The Entropy of Dogs

Listen to the work here!
 
The Entropy of Dogs is a work for solo tuba. This piece was written in 24 hours, during the UNT Composers’ Forum’s 2023 24|24 Event, in which composers and performers were paired together: composers wrote works for their performers in 24 hours, performers learned them in 24 more hours, and a virtual concert was presented immediately after. This piece was written for tubist Andrew Long, and premiered at the 24|24 concert, where I also had the pleasure of premiering a work for solo vibraphone by composer Ronald Bonitatibus.
 
I love writing pieces inspired by the animal kingdom, and Andrew and I settled on a dog-themed piece for solo tuba for this composition festival. Because dogs are a very widely known and appreciated animal already, I wanted to find a way to represent the beauty of our canine friends with a unique angle. This is what gave way to the work’s title “The Entropy of Dogs”. As any dog owner can likely share, dogs are not only some of the loveliest animals on the planet, but they can be wildly unpredictable. From chasing squirrels on walks, putting their tennis balls in their food, or using one’s carpet as a toilet, no one really knows what playful mischief a dog will get up to on any given day. This work in ternary form is inspired by that playful mischief, in particular exemplified by the augmented-fourth change of key between the work’s major sections, but is nonetheless still a love letter to dogs and their companionship.