This summer I’m working with a talented group of young composers at the Toolbox Percussion International Creative Academy. Led by percussionist Louis Siu, Toolbox is one of the leading new music groups in Hong Kong, combining performances, educational, and outreach activities. Next week I’ll be giving a talk to the participant composers titled “Translating Words to Music.” In this talk, I’ll discuss some of the relationships between text and music in my recent compositions. I am interested in exploring how we develop music from our initial inspiration, how that relates to our technique, and how words can influence various factors like form, harmony, timbre, and text painting, using three of my works: They Say, for guitar; Inner Truth, for piano; and Sandburg Songs, for soprano and ensemble.