NEIL KLEIN (music and libretto), B.M. ’24: Tiny House
Tiny House started as a poem. I wrote it to experiment with interior rhyme schemes, because rhymes that ended phrases felt too structured for a piece of writing that I was trying to make feel like it was tumbling out of the narrator's consciousness. Soon after finishing the poem, I decided that I wanted to set it to music, and so this version of Tiny House that you are experiencing today was created. Musically, this was the most fun I’ve ever had writing a piece. I felt that I was able to truly put myself into this work and give it so much of myself. Which fits, because Tiny House, at its core, is about love. It is about freedom in finding love, and the small but powerful joys one experiences when they are in it. The last line of this piece is: “But it will always return to love at its source.” I believe this describes everything I write, everything I try to be, and perhaps even, the entire world.
—Neil Klein, composer/librettist
Tiny House Libretto:
I know that I’m in love with him, but am I in love?
These things are different hands that wear the same glove
The reason I ask is I often wear glasses that make me think past is
Not going to repeat.
But I have to be smart and so I have to start thinking with my head
Not let only my heart decide
Though I’ve tried
I always give love with all of my pride
I think I’m in love
But that is too sweet and we often repeat that we think dark
chocolate is the superior treat
Can’t hold it in much longer, love is simply stronger than my
Concerns that I’ve learned always return no matter how much I think they’ve been conquered.
But of course when I tell him, it goes not as planned, but instead it
Goes so much more grand and as I stand here I thought I had fear
But all I have dear is one single tear that tells me everything’s great
And I didn’t have to wait I could say what I felt and see him melt like
We’re fate
A tiny house
He wants to live in a tiny house
He likes their style, they make him smile, and I remember watching those shows as a child
So when his love of them grows to include me within one it takes
everything in me to not simply bring one right to his door with
Scrapes still on the floor
I like tiny houses
So the question that caused me to pause and ponder was really no
Question at all, we will fall as we wander
I love him and I’m in love but of course now I say this with no
remorse then I’ll find him the tiny house of his dreams and we can
give it a theme or move it next to a stream but it will always return to
love at its source
KJELDEN BREIDENBACH, B.M. ’22: Images
Images can be a powerful thing in our memory and recollection of life. Over time, they can be changed and skewed to represent why we were drawn to them in the first place. The images in our memory, and how we shape them, make us who we are.
—Kjelden Breidenbach, composer
KILLIAN KERRIGAN, M.M. ’22: Mirror Moods
Mirror Moods was written for a 48 hour composition challenge. The piece explores the range of emotions experienced while composing.
—Killian Kerrigan, composer
LAUREN GREENBERG, B.M. ’23: Bronze
Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper. The combination of metals gives bronze a greater strength and resistance to corrosion. Together they bond to create a toughness unattainable on their own.
—Lauren Greenberg, composer
JUSTIN TAVERAS, B.M. ’22: Three Chamber Pieces
These pieces deal with brevity in the larger ensemble.
—Justin Taveras, composer