Julian Bertino - Kriya for 10-String Guitar

Kriyā is a Sanskrit word meaning "to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare, undertake” toward something specific. We often live our lives hiding from ourselves, usually because of an artificial sense of fear, embarassment, shame or guilt that we may have acquired because of social pressures. This is why we many people have a "mid-life crisis" and suddenly change the way they have lived their lives into how they wished to live all along. This piece represents the unraveling of previously held ideals into one which is synchronous with the world around us, beginning with a vision reminding us of mortality, progressing through the difficulties and cognitive dissonances which occur when we must change our lives to find happiness. Kriya began originally as a tremolo etude on the 2nd and 3rd strings, but quickly evolved into a musical composition. Practicing Tremolo on strings other than the first develops control and discipline in the right hand, which was my original intention in writing it- but I felt as if the material that was generated required more and more variation and contrast- and quite quickly I realized that I had to complete it with the intention of performing it as a piece of music rather than simply a technical exercise.