Lull also represents an expansion of Pavone’s practice-this is her first octet, which she was inspired to begin after writing a string quartet in 2017. Her score for Lull focuses on open pitches that players oscillate between at their own rate, taking advantage of the natural resonance of instruments. Lull directly reflects Pavone’s interests by centering flexibility rather than perfection-the music is meant to sit right in the body, not force the artists to cram their hands in positions that simply don’t work. She channels all these ideas into compositions by focusing on the way music feels when it’s played and heard instead of what’s “right” and “wrong.” In writing music this way, she’s able to explore how sonic vibrations affect the body, weaving her many experiences as an instrumentalist into works that transcend time. She’s inspired by processes that center intuition and instinct, learning from sound healers and alternative healing practices to bolster her philosophical interests in the power of sound to illuminate hidden emotions. Composer-violist Jessica Pavone was thinking about how music has the power to cause you to feel a range of emotions-depression, excitement, nostalgia-as she wrote the works that comprise Lull.

Jessica drum sheet music manuscript