Tug If You Need Us (2022)
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LINKS
Out Youth website - Video on the album - Get the album
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Instrumentation: Violins, piano, harp, wood-frog.
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Description: This was a piece I wrote for Lighthouse, an album initiated by my good friend Caitlin Ayala for Out Youth. They are an organization that offers help and support to the LGBTQ+ community, and this album was a collaboration amongst several composers to write pieces to fundraise for the organization. Please check the links above - all proceeds of the album on iTunes and Amazon Music will go toward helping the organization grow!
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Caitlin gave me a few themes to work with for this piece, and I decided to center it around safety or comfort, as well as community. The piece is roughly divided into three sections. The opening spins a tale of an individual, represented by the lone piano melody, lost and possibly outcast from where they grew up. The music tries several times to lift this individual up, but each time fails. The second section opens with a dance, which represents a supportive community where they can feel loved and accepted for who they are with open arms. It is in this section that, instead of solo strings, more instruments join, and we reach the end of the dance section with a full strings section. After a piano cadenza, the third section recaps the opening, now with the full violins playing the solo piano's melody from the beginning - the individual has found a home, a place of comfort and safety, and is ready to become who they were always meant to be.