Cherry, Maple, Walnut

“Cherry, Maple, Walnut” is a work for large percussion ensemble, commissioned by Lindsay Vasko and the Walnut Grove High School Percussion Ensemble for their performance at the 2026 Music For All National Festival. The piece is inspired by my first collaboration with Lindsay, nearly a decade ago, when she asked me to write a piece for her newly-formed duo. At that point, I was still hesitant to call myself a composer – I didn’t really feel like I had the experience to back it up, and it felt vulnerable to claim that title.

That summer, as I had started writing for the duo, I went to see one of their first shows at Cherrywood Coffeehouse. There, I met some of their other friends, and someone asked me if I was a composer. I said no. They then called my bluff, and asked what my connection was to the group, and I had to look them in the eye and say “oh… well, I’m writing them a piece.”

The blatant contradiction made me feel embarrassed in the moment - and now makes it one of my favorite stories - but what I think it shows is that Lindsay believed that I was a composer before I believed it myself.

In “Cherry, Maple, Walnut”, I wanted to pay homage to that moment, and paint a picture of a percussion ensemble slowly coming out of its shell into self-acceptance. As the piece builds upon itself, it not only becomes a fuller orchestration of its themes, but one with more earnestness and heart to it. In this case (and in all cases) the vulnerability and strength in the music are not opposite forces, but are inherently the same quality.

Recorded live by 2x1 Media, Ricky Bracamontes and Taylor Davis