Tunes For Weary Days (2020)

for Guitar

Duration: 10 min

Program Note

My Tunes for Weary Days began as a commission from Sounding Board Project for a oneminute guitar miniature. While writing the piece, I discovered a love for the instrument; the guitar’s
construction allows it to play music of great complexity, but its unique timbre allows it to hold our
attention with the simplest means. This new interest led me to expand the piece with five additional
“weary day tunes,” grouped into pairs. The second and third, “Newly Awake” and “Sighing,
Strumming” embody the recurring cycles of optimism and negativity many of us have felt in recent
months. The fourth and fifth movements, “Bells Heard Near and Far” and With Heavy Steps” take a
more static approach to harmony, as they explore technical guitar idioms – harmonics, tremolos, and
slides. The first and last movements, “Tune for Weary Days” and “Growing, But Never Forgetting the
Past” also form a set, bookending the piece with reflections on a nostalgic melody.

Performances/Recordings

Premiere: 8/2020 Bokyung Byun, guitar