202-456-1111 for Flute and Piano

From the Publisher

202-456-1111. The public access phone number for The White House. Since January 2017 one can no longer leave a message. What does this say about the relationship between the current President and his citizenry? The election results of 2016 were an alarming wake-up to the country as a whole, no matter which side of the divide one is on. Like many, I am afraid of the new direction our government has taken, and mightily concerned about the content and the quality of public discourse. These worries were foremost in my mind as I began composing. I struggled with how to synchronise my bleak mental/emotional state with the task at hand - writing for the golden combination of flute and piano. I couldn't find my way. One day, after an unsuccessful attempt to leave a message of dissent on the White House line, I had a flash - I would use that phone number as source material for the duo - and assigned pitches to each number, with the 0 represented as a rest. Suddenly I had focus. The resulting work, 202-456-1111 is in one movement and reveals the many different emotions fo an uneasy citizen at the dawn of a new political era.

Performance duration (approx): 10'

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Flute
• Part 2: Piano