Reflections at Dusk (2019)

solo vibraphone and tape  

Duration: 4′

Click HERE to view a PDF of score. 

Vibraphone part is available for purchase: Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct.

Click HERE to download the tape/background track.

Program Note

There are several versions of this piece, all of which came to fruition after I wrote a 1-minute miniature interlude titled, Time’s Arrest, back in 2015 for my first album, Stay. The interlude was inspired by a poem I read titled “Now” by Robert Browning. The poem begins with the line, “Out of your whole life give but one moment.” After the release of this meditative interlude, I was asked to not only create multiple arrangements of the piece, but to also extend it into a 4-minute vibraphone solo.

While I was composing the extended version, I was also working on music for my 2019 album, which comprised chamber music inspired by images of sunsets and feelings of self-reflection. I felt inspired to create a version of this solo that captured those ideas, writing additional parts for electric vibraphone, harp, and marimba, which were recorded by Merrick Haji-Sheik (electric vibraphone), Emily Montoya Barnes (harp), and Gabriela Ordoñez-Villalobos (marimba). I re-titled the track, Reflections at Dusk, since I felt the colors and textures surrounding the solo evoked feelings I would have when watching sunsets. After the track was released, there were requests to provide an accompaniment track of these parts so the piece could be performed live for solo vibraphone and tape.