta and David Grove
Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts.

As a violinist/composer, my dual identity as both performer and creator informs my work, influencing my collaborative approach to composition. Over the past year, my performance career has taken me across the country on exciting adventures performing with different orchestras while, at times, leaving me feeling worn and stretched thin. This rigorous performance schedule has led me to reflect on the Arts, questioning why the execution, precision, and accuracy of standard repertoire is so highly valued, while creativity, experimentation, and artistic risk often seem secondary. With limited time for composing, I found myself writing only for myself, which led to a series of incomplete sketches that would eventually form the basis of The Things I've Been Meaning to Say. The piece explores a wide range of emotions that are deliberately juxtaposed, mirroring the chaotic, fragmented nature of our modern society—one where attention spans are shrinking and the constant flow of information, both true and false, leaves us fatigued. Through this work, I also find myself questioning what it means to be a creator in a world, and more specifically country, where freedom of expression is increasingly challenged, and where artistic risks are often sidelined in favor of safe, commercially driven programming. - Tommy Dougherty, 2025 

The Things I've Been Meaning to Say

VSQ Performs Modern Rock Hits 2012, Vol. 2

Sail

VSQ Performs Lady Gaga's Born This Way

Born this Way

VSQ Performs the Hits of 2014, Vol. 3

Riptide

Radioactive

Simply Three

Chasing Cars

Los Angeles, California serves as home base for the concept group called Vitamin String Quartet. The group is made up of studio musicians who are brought together to interpret and record orchestra style covers of music from all types of genres ranging metal, techno, country, pop, rock and hip-hop dance music. While the quartet uses a wide assortment of artists and instruments, one fairly constant member of the group is violinist Tom Tally. Tally has been intimately involved in the composing, arranging and conduction of many songs on approximately 50 of the albums that have been recorded by the group. While the group is referred to as a string quartet, the reality is that more individuals are usually involved, using instruments such as violins, cellos, percussion, brass and woodwinds. The group was originally brought together in 1999 as an experimental project. They wanted to determine the effects of using classical style instruments to create new and different sounds on popular recordings. Early on, the FM broadcast station WWHK in Concord, NH would play the group's music 24 hours a day, every day, for a period of time. The popularity of the group's music has led to the music being featured on TV and in the movies. Credits include So You Think You Can Dance (2008), TV show The Vampire Diaries (2010), the 100th episode of Gossip Girl and the fifth season finale of Modern Family (2014). Throughout the years, the group has been involved in the recording of over 200 different albums. In 2009, the group stepped out of the box a bit and recorded some original material provided by some of the various musicians on the album Per_Versions.