Speed Run (2016) for clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, & percussion by PaulWatkins published on 2016-03-11T06:53:53Z Performed by Empyrean Ensemble: Jeff Anderle, clarinet/bass clarinet Hrabba Atladottir, violin Megan Shieh, percussion The initial concept for this piece comes from a niche community that is dedicated to completing video games as fast as possible, a recording or play-through of which is known as a "speedrun". Speedruns are mainly attempted for the purposes of entertainment and competition. Running a game requires technical mastery, lots of practice to reach that level of mastery, planning and execution, stretching boundaries of what is possible/practical, and extending interest through new objectives. A great run meets these goals while displaying creativity, variability, surprising outcomes, and a very high level of handling awkward situations efficiently. These qualities are desirable in many other areas, including the creation of art. In some ways, speed runs do approximate a sort of art form--they can be balletic in some cases, showing beautiful movement and coordination. Some require a degree of improvisation when strategies do not go as planned. And some particularly broken games--that is, games whose speed runs utilize so many glitches and sequence breaks that very little of the original, developer-intended gameplay remains--are weirdly wonderful to watch. There is a further subcategory of speedruns known as "playarounds," which make some speed sacrifices in order to increase the entertainment value. In writing this piece, I've sought to embody the aesthetic of such runs, subverting local goals and curbing climaxes while messing about and eventually reaching the intended ending, but not without some weird detours. PS--This is originally titled "Playaround" because it is more in line with this specific subcategory of speed runs in terms of my thinking about its formal design and aesthetic. The concert production team changed the title, but I had also considered using the title they changed it to, so I left it alone. Genre Whoosh