Program notes:

Each member of my immediate family has at least one of my grandfather’s polished rocks. With a machine, he would transform what appeared to be normal, uninteresting rocks into beautifully polished spheres- revealing the inner material beneath the outer layer of rock. These rocks provide us memories of him, but they could also be a sort of icon of our family- simply because we all possess, understand, and value them. While composing this piece,
I reflected on the dynamics and relationships of my family and used that as spiritual starting point for creating this music. Ultimately, however, my aim was to simply create compelling music rather than to communicate any kind of specific program to the audience. The reflections on my family, and really most any family for that matter, proved to be helpful in thinking of ways that the five performers in this ensemble could interact with each other.