this piece was commissioned by Jade Deatherage while studying at Arizona State University

socorro, or succor, is a word used as an auxiliary call for help, derivative of romance languages (which owe their use of the word to the latin sucurrsus). after speaking with Jade about life experiences in academia, there was a frustration and resignation that I aimed to capture in the commission. as such, I composed the score for SOCORRO on top of a working copy of another piece, Meditations on the Nature of Change, replete with frustrated, despondent, and self-effacing instructions and text; the layering achieves a sort of visual frustration, while the simplicity of the graphics serve to frustrate both players and an imagined critic. overall, the piece explores vulnerability, and what that can mean to performer and audience member alike: there is both vulnerability and liberation within improvisatory moments, audience/performer dialogue, and emotional scenes. what starts off as a projection of frustration becomes an emotional outburst, which, after some healing, lands the player back at some sense of “home” again.