Failure to Launch (2026) Commissioned by the Arkansas Music Teachers Association The title Failure to Launch might suggest disappointment, but this work embraces a different truth: we contain multitudes. Throughout our lives, we begin countless journeys—some we pursue to mastery, others we abandon for new horizons, and still others we revisit with fresh perspective. As the composer reflects, "We live every day, but only die once," reminding us that a single lifetime can hold many lives within it. This philosophy shapes the composition's very structure. Musical ideas emerge organically from the opening theme, each one brimming with potential. Yet rather than following convention and developing these ideas to completion, the music intentionally moves on—leaving themes hopefully tantalizingly unfinished to make space for what comes next. This formal approach mirrors our contemporary experience: in an age of endless media and infinite possibilities, we often engage with activities just long enough to feel temporarily satisfied before moving to the next thing. We toggle between learning a new language and committing to a physical practice, between intellectual pursuits and visceral experiences, rarely exhausting any single pursuit. The result is a work that operates on multiple scales simultaneously. Individual sections embody this restless energy, while the larger architecture reflects the same principle—a composition that celebrates the richness of beginning again and again, finding beauty not in singular mastery but in the accumulated texture of varied experiences, each left purposefully underdeveloped to honor the next adventure.
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