Innocent Machine

Innocent Machine is a work with a mechanically constant drive governed by an innocently playful theme. Dancing frantically throughout, this quirky theme is interwoven throughout the entire piece as an earworm that the work can’t quite shake. Appearing as fragmentations, transpositions, augmentations and more, this dance theme evolves dramatically but never beyond recognition, bending but not breaking as it dominates the trajectory of the piece. As a parallel, most machines are designed to help or entertain, while others are inherently harmful to others. Regardless of their intended uses, these lifeless objects retain their innocence through their lack of motivation citing the tired notion that “a calculator is only as smart as its user.” Nevertheless, all machines work tirelessly, while maintaining their blind potential for good, evil, or something in between.

Innocent Machine was composed for the Atlanta Chamber Players and the 2018 Rapido! Composition Contest.