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Board Piece ................................(Yaki Hallett, Luke Tackett, Josh Lee) 

with Night Lights...............................................................(Megan Miller)

Yaki Hallett (piano), Drew Fleming (euphonium), Aleah Vincent (alto saxophone)  

I. Out of Watchful Eyes  

Yaki - My piece is based on a memory of when I was in boy scouts.  There was a badge where my friends had to spend a night in the  wilderness in a shelter they made. I already completed the badge so I  had to head back to camp. It was already dark out so I was walking in  the dark in the forest by myself. There, I remember hearing lots of  wildlife at night, especially a bunch of owls. In this piece, I aimed to  recreate the creepy sounds of the night while also referencing The  Night's Music," the fourth movement of Bartók's "Out of Doors" (1926).  

II. Arid Forest 

Luke - For the second movement, I decided to portray the idea of a  dream through out-of-time instrumental solos. It starts and ends with the  same euphonium solo, representing reality, but as the piece develops,  the tone becomes sombre and contemplative to represent the  movement into the dream world’s forest. The latter half of the piece is  the “arid” part of the forest and features some fun interplay between  the saxophone and euphonium.  

III. The Lamp-Lit Stroll 

Josh - This trio is about a walk I took through the trails of Trempealeau  State Park, around two in the morning. Stumbling through the dark, with  the wind moving through the trees, we heard something off a short ways  away hidden by both the treeline and the night, that was slowly,  gradually, consistently following us on our path. I assume it was just a  curious deer, but who really knows everything that calls the forest home. 

Night Lights 

Megan - We all carry places with us throughout our lives. Grandma’s  kitchen, your best friend’s bedroom, the park in your old neighborhood.  We create memories connected to the locations that help shape and  guide our lives. In turn, we give identity to those places through our  contact with them. Whether it’s the way we arrange the furniture, how  we absentmindedly move items throughout our day, or simply through  our footsteps, we leave our mark on the environments we interact with.  

There are moments, however small, when we’re transported back in time  to these specific places. Anything could have prompted it – the smell of  freshly brewed coffee, the way light dances on the wall, the rustling of  the wind through fallen leaves. In an instant we are sent miles or even  years away. The remembrance of these spaces can feel visceral or give  us comfort. Nevertheless, as time passes and things change,  environments evolve and spaces are re-made, we hold onto the feelings  and images that have been imprinted in our memories.  

Night Lights, from my series, Connected Spaces, is a personal  exploration of some of the environments that hold emotional  significance to me. The combination of indoor and outdoor locations is  based upon the intuitive feelings I get when I think of each place  and the memories associated with them. While I cannot say that all of  these spaces are my own, they have all had a meaningful impact on me  just the same. 

 

Dreams of Healing Division........................................(Grant Hesselink) 

with Political Split .......................................................(Alex Lindemann) 

Grant Hesselink (electronics)  

Alex - “Political Split” is a piece that Alex created to demonstrate the  relentless and damaging nature of politics, and people in the middle of  political arguments feel helpless.  

Dreams of Healing Division  

Grant - "Dreams of Healing Division" is an extension of this work, which  has a subject falling asleep and dreaming of a world where everyone can  coexist, only to be rudely awakened by reality again. 

 

Saint-Charles...............................................(Yaki Hallett, Link Sanders) 

with Saint-Charles, 24th of April ............................(Charlotte Gutzmer)

Link Sanders (mezzo-soprano), Yaki Hallett (piano, electronics)  

Yaki/Link - This piece is based on a poem of the same name written by  Charlotte Gutzmer. It’s written based on childhood memories that she  had of her grandfather’s apartment. We decided to give it a more  nostalgic feel, just like when you’re thinking of a happy childhood  memory. 

 

Tentacle Entanglement...........................................................(Josh Lee) 

with Blowing Bubbles.....................................................(Brodie Spolar) 

and The Octopus.....................................................(Charlotte Gutzmer) 

Drew Fleming (euphonium) 

Josh - This piece tells the narrative of an octopus stuck in a fishing net,  thinking over its life. It starts outraged, then starts reminiscing on  happier times when it was young. The mood becomes more melancholic  as over the progress of its life, it would’ve witnessed the oceans being  turned into a bit of a war zone. Then, it becomes outraged again as it  remembers being caught.  

Blowing Bubbles  

Brodie - This piece was dredged up from the heart of a lake both  ancient and great. 

 

Dreamland ..........................................................(Josh Lee, Yaki Hallett)

Josh Lee (violin), Yaki Hallett (piano, electronics)  

Josh/Yaki - Instead of focusing on two different disciplines of art, this  collaboration showcases two distinct styles of composition layered on  top of one another - acoustic and electronic music. The first half of the  piece (started with acoustic instruments, with electronics added in later)  depicts a happy, positive dreamscape you hope to find yourself in. It is  full of happy dissonance that gives a fuzzy, elusive feeling commonly  associated with dreaming. The piece transitions to a more negative  section (started with electronics, acoustics added second), which has a  more intense, eerie sound. It starts with acoustics imitating the  electronic sounds and vice versa, and then there is a more exposed  section where the acoustics have the foreground. The end of this section  transitions into a repeat of the material from the first half of the piece  and ends with a simple presentation of the melody.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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