Four Flips (2014)
There are many possible musical interpretations of the word flip. These include various forms of inversion; pitch, texture, contour rhythm etc., and other notions such as the flipping of roles from primary to secondary, foreground to background, solo or accompaniment. The Four Flips for Awea duo employs many these musical techniques, but I have to confess that when the title occurred to me I was thinking more about the works difficulty, it physicality, and kinetic quality; that perhaps a performance of the work might require the musicians to literally flip or even "flip out."
If one does a search for flip; flip flop often pops up under an unusual array of topics from athletics, to graphic design; pharmacology to analytical geometry. In many of these cases flip flop implies that a result was obtained that was different from what was expected. In some ways this interpretation is also valid.
Four Flips is 9:00 in duration and is suitable for advanced performers. Individual movements may be performed separately. The audio excerpt is Flip #3.
Many thanks to Jen and Mas for collaborating on this work, their amazing musicianship, and thoughtful comments have truly shaped the final version of this composition. MZ