Composed in 2014 for Dr. Katherine Borst Jones and The Ohio State University Flute Troupe. Premiered by the National High School Flute Choir at the 2014 National Flute Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois.
Murmuration is the aerial ballet displayed by large flocks of birds (starlings). I've always been amazed by the synchronicity of murmuration, and its musical possibilities. This excerpt from "The Startling Science of Starling Murmuration" by Brandon Keim describes some of the operations in a starling mumuration that I considered while writing the piece:
"Starling flocks, it turns out, are best described with equations of “critical transitions” — systems that are poised to tip, to be almost instantly and completely transformed, like metals becoming magnetized or liquid turning to gas. Each starling in a flock is connected to every other. When a flock turns in unison, it’s a phase transition."
The musical renderings of murmuration come through in the work's imitative counterpoint (critical transitions), transitions between episodes (phase transition), and bird-song melodic and rhythmic motives. It is a "madrigal" in the sense of being an expressive, virtuosic piece in which the composer uses counterpoint and word painting to musically enhance a poem- in this abstract instrumental work, the music describes the visual and sonic poetry of murmuration.
