This piece got me into music conservatory after dropping out of high school!

I wrote this piece with all the free time I had throughout the year after I dropped out of high school and began to focus more on composition. I had always hated school, not being able to learn what I thought was important, forced to do work that is really just conditioning for obedience at a future office job. As a child my mind foolishly, or maybe naively, would sometimes dream of leaving it all behind, running away and joining an old fashioned traveling circus. Not just school I guess, but society and all that is bound up with it. In this context, the piece is not just a descriptive work of an old fashioned traveling circus and its characters, but a rather personal and societal work, drawn out through an empathy and feeling of kinship for these different people/performers who made their lives on the fringes of society, as I too felt that I somehow couldn't fit in, as now I know so many of us feel. This is also my first work for violin, and a rather early work in general, so i made the decision to write miniatures to both take advantage of being able to try out various violin techniques all at once within separate movements, and also not to have to tackle the many challenges that arise with larger forms that would single movement of 10-11 min would require.

(P.S. For those of you who have watched my "Piece I wrote after I dropped out of music conservatory" video, and spoiler for those who haven't, yes I dropped out of high school also :(.. )

A Dirty Carnival (2008-2009)
Violin - Megumi Stohs
Violin - David McCarroll

A little update!! I have found a great pianist who will be recording some new pieces soon! It will take a little time but cant wait to share the pieces with everyone.

Another work for violin -    • violin sonata no 1 first movement  

Other recommended pieces
   • Day of the Butterfly  
   • prelude no 3  
   • This piano piece took me almost 1 year to ...  

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Scores available on my website https://www.andrewtrovato.com/