Autumn Dance was written for my new colleague, oboist Marlen Vavrikova, to celebrate our arrival at Grand Valley State University. For over a month I struggled to come up with suitable material, until I saw her perform at a local Hurricane Katrina benefit. Her beautiful, rich sound captivated me. And so I wrote material that would especially allow these characteristics to be evident—a relatively simple line and structure that enables the audience to focus clearly on the performer. I composed much of this work while running. Almost every morning I run, past a beautiful tree-lined meadow that had brilliant colors in the fall. Shortly after starting to write I always paired that image with the music. The work may also be performed using amplification and basic processing. For exact details contact me.