Blooming Lavender was composed for the 2006-07 Kids Compose Project at Indiana University, and was premiered on a concert that featured melodies of elementary students. Two melodies are presented: Blooming Ideas by Sarah Williams and Lavender by Agnes Zhu. I wanted the students to choose the instruments for their melodies as much as possible, so we met, I demonstrated a bunch of possibilities, and we then decided to use the strings and flutes for the themes. From there, we mixed in other instruments, as though blending shades of paint together. For instance, the flute’s first statement of Lavender, following the fanfare opening, can be heard alongside the vibes.
Both tunes have a sense of growth, and they complement each other well when played simultaneously. In fact, both imply nearly the same harmonies. This made it very easy to create an overall blossoming effect - After each tune is heard in its entirety separately, I arranged bits and pieces of them into canon-like passage
