Year: 2023

Duration: c. 9 minutes

Instrumentation: Clarinet in B♭, 2 basset horns, bass clarinet, alto saxophone.

Premiere information: 30 June 2023, Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the Royal College of Music, London

Commissioned by Prof. Marie Lloyd for the RCM Wind Ensemble.

Notes: This piece was commissioned for a concert themed around youth. In my case, and maybe in most suburban childhoods, youth was about having absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go. Picking Dandelions is a slow, meditative piece with some chance and aleatoric elements, recalling long afternoons spent playing outside with no one else around except for the chimes and the birds.

(This score includes some aleatoric techniques to emulate the chance music made by wind chimes. Each player will need some kind of timer or stopwatch, assuming there is no conductor.)