Improvisatory performances & compositions by Chase Chandler:

Premiered July 26, 2021, at 5p PST by Bent Frequency as part of the Charlotte New Music Festival.

Instrumentation alto sax, cello, piano, and percussion.

Program Notes

Although humanity lives within the Earth’s ecosystem, there’s a tendency to innovate ways to deny our part in nature. These new creations, products, lifestyles, and misinformation can often have unforeseen consequences to our environment and sometimes the effects cannot be undone.

Plastics were created by humanity as a cheap, malleable material that is now a part of nearly everything in the modern world. These plastics break down over time into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. And this process never stops, eventually turning into “microplastics” unseen by the human eye and devastating to our ecosystem.

According to a Harvard article published by Eesha Khare on October 19, 2020,* there are reports from CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) that there is currently an estimated 14 million tons of microplastic on the whole ocean floor.

From the chaotic wilds of nature, humanity came to organize and control. But this very instinct to take and manipulate could be our downfall, leading us back toward the wilds of nature.

*Khare, Eesha. 14 Million Tons of Microplastics are on the Ocean Floor. Harvard University. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/14-million-tons-of-microplastic-are-on-the-ocean-floor/