High, Low, Buffalo

ensemble violin & piano
written fall 2025
duration 7-8 minutes

Written for Sarah and Natasha, with appreciation

High, Low, Buffalo is named for the whimsical conversation starter my students and I adopted: each person goes around, sharing a high point in the time since our previous meeting, a low point from then as well, and a ‘buffalo’ - something strange or unexpected. I came to treasure these good-natured meetings and their exchanges of recent pursuits, academic or otherwise. When they asked I write them a new piece, the theme was perhaps obvious. I tried my best to interpret the same prompt musically: the resulting piece is one of fast-paced wit, veering wildly from high to low and back again, with ample buffalo sightings along the way.

This piece is dedicated with warmth to Sarah Yuan and Natasha Wipfler-Kim.