What i heard
for violin and piano (2016)

What I Heard is a short, five-minute piece for violin and piano. To me, the entire piece is an outgrowth of the first two measures, a relationship which is probably clear to me and no one else. Rhythmically, the first two measures are inspired by a late-night drive early in January 2016 in Pennsylvania, when I was listening to an 80's radio station. As one song began, I heard this quirky syncopated rhythm in an irregular time signature on a repeated chord. I thought, "There's no way this station is playing some song that's in this time signature," which, in fact was correct. It was a conventional four-beat time signature that my tired mind misinterpreted. Nevertheless, this piece is inspired by "what I heard."