Clear Lake was written for Tom McCaslin in the winter of 2010-11. It all started with a bass line from a song by indie rock band Geezer Lake from Greensboro, NC. While working in a music store, I found myself frequently playing a slightly altered version of this bass line on whatever instrument happened to be in my reach. The idea came to me one day to write a piece based on this altered line. I took the rhythmic figure of the bass line up into a higher register with the piano and, as a tuba player, I naturally enough made the tuba the solo voice. While there are many places and lakes that share the name of the title, this piece is not about any of them. It is, rather, about a place somewhere in the mind that is full of austere beauty and shimmering light.
