36.5°C & Rising

Описание: 36.5°C & Rising (2024) is an energetic and rhythmic piece for solo harp. It explores percussive harp extended techniques, including percussive muting, strumming and tapping the soundboard, as well as ways
to use lever changes to incorporate various tonalities in a single piece.

I composed this piece during my final year of university for my Bachelor of
Music degree at Wilfrid Laurier, and by the time I finished composing it
halfway through the final term of my degree, I was stressed, overwhelmed,
and had no clue what to name this piece. I was in a rush to figure out a
name as I was planning to perform this piece at a student composer
concert, and I needed to submit information about this piece to my professor
fast to ensure I was included to play this piece in the student composer
concert. I didn’t end up playing this piece for the concert, but the stress
rising up inside of me inspired the name for this piece. As I reflected on
this piece, the way the energy of the piece rises and falls before charging
to the end reminded me of how I feel stress, especially in that moment as
I was finishing my final year of university as an undergraduate. When I
feel stress, it builds and surges within me, sometimes to the point of feeling
like I’m going to explode. At times, I’m able to calm my nerves; however, if
I’m not careful, this feeling of calmness may end up as a facade that masks
the stress surging beneath the surface until I’m unable to mask it any
longer and the stress “boils over”. The reason I named this piece 36.5°C &
Rising was to evoke the idea that my “internal temperature” feels like it's
rising beyond a normal, healthy body temperature (36.5°C is within the
range that is considered a normal temperature for a healthy adult) until it
erupts and “boils over” from the stress.

This video was recorded in the fall of 2025.