Home Alone: "Uh...Mom is in the Shower, Can I Have Her Call You Back?" is a pointillistic setting of the children's lullaby, "Hush Little Baby." This movement reflects some of the sounds a child may hear while at home alone for the first time. Strange knocking, echoes, and other old house noises can be rather unnerving for a child who is trying to feel brave the first time they are home alone. The title comes from the fib that kids are told to tell those who call when they are home alone: "Mom is in the shower." The simple accompaniment of whole notes with pizzicato in the left hand fills the texture while adding a sense of stability.

The second movement, Surprises: "Jack," The Birthday Present, is based on a birthday party. The tune Pop Goes the Weasel is passed between the instruments. Each entrance becomes more experimental, as if a child's first introduction to a Jack-in-the-Box. The first playing is very straight forward, with only a simple pizzicato accompaniment in the other strings. On the third "pop," a dissonant chord will resound followed by a short silence. A whimpering child is represented by the wailing double-stops. A semi-stretto section begins in the upper strings on the whole-tone version of Pop Goes the Weasel. Happy Birthday cuts through this chaos on the cello.

The third movement, Dream Sequence: From the Land of Nod, is based upon a dream sequence. As in a strange dream that jumps around, unexpected things often happen as the dreamer (or listener in this case), jumps from land to land. It will open with a melody in the violin accompanied by pizzicato in the lower three strings.

Premier: April 28, 1998, 8:00 p.m.
Composers' Forum Concert
Beall Concert Hall, The University of Oregon School of Music

Saturday, May 1, 1999, 3:00 p.m.
Senior Composition Recital
Beall Concert Hall, The University of Oregon School of Music
Photos