COMMISSIONED BY: AJ Pratt and Sean Garde
WORLD PREMIERE: April 26, 2016 | AJ Pratt (soprano saxophone), Josh Trentadue (percussion) | Cook Recital Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Erratic Grooves is a short, contemplative work which balances the traditional qualities of a written song with irregular rhythms, meters, and dancelike musical patterns. The piece is characterized, as the title suggests, with several different grooves and melodic lines tied together by a middle section featuring a drum break by djembe.

The idea for the piece stems from the concept of when one learns a new skill, such as riding a bike, driving a car, or playing an instrument for the first time! To capture different aspects of this concept, the woodwind player (whether on soprano saxophone, flute, or clarinet) uses several different extended techniques idiomatic to their instrument throughout the piece such as slap-tonguing, pitch bending, and growling or fluttertonguing.

My sincerest gratitude goes to AJ Pratt and Sean Garde for commissioning this work.