Composition

Notes

Steps and Leaps was composed around the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the moon, its title inspired by Neil Armstrong’s first words from the surface of the moon, “One small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind.” The music brings to my mind the beating hearts, ticking clocks, interlocking actors, rising tension, and release into weightlessness that I associate with that first lunar landing.

The piece uses electronic delay, transposition, and reverb, and a little percussive tapping on the body of the guitar, but it is about the notes as much as it is about effects: “steps” are adjacent notes in a scale, “leaps” are any larger intervals.

“Steps and Leaps” is dedicated to Aaron Larget-Kaplan, whose artistry inspired the piece.