Tu es drôle (2002)

As a composer, I have always tried to create music that is emotionally expressive, direct, and personal. My Suite for Solo Viola was completed in fall 2001 and was, until then, the most confessional piece I had written. Perhaps in response to that piece, about half a year later, when I was getting ready to move from Wisconsin to Washington state, I took a mental inventory of the pieces I had written to that point and felt the urge to write a piece that took itself a bit less seriously than its predecessors.

I have always thought of Tu es drôle as almost a parody of the serious emotions I had tried to convey in my previous compositions. This piece is brief, repetitive, and hopefully funny, as suggested by the title.