Gathering No Moss

This work was written at a difficult time in my life. Following an unexpected change in circumstances I was unsure how to fully process me feelings, which led to this work. In Gathering No Moss I explore the idea of a rolling stone finally coming to rest due to gravity and friction. I was wondering about if the stone could think, how would this situation make it feel?

Ultimately, when writing this piece, I had a foddering final goal. I didn’t want to explore an idea, natural phenomenon, or something new to me like I had in so may of my compositions. Instead I wanted to simply express the feeling of ennui I had at the time and focus on a single idea.

Ultimately I settled on the classic Dona Nobis Pacem theme, but worked on transforming it to suit my purposes. I altered harmonies, added additional voices, and broke the original canon into its various components so I could expand each of them into their own unique ideas. Gathering No Moss ends with my altered version of the theme in the original context from the Latin mass. As the movement settles down, the rock and hopefully the listener, are left contemplating the situation they not find themselves in, how uneasy it makes them feel, and how oddly at ease everything else is. Perhaps this change in circumstance will ultimately be a change for the positive.

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