PROGRAM NOTE

 

Desire Paths is a term used in transportation planning for footpaths that make shortcuts between paved sidewalks. You can find them public parks and especially on college campuses. Sidewalks and desire paths have the same goal in that they reach the same destination. Both are created by consensus - a sidewalk is made using transit regulations and a desire path is made by many individuals taking the same shortcut. I began to think about the different

processes used to create paths through musical space and how predetermined structures interact with intuition.
 

Desire Paths is lead by two percussionists playing the vibraphone and woodblocks. These instruments are given small cells of material that repeat throughout the entire piece. Both are evocative: the vibraphone' s three-note pattern gradually travels downwards through tonal space, and the woodblocks suggest the rhythms of echoing footsteps. The ensemble moves along with the percussionists, sometimes coloring the vibraphone' s pitches or imitating the

sparse rhythmic pulses of the woodblocks.
 

My goal is that Desire Paths would move in a way that feels both structured and instinctual, and that it would inspire reflection upon the many pathways of creativity .