The work presented here might seem deceptively simple— or deceptively complex, depending on how you experience the word "deceptively". Whether in "pop", "concert" or "art" pieces (problematic terms, always) I tend to write using voluntarily limited pitch class (as opposed to the Hummer-esque 12-tone approach, for example) and musical resources (instruments like viola and guitar, or cello/piano/voice, or solo snare drum with live electronic processing). I am drawn to this approach because of the way it combines the "pop culture" delivery format (good for videos, internet, haiku-like economy of form and self-reference) with the greater range of expression and experimentation available to composed music.

In writing these pieces, I attempt to bridge the space between worlds. If audiences are to have a visceral, uncomplicated, emotionally direct, native-language connection to new art music, its gestures and accents must reflect the culture we live in, and not run from it. At the same time, there must not be worship of the fleetingly-popular, the thrown-together-hastily, the flash-in-the-pan, fly-by-night pop phenomena. Concert artists must cultivate a mutualistic relationship with mass culture– approaching it as a tree from which to pick quality influences, or a fertile soil in which to plant their seeds.

Toward this goal, I write music that places instruments into imagined spaces and responsive, evolving feedback systems using live electronic audio signal processing. I work to create electronic control systems that allow a work to be performed solo, without a second performer on "electronics". I also make those control systems musically intuitive, so someone who has spent years learning the violin, for example, can simply use her solo and chamber-music instincts in performing a piece such as Dog of Glass. This way the work can be performed not just by the miniscule subset of classical performers who also have a background in electronics– but by any player interested in new music, and who has access to a laptop.

I also maintain that technology in music is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. A piece can no longer be considered "cutting edge" merely for using electronics, or even for using live electronic processing. This is now a tool available to composers who wish to broaden the possible sonic palette, and it can be used to create interesting or boring extensions to the traditional instruments' sounds, exactly as the violin itself can produce interesting or boring sounds. My goal is to develop and implement compelling, intuitive, beautiful ways for technology to serve musicians, and use those technologies effectively in composing new music.