Salt Creek, California - This is something I’m working on. It’s a movement of what will eventually be a set of sketches called “Scenes from America”. This movement is called “Salt Creek, California,” which is a beach from my adolescence that I have (mostly) fond memories of (pictured to the right). The outer sections use alternating measures of 7/16+5/16 which can also be heard as ¾ with syncopated accents (4+3+3+2; but that’s messier to write). 

This was commissioned by Yale alum and Canadian guitarist Bruno Roussel for a repertoire book he is publishing in Canada. More coming soon, let me know what you think! 

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UPDATED 3/8/2011:  

A friend once told me “if you don’t like a piece, make it better." I’ve since decided to revise this piece to better reflect the range of feelings I have about Salt Creek beach in California. So, this is the new draft I’m working with. A bit more contemplative and longing than the original: Walks with girlfriends as the whitewash nips at your feet, dropping into a wave at daybreak, philosophizing about life over a bonfire, watching the sunlight spread across the water as it sets, and nostalgia for relationships come and gone. I think that’s all represented here now in a way it wasn’t before, and I hope you agree that it is in fact, better.  

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