It was announced today that The Ticking of Eternity won the Civitasolis Reed Quintet's call for scores! It will be performed, recorded, and released online in Fall 2020.

In their call they asked for a miniature (30 secs - 3 mins) for reed quintet (ob, cl, asax, b. cl, bsn) that featured some extra element like extended techniques, fixed media, or choreography. I used this as an excuse to drop what I was doing and bring to fruition an idea I've had for a while. My wife used to be a professional actor and also loves to do audio work. I found an excerpt from a poem that we both loved, recorded her performance of that poem, and then used that as the fixed media for this work. While there is some electronic work done to her voice, most of the compositional interest of the piece comes from the relationship of the text to the music. 

More on Civitasolis: https://www.civitasolisquintet.com/

It is with a heavy heart the University of Texas at Arlington announced that this conference will no longer be happening (as well as the Texas premiere of Viscid). Because of COVID-19, the conference was originally pushed back to October. However, it is now clear that it will not be possible at all, and that efforts should be focused on next year's conference.

Today I graduated. I figured this would be a great time to officially introduce my dissertation! Quiet Sounds originally drew its inspiration from what the title suggests, the quiet sounds of five string instruments (2 vln, vla, vc, db). These sounds take on a different character as they are amplified to "normal" volume, providing an exciting palate of new sounds. However, the entire piece is not derived from these noises, but the last two-thirds explore in a post-minimal language what was hidden in them, the music behind the noise.

Meant to be performed with dance, this 27' work explores all areas of emotion and delivery. Hopefully these excerpts will provide an idea of the scope of the piece.

​Listen to excerpts here: 

Today I passed my dissertation defense and became Dr. Briggs! These past three years at FSU have taught me so much, given me so many opportunities, and brought so many wonderful relationships into my life. Thank you to all who have helped me get to this point!

I'm very excited to announce that Viscid was selected for the prestigious SCI National Conference! It will be performed at the University of Texas at Arlington on March 27, 2020 in Arlington, TX.

I'm Not Speaking English was presented today at the National Student Electronic Music Event at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champagne, IL. What an incredible event! I've never been more inspired. And the snow was quite wonderful for this Texan living in Florida.

A huge thank you to Andrés Almirall Nieves (flute) and Brian Brown (celeste) for a stunning performance of the first two movements of Rubaie! Thank you to FSU's Polymorphia New Music Ensemble for selecting my work for this concert.

Viscid was selected to be a part of the 2019 Florida Student Composer Mixtape, published online by the Society of Composers, Inc. Find it here: ​http://wp.societyofcomposers.org/florida-student-composer-mixtape-2019/

I was selected for a masterclass with Professor Uzong Choe of Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea. He had some very insightful tips on my dissertation, Quiet Sounds.

More on Professor Choe: ​http://music.snu.ac.kr/en/profile/uzongchoe