Nudged Along On Time's Notched Stick, for flute, viola, and guitar

Composed 1997

The saying "nudged along on time's notched stick" sets up a notched stick as a metaphor for our experience of time. I imagine the smooth parts of the stick to be those periods of our lives which are somewhat static, schedules are in place, and things are predictable; the notches in the stick are the events which force us out of our routine and change the patterns of our lives. This composition is in three short movements, each of which nudges us along the notched stick in different ways. I wrote Nudged for violist Chris Rutledge.