Aphelocoma for Violin, Viola, and Cello

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I didn’t set out to compose a lament but as I was composing this work, Jennifer, my daughter unexpectantly died from a blood clot that moved from her arm to her brain.  At that point, my subconscious determined the direction this piece took, exposing my feelings.  I therefore titled the piece after her email name, Aphelo.  She began using while getting her MA in poetry from the University of California, Davis but I never asked her where it came from.  I found that it came from the name of a California scrub jay, Aphelocoma. I can understand why she admired it.  The Aphelocoma is one of the most intelligent animals.  Its brain-to-body mass ratio is similar to that of the chimpanzee. It is one of the few animals that plan ahead for the future and it uses a community to help raise its young by allowing “helpers” or other birds to help.  Jennifer was exceptionally intelligent and devoted to raising her three children and to her profession as a high school teacher in France.