"In Flow"
Richard Carrick
About this work:
Program Notes:
“in flow” refers to the Flow theory of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which maps the ideal performance activity onto an x-y chart relating skill level vs. task difficulty. To stay in flow, one must maintain a balance between the two, even as values of each side increase and/or decrease.
This theory is often cited to help create interesting learning activities for children and adults, and I couldn’t help but wonder how it can be applied to understand how we ‘actively’ listen to music. My composition “in flow” explores gradual shifts in color and expressivity in a constantly moving and evolving musical thread. The music contains an equal emphasis on both long, evolving gestures and the local push-pull of motifs.
This piece was begun in Dar es Salaam in July 2005 and completed in January-March 2006. – R.C.
Score revisions in August 2006.
First performance by Andrea Schultz on the Either/Or Spring Festival, April 7, 2006 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City.
Duration: 7 1/2 minutes
Year composed: 2006
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Violin
Instrumentation: 1 Violin