dream logic (2023)

General Information

Commissioner: New York Youth Symphony First Music Commissioning Program
Written: June – September, 2023
Duration: ca. 6.5’
Instrumentation: 5.4.4 + piano, guitar, electric bass, drums [17-piece big band]

Performance History

December 10, 2023: the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band led by Michael Thomas at Shapeshifter Lab, Brooklyn, New York, NY (World Premiere)

Program Note

Imagine this: you fall asleep and begin dreaming. Within your dream, faces and images and series of events follow in rapid, fluent, fluid sequence – each one connected to the last. And then you wake up, and you remember your dream. And while each fragment is still vivid to you, the procession of scenes and actions feels totally foreign: no matter how hard you try to explain it, there is no logical connection between the disparate events that took place in your mind the night before. dream logic captures this confusion, bewilderment, and wonder at the inner workings of the mind by permuting the same ‘dream’ sequence of 68 pitches over, and over, and over again – in varying rhythm, key, speed, texture, time signature, and groove – in an attempt to find within the pattern one, or two, or various musical meanings.

Recording available upon request. Please use the contact form linked in the menu above, or email me at ben.beckman@yale.edu.