100 VIEWS FROM THE BIRD'S EYE

100 Views from the Bird's Eye developed as a type of composition/meditation exercise. The second movment was written first, and was a deliberate exploration of the thin line separating continuity/disconinuity. At Yaddo, every morning for two weeks I went to my studio and wrote at least five fragments, each of which I could call in some way a "piece". The work was completed when one hundred such fragments had been written. As a necessary contrast to this constantly shifting point-of-view, the first movement was written later as an introduction. Here I looked for a certain static, repetitive, obsessive character I observe in my cat. It also became clear in retrospect that the second movement entered the splintered consciousness of the birds she likes to watch out the window (hence the two movement titles). The feel of the whole piece should be whimsical, cunning, sly, and frenetic.