Excerpts from Composer’s journal, late fall 2021
I started noticing crows everywhere as I wrote the piece. They appear at all manner of times and places – sometimes one, sometimes 2 or 3, and sometimes many. Is it a sign? A message? Has inspiration arrived, awaiting my prompt return to the studio? Or are they just crows? Was there always this many crows? They appeared in a swarm over my house on the weekend. There must have been 500 or 1000 of them. Did they want me to fly with them?
Are the answers already there, waiting to be discovered? Are problems already solved? Are all pieces written already, just awaiting to be heard by a composer? Do we really create anything, or is it already made? Do the answers and problems arrive like pairs of electrons, entangled and inseparable? Was the piece complete the very moment it was begun? Or before? Is it fly with crows, or fly with ravens? Duo or trio? Or both? Do I already know?
I now notice crows frequently, and they have become a reminder for inspiration, which is, of course, everywhere, just waiting to be noticed. Like crows.
Dedicated to crows.
This work was commissioned by Amy Hillis, Bryan Holt and Amahl Arulanandam.
