Triune is a trio feature for three of the same instrument; the piece’s inspiration is the subtitle, “Three from One.” The concept for this piece was an outgrowth of the unusual ensemble combination of flute trio accompanied by flute choir. Each flute is unique, both for its individual characteristics and the player who’s voice speaks through their playing. And yet each is fundamentally in some ways the same: in build, in materials, in mechanics.

With Triune I take a core musical idea, the augmented triad, and shape three individual melodies from it. An augmented triad is symmetrical, each note equidistant from the others. My goal was to use this building block in three unique ways, creating melodies that are their own original voice and yet share some fundamental essence.

The first of the trio explores a whole tone scale, with a feeling of lift yet never quite settling. The second melody twirls hauntingly through a Phrygian dominant scale, approaching the augmented triad in a different way. The final member of the trio enters with a calm, floating line through an octatonic scale. Between these individual melodies, the trio carries on a conversation overlapping and weaving the ideas together. As the final voice concludes, all three melodies return to intertwine and combine in a last embodiment of three from one. The piece ends as it began, with a solo statement of the opening melody.