Black Ocean

Black Ocean explores the human experience of the universe as being simultaneously vast and open, yet intimate and personal on an individual level. The text of the piece are fragments from a stream of consciousness poem by Kiara Skye called Cosmic Byproduct. Musically, the piece includes both F natural and F quarter-tone flat in the strings, to reflect the flexible ability of people to shift their macro/micro perspectives and everything between. The piece also incorporates elements of indeterminacy, including body percussion and vocal effects, allowing performers to contribute in their own unique way to the larger piece. The fragments of text that repeat and shift to create different patterns are meant to reflect the multi-dimensional nature of human thoughts and experiences. Black Ocean also includes elements of Hindustani classical music, with a  Dumdhar Chakradhar Tiahai in a 9-beat taal (rhythmic cycle) that starts on beat 4 of measure 98 and ends on the downbeat of measure 145. The piece uses vocal effects of sounds rather than text and body percussion with the tapping of the chest, claps, snaps, and the rubbing of two hands together. From measure 41 to measure 87 the string quartet writing is inspired by West African fiddle music.