Bad Birds for Piccolo Duet

Written by Dr. Timothy Hagen, commissioned by Flute Specialists to be premiered at the 2023 NFA Convention in Phoenix as part of the showcase “The Highs and Lows of Harmony Flutes”. Bad Birds was written for piccolo and G treble flute but contains a part so the treble line can be played on piccolo, making it a piccolo duet. Bad Birds is a romp through the eyes of the Looney Tunes version of Arizona’s state bird, the road runner. That road runner is an agent of pure chaos; it can dash through the air above chasms or disappear into a tunnel it painted on the side of a rock when it needs to get away from that wily coyote. However, instead of being chased by its usual adversary, what if our road runner was being chased by (and chasing) another road runner? The the composer’s imagination the answer is: chaos beyond chaos, plenty of excitement and near-misses, and finally, friendship and fun, not to mention a few hat tips toward another famous “beep beep” from American culture.