During my first year at the University of Colorado, the composition department and flute studio did a collaboration in which each composer was paired with a flutist, for whom they would write a piece. This was my first “assignment” in my private composition lessons, and I really struggled to write something that I thought was good. My professor, Carter Pann, stipulated to me that the piece had to be unaccompanied, and so the obvious challenge was that I was writing a piece that had only a single voice, and no vertical harmony to rely on.

I actually so disliked this piece after I wrote it, that I asked Indigo, the flutist to which I was assigned, to allow me to write a flute sonata (with piano) for her, so that I had the opportunity to work with her on a piece that I actually enjoyed.

All these years later, being separated from the version of myself that wrote this, I actually think it’s not so bad. I would definitely never write a piece that sounds like this again, but I like it okay for what it is, and I definitely enjoy writing for a single voice (e.g. Postkarten aus Berlin) a lot more than I did in 2017.