I believe that music must express ideas and emotions
as well as exhibit craft. Because of this, a composer must be engaged with the
world on multiple levels and bring to their work a knowledge of other arts as
well as an awareness of global issues such as gender roles, education, justice,
and the environment. In my quest to express my ideas and emotions about these
issues, I often draw on extra-musical elements, such as poetry, visual images,
and physical gesture, while at the same time creating functional musical
shapes.
I frequently call upon performers to move through
space; the position of the instrumentalist and the direction from which the
sound comes are both important. The choice of instruments is an integral part
of a piece, and I use timbral counterpoint and timbral shifts as formal
elements. As a singer, melodic gestures are important to me, even for nontexted
pieces. I often use syncopated rhythms, irregular meters, and polymeters. I
draw on techniques from past eras to express my conception; my works have used isorhythms,
ostinati, rotating “rows,” counterpoint, drones, extended instrumental
techniques, juxtaposition, and a variety of formal “shapes.”