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Kids in the Corner is a piece especially composed for Thomas Smith, a family friend and former trumpeter, as a personal thank you for his generous donation to my “ Get Matt to Maryland� Rally via rally.org.
With this work I aimed to explore some dance styles that don’t tend to be invited to other suites. I wanted to challenge myself with these various styles while infusing the quirkiness of Thomas into the heart of the piece.

I. Hip
This summer I was able to pass through New York City on my way to a graduate school audition. On the train ride there I ended up next to a kid who was grooving to music I could hear snippets of through his headphones. This movement reflects characteristics of the sounds I heard on my way into the city.

II. One for the lovebirds…
It’s time to cuddle up next to your partner and take a trip down memory lane. This movement is an ode to the slow songs one may have experienced from a dance in the 1950’s.

III. Swung
For quite some time I have been intrigued with early instrumental dances and this movement explores their defining characteristics while hinting at this work’s overall structure.

IV. Posh, Prim, and Proper
This axiomatic propinquity of the Minuet and Trio is a coruscating combination of tonal and temporal creation. A suite as brilliant as this is but an inchoate one without homage to music’s finest moment. It is propitious that I elucidated an exposition featuring a Bach cello suite with motives from the Brahms Requiem in fugal counterpoint set against themes by Mahler.

V. Jig
A trumpet player I was performing with was warming up before a concert and cascading a peculiar series of long tones in to the hall. After he finished I approached him and asked him what he was playing. What he revealed to me was hilarious and this movement is homage to that occurrence.

- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, December 2014.