In the spring of 2006, my friend Wendy Richman fell off the stage at MassMOCA during rehearsals for a David Lang opera, Anatomy Theater, and shattered her lower left leg (the talus, tibia and fibula bones). When she sent around a jpg of her x-ray, the horizontal lines of the bolts in her ankle immediately suggested harmonic possibilities to me; some of the harmonies in this piece are, in fact, generated from analysis of the x-ray. Seeing her courage as she worked to recover from the injury reminded me of my mother’s courage during her recovery after tearing three ligaments in her knee from a skiing accident (I deferred a semester of college to take care of her during that time). My mother was determined go back and ski down the same hill in Park City where she was injured and accomplished this feat in two years’ time.

SPECTROGRAM ANALYSIS
OF WENDY’S X-RAY

I, too, know something of physical trauma and its life-changing possibilities. It was an injury I suffered as a West Point Cadet that led to my leaving that life path and eventually becoming a composer...

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