Ritual and Festivity

for string quartet

Written for and performed by the Rhythm Method String Quartet at the Lake George Music Festival in 2021

With a community gathering together to observe and experience the actions carried out by performers, the event of a performance can be interpreted as a ritual. In the case of this piece, the music does not try to represent extra-musical ritual actions. Instead, the act of creating the music (tuning, bowing, plucking, hitting) is in itself the ritual act. The notion of festivity celebrates the creation of sounds and our ability to listen.