60% Water is a piece for solo performer with electronic playback. It was originally composed for viola, but alternatively could be played on violin or cello. 

60% Water was written for Jonathan Morgan and focuses on the physical and acoustic relationships of playing an instrument, in particular how physical wellness impacts playing. There are three movements, but the first movement can be played by itself. The piece is designed, so that it can be performed by someone who is physically unable to play their instrument.

Postal Piece No.12

A Piece of Farm is for a flexible number of storytellers and cellists, and one tea preparer. It was written for the 2020 Music from Salem Cello Seminar (held virtually due to COVID-19) to give the participants the opportunity to perform a group cello piece "together" and musically experience the magic of being at the Cello Farm (aka Cello Seminar). All of its materials are interlaced with moods and symbols of the farm experience, from being cold to gathering in the kitchen to playing the infamous Bach Chaconne. A Piece of Farm is dedicated to Rhonda Rider, Judy Gordon, David Russell, and Scott Kluksdahl. 

Postal Piece No.15

Premiered June 11, 2020 on the Music From Salem Cello Seminar Final Concert

Performance Video

Bloom is a piece for body percussion and speaking. It can be performed by one or two performers and was written for Maiani da Silva with her feminist performance practice in mind. Bloom links traditionally feminine ideas of a blossom or blooming to the taboo of menstruation, the body, and visceral growth. 

Postal Piece No.9

Premiered February 15, 2021 on Music for Your Inbox

Performance Video

Cover is a piece for voice or melodic instrument and electronic playback. It can be realized in live performance or as a standalone recording. 

Cover was written for Rachel Beetz as a prompt to encourage her as she began songwriting. It's structured as a pun, where noise covers the performer's cover, and evokes nostalgia, reaching, and radio transmission.

Postal Piece No.3

For to survive. God speed is for a speaking harpist. It was written near the beginning of the stay at home orders of the COVID-19 pandemic for Elizabeth Huston as a kind of release valve and musical opportunity to express the disorientation of quarantining. The title comes from a note that Elizabeth included in a toy she mailed my son at the beginning of the quarantine.

Postal Piece No.2

From a Rainy Day is a piece for solo cello. Duration is open, and the piece can be approached as a performance meditation where the duration matches the needs of the performance situation. It was written during an improvisation on a rainy day and musicaly explores the acoustic disturbance of quiet notes against the cello's ringing open C string. From a Rainy Day is dedicated to Ashley Walters and her finely honed ear for acoustic resonance.

Postal Piece No.8

Keeping a Schedule is written for performer recorded electronic playback and a performer improvising on objects or instruments.

The piece is intended to be a snapshot of life and a chance to musically reflect on that snapshot. It compresses, captures, and suspends time, allowing a performer to create many realizations representative of any given day, or to musically respond to a single realization several times and observe how their response transforms over time.

It is inspired by Cassia Streb and her heroic efforts to support her family during the COVID-19 quarantine, with the goal of giving her space to creatively reflect on that time.

Postal Piece No.5

Premiered October 12, 2022 on Praxinoscope: Hours of the Day concert

Keepsake is a piece for performer recorded conversation and improvisation. The score outlines the realization of a layered recording, but Keepsake can also be realized as a live performance. 

I wrote Keepsake for my dear friend and longtime collaborator Heather Barnes. After she was diagnosed with terminal illness, Heather and I had many long conversations about what she wanted to leave behind as a legacy of herself as an artist and for her family to remember her. Keepsake was designed as a structure for Heather to musically record and leave memories for her loved ones. It includes storytelling and conversation as a way to capture those memories, and improvisation on wineglasses—an homage to a meaningful performance we (Diagenesis Duo) gave of Earle Brown's music. 

Postal Piece No.13

Missed is a piece for two live streaming performers commissioned by Aperture Duo. Inspired by Aperture Duo's tightly knit friendship and performance partnership, Missed is a musical pun that looks at how close friends and collaborators connect (and can't connect) over live streaming: what the internet can and can't replace.

Postal Piece No.11

Premiered May 26, 2020 on Living Music: Pirate Radio Edition

Premiere Performance Video

Second Performance Video

Ripple is a piece for vibraphone (and/or other percussion) and sine tone tuned to 440Hz. The open score asks the performer to make ripples in the tone. In particular, Ripple explores acoustic beating through the tuning of modern melodic percussion instruments, which is often based on 442Hz. It is inspired by and written for Dustin Donahue.

Postal Piece No.1

Sparkle is a chance score for solo piano. The piece is a kind of game, where the performer drops black sequins onto the score to create trill clusters. Sparkle was written for Todd Moellenberg as a celebration of his effervescent piano playing. 

Postal Piece No.10

Stepwise Motion is a collage for flute and performer-recorded electronic playback. Inspired by Christine Tavolacci, the piece layers breathing and stepping in two scenarios—playing the flute and hiking—creating musical puns for each. The result is sound that is deeply physical with an imagined sense of place.

Postal Piece No.16

The Best Lettuce is a piece for performer recorded electronic playback and improvising violinist (or other instrumentalist). It is written for an inspired by Adrianne Pope, who grows the best lettuce I've ever had. The piece is a celebration of Adrianne's love of gardening, imaginative improvisation, and generous friendship.

Postal Piece No.6

Things That Beep is for violin and performer recorded electronic playback written for Eric KM Clark. It could also be realized by other high instruments, such as flute, oboe, trumpet, or clarinet.

Once in a rehearsal, Eric told me how great it was that every appliance in his kitchen beeped a different number of times, so that he always knew what was beeping by the number of beeps. Things That Beep is a process piece that stitches those beeps together. 

Postal Piece No.14

Torch is a piece for two performers with flashlights. It explores the idea of physical scrutiny and how bodies are distorted under that scrutiny. It must be performed in the dark. 

Written for Autoduplicity

Unwanted Noise is for electric guitar with 3-4 pedal arrays. It is inspired by Nicholas Deyoe and his incredible pedal collection, and aims to highlight the cumulative buzzing that results from connecting many pedals to an amp. Rather than ignore the buzzing, the performer is asked to move between different buzzing textures harmonize against them. 

Postal Piece No.4

Window Smudges is for improvising performer or performers (on instrument(s) or objects) and performer-generated electronic playback, and was written for Jen Wang. 

I was inspired by the transcripts of family conversations that Jen shares on social media, and wanted to create a piece that was in itself a family activity which could celebrate those conversations. The improvised portion gives the performer a chance to reflect on their family interactions, or extends the piece into another family activity where all of the members contribute their improvisations. With repeated realizations, Window Smudges can serve as a musical archive of how family interactions change over time.

Postal Piece No.7