The Highest Arm - Amplified Flute and Electronics, Score Only (PDF Edition)

Performance Note:

The Highest Arm is structured around 2020's slow invitations to an old reality, amidst daily protests calling to abolish the old normal, eradicate the oppressive systems this country was built upon, and create a reality where everyone can thrive. 

Every Thursday since June 18, 2020, a march in NYC draws attention to the state of emergency Black trans women are experiencing– over 350 trans women of color were murdered in 2020 alone. This group of activists and organizers is known as The Stonewall Protests. In 2020 and especially towards the end of October, we found ourselves marching past the newly reopened West Village restaurants, and the near-entirely white, gentrified crowds dining outside. A full drumline, flags from Nigeria, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Mexico, whipping through the air. Chants with the beat, fed through a PA system, responses yelled out in our masks, as many watching from their dinner tables felt their identity and privilege attacked. We were left with an incredibly intricate web of perceived realities and futures that autumn, and I hope for this piece to provide a snapshot of that feeling.

 In the electronics track, you can a drumline from the actual Thursday protest, crowds, and violins and violas mimicking the popular graph of covid cases with a large peak and slow descent. There are also samples of pouring rain, the tambourine I play each week as it's taken out of my bag, and an Italian wine menu from a place in the village, mispronounced for a waitstaff trying to feign politeness.