“Something that gives the most common man the most uncommon of freedoms. When ordinary hands can possess such an extraordinary instrument, that symbolizes the full measure of human dignity and liberty.”

-Charlton Heston, NRA convention 2000

Extraordinary Instruments is a work that calls into question the morality and sustainability of American gun culture as it is today. The gun debate in America is amongst its most polarizing. Charlton Heston’s words “dignity,” “liberty,” and “extraordinary instrument” have profoundly different meanings from one American to the next, and Extraordinary Instruments is meant to be a space for Americans to question these meanings for themselves.

Extraordinary Instruments was commissioned and premiered by Modern Violin Ensemble (MoVE). For more information on this and other projects by MoVE, visit http://www.modernviolinensemble.com.

Restrung was written after several years of pushing my string writing to new expressive and technical limits, as well as further exploring the practice of improvisation on my violin. This piece feels like the first true introduction of my newly developed string writing to the other families of the orchestra.