ASL works

My engagement with American Sign Language (ASL) began while I was an undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music, where an interest in ASL poetry and performance led to a sustained study of the language and lasting relationships within the Deaf community.

In 2013, I began commissioning works for ASL-signing performers, bringing my interests in language and percussion into a developing performance practice. This work became the focus of my doctoral dissertation, At the Intersection of American Sign Language and the Performer-Percussionist: A Hybrid Practice (2019).

The works collected here explore different relationships among signed language, musical composition, and performance. They raise questions about how linguistic and musical structures interact, how meaning is communicated through visual and sonic means, and how performers and audiences navigate these different forms of expression. My work with ASL continues to shape my understanding of performance, collaboration, and the possibilities of contemporary performance.