Writing about Insects

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They're coming...

I wrote a couple of orchestral pieces since January, along with a number of other things. However, the most recent project is a multi-movement work about insects --Insecta. It was a challenge to come up with music that "felt" like the bugs I was trying to portray, and still give each piece character, speaking about what they are in terms that do justice to their role in our world.

This piece is a collection of several short works, each representing a different family or order within the class Insecta.

family Formicidae – the Colony
order Lepidoptera – Flutter by
order Coleoptera – Flying Tanks
family Apidae – the Hive

The entire collection is based on the Forte set-class 6-z17, the subset 5-22 and their variations (compliments and inversions). Some movements only use two variations of the core set-class, while others use several variations. The concept was to create unique pieces with the character of the specific insect while retaining a commonality they all share.

Now the search is on to find a conductor/orchestra willing to creep out their audience.

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