An accessible, audience-friendly woodwind trio commissioned to explore universal issues of community and exclusion, through the lens of fibre arts in Idaho, USA & worldwide
Currently Under Exclusivity
NOT ON SALE until 01 January 2026
Currently Under Exclusivity
NOT ON SALE until 01 January 2026
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Three-Ply Yarn (2024)
A New Modular Trio in 3 Parts for Flute, Oboe d'amore & Bass Clarinet* *Alternative instrumentation: Bassoon Likely alternative groupings: String Trio and Saxophone Trio (from 2026) Commissioned by Rachel Becker, Nicole Molumby & Leslie Moreau Boise State University Department of Music Boise, Idaho, USA |
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Three-Ply Yarn (2024) Total Duration: 8’30” Stitch Patterns: 2’15” The Hidden Neighbour: 2’00 Transcendence – or, What We Leave Behind: 4’’15” Stitch Patterns
A short minimalist fantasia, based upon the number of stitches required to cast on different knitting patterns! The Hidden Neighbour Concerns solitary, marginalised workers: those Andean shepherds who care for the Idaho flocks. Based upon the Quenacho flute Transcendence – or, What We Leave Behind A minimalist piece, celebrating the total mechanisation of cotton production after the horrors and abuses of slavery |
Three-Ply Yarn (2024)
An Exploration of the Social History of Fibre Arts in Idaho & Worldwide
An Exploration of the Social History of Fibre Arts in Idaho & Worldwide
I am truly grateful to Rachel, Nicole and Leslie for the extraordinary creativity, imagination and vision which undergirds this commission. This most unusual project concerns fibre arts! Through music, my remit was to cover aspects of the history of the various fibre arts, their role within international trade (particularly as pertains to cotton); their ability to enhance community life and create cohesion; and to challenge any outstanding issues of social marginalisation related to those arts and crafts forms that were dependent, for centuries upon slavery and indentured labour.
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The commissioners were keen to explore the intersection between Boise’s position within the Idaho and American wool trades, and Boise State University’s interest in fostering healthy and thriving communities throughout Idaho. They aim to build relationships within the fibre arts community through this project, but without neglecting to explore the global, social, and human rights issues that form part of an activity that brings joy to so many people. Sweeping wool from the floor after a community class is one thing: sweeping the truth under the carpet is quite another – and the commissioners were determined to avoid doing that. Both aims are woven into Three-Ply Yarn.
Examples of BSU's community engagement can be found in the section below, focusing on The Hidden Neighbour. EXCITING FACT This may be the very first wind trio to be composed specifically for Flute, Oboe d’amore and Bass Clarinet! |
Focus on: Stitch Patterns
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The first movement of Three-Ply Yarn reflects the commissioners' desire for music which could be shared with the Idaho community, even to the extent of being performed in fibre-arts classes!
My first idea for this movement was to focus on the ancient art of spinning, particularly because that was something I had hugely enjoyed learning at my first high school in Australia, back in the early 1980s. The photo below shows some precious forty-year old hand-spun relics from the time period, still residing in my knitting bag:
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Each stitch has a different casting-on pattern, outlined on the score, that forms the numerical basis of the figures. The overall effect is one of multi-coloured thread, as each pattern contains different notes, rather than all being the same note, as would be the case if a mono-coloured thread was in use.
This photograph shows a sample of Feather & Fan (cast on in groups of 18). Image credits: AT-H; Wikimedia Commons |
Focus on: The Hidden Neighbour
The second movement of Three-Ply Yarn deals with social marginalisation - in this case, that of the Peruvian shepherds who reside in Idaho for three years on an agricultural visa, in very isolated and physically-demanding conditions. Their contribution to fibre-arts activities is vital - but hidden.
Kindly click on the first photograph, taken by former Boise State University student Casey Boothman, to read about a past initiative by BSU nursing faculty and students, to improve the lot of these hidden neighbours. This article is over ten years old.
The second photograph links to a discussion on the topic, hosted by BS Public Radio. Published in August 2023.
Image credits: Casey Boothman/ Boise State University; Alamy (licensed)
Kindly click on the first photograph, taken by former Boise State University student Casey Boothman, to read about a past initiative by BSU nursing faculty and students, to improve the lot of these hidden neighbours. This article is over ten years old.
The second photograph links to a discussion on the topic, hosted by BS Public Radio. Published in August 2023.
Image credits: Casey Boothman/ Boise State University; Alamy (licensed)
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"Seated by his wagon in the Idaho mountain foothills, playing upon his quenacho,
a Peruvian shepherd dreams of home." (Quote from the score)
a Peruvian shepherd dreams of home." (Quote from the score)
This movement is flute-led, and aims to reproduce the characteristic style of Andean Quenacho flute-playing.
Focus on: Transcendence - or What We Leave Behind
A bittersweet paean to the industrialisation of cotton production, recognising the important role that it has played in liberating human beings from enslavement, bondage and brutal labour, Transcendence is the longest piece in the set.
Like Stitch Patterns, it is as much minimalist as post-minimalist. This style reflects the relentless, mechanical process of harvesting the cotton boll, before several stages of automated processing lead to its being spun into a yarn, prior to being woven into fabric.
Left behind are centuries of slavery, indentured labour and back-breaking, dangerous work. In order to make the connection with slavery, as desired by the commissioners, I re-used a chord progression from one of my earlier, original pieces. I am interested to see how many people can work out which one it is...
Below: Black cotton-farming family (public domain); The factory process of cotton-spooling (Wikimedia Commons)
Like Stitch Patterns, it is as much minimalist as post-minimalist. This style reflects the relentless, mechanical process of harvesting the cotton boll, before several stages of automated processing lead to its being spun into a yarn, prior to being woven into fabric.
Left behind are centuries of slavery, indentured labour and back-breaking, dangerous work. In order to make the connection with slavery, as desired by the commissioners, I re-used a chord progression from one of my earlier, original pieces. I am interested to see how many people can work out which one it is...
Below: Black cotton-farming family (public domain); The factory process of cotton-spooling (Wikimedia Commons)
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