This project came about through joint efforts of the UNLV composition studio (fore fronted by Jennifer Bellor) and the Nevada Ballet Theatre. Through this opportunity, us student composers had an opportunity to write for ballet and to gain experience in collaboration.
Initially, I had started writing this piece for a different instrumentation (multiple mallet percussion in place of Clarinet). However, a few months into this project, we were informed that the pit for performers was smaller than anticipated (as in, if you want percussion, it will be percussion and piano only). While initially frustrating, I began trying to arrange what I had already written for the ensemble that currently is Hornet. Ultimately, it wasn’t the same piece, something I wasn’t satisfied with. As a result, I furiously began writing a piece from scratch; titling it Hornet after the idiom to “stir up a hornets nest”. The idea being that I would write something that would not be pleasing; I would cause a ruckus. This is what the piece started as, a canvas in which I could paint all my frustrations and anger onto. There was no structure, no rhyme or reason, just a vessel to portray irritation.
However, over the course of writing this piece, the meaning changed. The limitations brought upon me actually wound up pushing me in ways I wouldn’t have pushed myself if I continued with the initial idea. Sometimes, setbacks (while infuriating at first) can actually end up being the best things that ever happen to us. They force us to evolve in ways we otherwise wouldn’t have. And so this piece, while starting out filled with tension and rage, ends bittersweet, with smooth and drawn out plagal cadences, marking an emotional transition over time as I experienced it.
*Hornet was initially scored for Violin, Clarinet, Cello, & Piano. This version remains true to the original, with a few changes that were inspired by the narrative my choreographer created.
