Utterances is a collection of short miniatures for Violin and Piano commissioned by the Rogue Duo, members of the ICOT Ensemble. It is a work that reflects on the volatile socioeconomic conditions of our society and is inspired by various conversations I have had with people close to me and hearing stories of suffering and intolerable events affecting people from all over.
The three miniatures consist of short melodic, harmonic and intensely rhythmic statements and motives that feature limited compositional development thus depicting rash and quick decisions people need to make in various situations, whether it be signing onto paying high interest rates, snatching the final items at grocery stores on sale or fleeing their homes due to forest fires. The music also expresses exasperation with some of the current political leadership and general discontent with the way our leaders making decisions that affect us in the present day and will affect us in the future, including decisions that are corrupt and decision that hurt populations and the future of our environment. Miniature II particularly expresses disappointment in regards to the hospital and medical care wait times and features stasis and suspends time with its slowly moving chords and harmonic development. Music is a universal language, one that has the ability to express a limitless amount of emotions, ideas and sentiments and thus, instead of writing a lengthy magazine article, I would like to share this work with the audience with the purpose of uniting us in our frustrations and establishing a dialogue between the music and our thoughts.
 
The piece is approximately 5 minutes long. Violin Part and Score included in the file.