Ta-Ka

instrumentation: vocal trio (tenor, tenor, and baritone) + string quartet (violin, violin, viola, violoncello)
duration: c. 5’30”
dedication: no dedication
premiere: April 4th, 2015 by Cory Schreiner, Cullyn D. Murphy, Ian Lundquist, Gabrielle VanDril, Rachael Miller, Eileen Wronkiewicz, and Alex Brinkman; Music Factory-Normal, IL

 Ta-Ka
started off as an attempt to make a highly intellectual, highbrow piece of music and has, instead, become an unlikely emotional outlet. 
  Ta-Ka
has since morphed itself into a piece that creates its own personal aural world of reflection and development. The text is made up of a self-created system of rhythmic syllables similar to "takadimi." The voices and strings are meant to portray a stark contrast between being intensely percussive and lyrically drifting over each other. It is in this same vein of thought that 
  Ta-Ka
has become amusement coexisting with thoughtfulness.