If Your Mind Wanders (2024) for MIDI controller and stereo live electronics

Composed by Erin C. Blake

When one meditates, especially as a beginner, they will inevitably begin to think other

thoughts besides focusing on their breath or whatever other meditation subject they may have. One of the most common and basic pieces of advice for meditation is “if your mind wanders, gently bring it back,” which encourages self-compassion in an easily frustrated beginner’s mind.

If Your Mind Wanders uses an ostinato to create the effect of breathing in and out. At some points in the piece, this inhale, exhale motion is front and center; at others, it becomes

more of a background to the “wandering.” The sounds all come from the breath; even singing is just abstracted breathing. Overall, the piece is gentle, trying to be compassionate with itself as much as I try to have self-compassion in my own meditation practice and elsewhere.

Erin C. Blake, Launchpad