Cover Art by Maura Lynn Teal

This piece stems from an event that I observed early in my first term of graduate school. I was riding my bike to school when all of the sudden, two very large pigeons ran into each other in mid air, fell to the ground, and promptly began to flap and coo excessively before one wandered off on foot and the other took flight once again.  I thought to myself, “how odd…  Colliding pigeons…  that should be a title of a piece.”  The more and more I thought about it, it had to be for my most favorite instrument, the contrabassoon.  But one body cannot really collide with itself, thus a second voice had to be introduced, and what better to accompany a contrabassoon with than a second contrabassoon?

This piece is built out of 5 distinct sections that each embody a different character:  1.  A single pigeon, 2.  A group of pigeons, walking, occasionally taking flight, just being the pigeons we observe on a daily basis, 3.  Pigeons in flight, 4.  The Collision, and 5.  A barrage of flapping and cooing that ensues once two very awkward birds have embarrassingly made contact mid flight.

This piece is partially dedicated to Dr. Steve Vacchi for teaching me the wonders of this magnificent instrument, and Dr. Jody Rockmaker, for enthusiastically aiding me in the composition of this work.