This work for amplified percussion and electronics, is an aphoristic
composition that explores delicate grains, sounds, and textures. The work was designed to be portable. The instruments and found objects used in the live-percussion part can easily fit inside a small box.

The work is comprised of six short sections, each examining a unique set of small handheld percussion instruments and common household items. The work is centered around a 5:1 ratio, which controls the piece’s proportions and the distribution of the number of attacks per section. Each of the first five sections are composed of two gestures: 1 decelerating and 1 accelerating. Their weighted proportions gradually shift from a 5:1 to a 1:5 ratio. The 6th section is divided into 5 additional parts that mirror the large scale proportions in the piece. The work begins with small, bright, effervescent grains, and gradually incorporates larger, deeper, and more resonant textures. The piece was composed using a multidimensional timbre model Reid developed while at Stanford University. The model is based on perceptual timbre studies and has been used by the composer to explore the compositional applications of “timbre spaces” and the relationship between reverberant space and timbre, or rather the concept of “timbre in space.”

Leah Reid is a composer, sound artist, researcher, and educator, whose works range from opera, chamber, and vocal music, to acousmatic, electroacoustic works, and interactive sound installations. Winner of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, Reid has also won the American Prize in Composition, first prize in the KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, Sound of the
Year’s Composed with Sound Award, IAWM’s Pauline Oliveros Award,
and prizes in the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music
Competition and the International Destellos Competition. She has
received fellowships from the Guerilla Opera Company, MacDowell, the VCCA, the Ucross Foundation, the Hambidge Center, and Yaddo.
Her compositions have been presented at festivals, conferences, and
major venues throughout the world, including Aveiro_Síntese, BEAST
FEaST, Espacios Sonoros, EviMus, ICMC, IRCAM’s ManiFeste, LA
Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight, MA/IN Festival, NYCEMF (USA),
OUA-EMF, Série de Música de Câmara, the Tilde New Music Festival,
TIES, and WOCMAT, among many others.

Her works are published with Ablaze Records, New Focus Recordings, Parma Recordings, RMN Classical, and BabelScores.

Reid received her D.M.A. and M.A. in music composition from Stanford
University and her B.Mus from McGill University. She is an Assistant
Professor at the University of Virginia.