DIRT

3(1picc.).3.3.2/4.3.3.1/perc/pno/str/elect.

Premiered by the Cal Poly Symphony, Performing Arts Center, San Luis Obispo, CA 2024

Dirt is alive. It teems with microbes and bacteria engaged in transformative metabolic processes: changing rock into soil, concentrating minerals, and carving space underground. In collaboration with plant roots, organisms, and elements like water and air, dirt breaks down and builds up life.

Using field recordings made underground, underwater, and on land, I extracted the pitches, textures, and rhythms of these places to create musical material. The sounds of crickets, oysters, and compost weave through the ensemble like the cyclical transformation of particles as they morph between soil, water, and air.

The excerpts below trace three ecological states within the work: dirt composting underground, dirt filtered underwater by oysters, and dirt airborne through leaves and wind.