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COMPOSER
THE COMPOSER
where it comes to together
Informed by dramaturgical study, craft a composition that takes your listener on a journey.
Commit to the truth of a character, a given circumstance, an emotional exploration, a moment in time, or a harmonic texture.
Whether using rhythm, rhyme, repetition, music, lyrics, or non-speech vocal and body sounds, explore the impact of indigenous music making practices as an invitation to the connective tissue of universal narratives.
STAGE
Primarily writing for musical theatre kt composes orchestral works and pieces for small ensembles, operas, theatre, and stand alone songs (classical and contemporary)
Here/Hear, to/two/twoo
HERE / HEAR , TO / TWO / TOO
Using grief as an inciting incident on the journey towards joy framed by Black queer archival histories of Harlem and Brooklyn, this accessible multi-sensory musical experience explores the intersections of archive, memory, music, image, sound, and texture.
"I was always writing poetry as I was riding on the subway...and the way I came to terms with my desire to write and my need to earn a living and also to be involved in the struggle was to try to use my gift as part of my arsenal."
-Pauli Murray
BODIES
INSTRUMENTATION
1
VOCALS
TRACKS
PIANO *
3 CELLOS *
* [ optional ]
SUN SONGS
SUN SONGS
Based on a 22,000 year old Indigenous African Folk-tale, from Nabta Playa in the deserts of Egypt, to a small Brooklyn window, a young child learns they have enough strength to create the Milky Way, enough imagination to rally us through time, and enough hope to guide us all home.
"...with the sun-
fear leaves me"
-Pat Parker
BODIES
INSTRUMENTATION
3
VOCALS
PIANO
CELLO
BASS
GUITAR
DJEMBE
AGOGO
DRUM TRIO*
* KENKENI
SANGBAN
DUNUNBA
SURDO 1
SURDO 2
DOBRA
un [ titled ]
A musical that explores how we learn who we are and what are the ways we can activate our curiosity to identify ourselves for ourselves while committing to the verb called love especially in the face of discovery.
"...what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay..."
-Lucille Clifton
BODIES
3
INSTRUMENTATION
VOCALS
PIANO
PERCUSSION
![un [ titled ]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0b2114_44602afdc3734caf886d1a3b8b720df2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_222,h_222,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/un%20%5B%20titled%20%5D.png)
untitled
COSMIC LOVE
A musical love story telling a tale as old as time of the transcendent nature of a kismet making of a cosmic kind of love, one for the stars.
"You might as well answer the door, my child, the truth is furiously knocking."
-Lucille Clifton
BODIES
2
INSTRUMENTATION
VOCALS
2 PIANO
2 VIOLIN
BASS
SYNTHESIZER
DRUMS
KALIMBA
COSMICLOVE
[ taking ] space
An archival song cycle investigating memory, ancestry, purpose and inspiration as we ask ourselves what does the path to self actualization look like as we [ take ] space, to re [ make ] space to re [ shape ] for ourselves and others.
"...In every human Beast, God has implanted a
Principle, which we call love of Freedom. ; it is
impatient of Oppression, and pants for
Deliverance.”
-Phillis Wheatley
BODIES
5
INSTRUMENTATION
VOCALS
PIANO
*BASS
PERCUSSION
takingspace
orchestrations
Orchestrations
-Nora Holt
"Civilization, that potent leveler of mankind, has given to a new people the opportunity of singing the innermost longings of the heart, of registering the hopes of sensitive souls upon a new lyre, made and strung to harmonise with a culture of people we are assimilating, and we reach out with eager hearts to grasp it.
Poetry, like music, has rhythm.
It is the duty of the professional musician to carry these music lovers through the modicum of the concert hall and literary productions an understanding of the classics in whatever form it can best be absorbed.
If you are not a creator, cannot composer, write your experiences as a student, a teacher, or artist in music, that coming students may profit by what you have learned, and thus aquant them with a musicianship which has come to those of the last decade through many sacrifices."
Hi-ARTS
Crossroads Theatre
Crossroads Theatre
The Tank with En Garde Arts
Lincoln Center
NYSAF
screen
SCREEN
kt composes scores for original visual media works using archival media as a reference for time
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We Dance
05:20
Black Apple Baby
04:55
By Our Youth
04:12
Take The A Train & Tus Ojos by kt madison
14:17
school
SCHOOL
kt composes original new music for and with students in Early Childhood & Elementary School, Middle & High School and Higher Education.
These scores can be used as multi-lingual tools to promote self-empowerment, encourage activism, and champion self-care.
You Are Love
Using an internal instrument (like voice) with an external instrument (like a drum, hand-clap, or set of claves) explore:
RHTHYM
RHYME
REPETITION
BREATH WORK
PATTERN RECOGNITION
PITCH AWARENESS
CLICK TO HEAR "You Are Love" (Rhythmic Pattern + Melodic Pitches)
CLICK TO HEAR Rhythmic Variation 1
CLICK TO HEAR Rhythmic Variation 2
Tu Eres Amor
Utilizando un instrumento interno (como la voz) junto con un instrumento externo (como un tambor, palmas o un juego de claves), explore:
RITMO
RIMA
REPETICIÓN
'
RESPIRACION
'
RECONOCIMIENTO DE PATRONES
CONCIENCIA DE TONO
HAZ CLIC PARA ESCUCHAR "You Are Love" (Patrón rítmico + Tonos melódicos)
HAZ CLIC PARA ESCUCHAR la variación rítmica 1
HAZ CLIC PARA ESCUCHAR la variación rítmica 2
On November sixth, two thousand twenty four, Kamala Harris, an American Politician of Indian and Jamaican parentage, conceded the presidential election. Harris is the first female, first African American, and first Asian American vice president, and the highest-ranking female and Asian public official in U.S. history.
On November seventeenth, we gathered, sang and reflected at the Leslie Lohman Museum led by Deborah Cowell who asked, "Are We Okay?".
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Dancin' With A Memory
Using an internal instrument (like voice) with an external instrument (like a drum, hand-clap, or set of claves) explore:
MUSIC AS PROTEST
PITCHED SOMATIC HUMMING
REPETITION
MEMORY AS ACTIVTION
DISJUNCT MELODIC MOTION
MOTIF VARIATION
CLICK HERE TO HEAR "Dancin' With A Memory"
Hello, Goodbye
PLAY AND SING ALONG
Using an internal instrument (like voice) with an external instrument (like a wooden hoop, empty picture frame, or a small hand-held mirror) explore:
CALL AND RESPONSE
MULTILINGUAL PITCHED SINGING IN
RHYTHMIC INTERPLAY
PHRASING AND PACING
ACTIVE LISTENING
RESILIENCE
SELF ESTEEM
TURN TAKING
sharedspace
SHARED SPACE
kt presents original new work at public communal gathering spaces.
Sites of exploration include The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, Judson Memorial Church, Weeksville Heritage Center, Akwaaba Mansion, El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria.
04:38
03:31
05:11
kt madison
MUSICAL THEATRE COMPOSER
NAVIGATE
RESOURCES
PRESS KIT
PHOTOS
SHEET MUSIC
LET'S CONNECT
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