Barn Dances is a set of four abstract pieces for flute, clarinet, and piano. Each piece draws its title from the name of a particular dance step used in cowboy dances. Taking the name of the step as a point of departure, my idea was to take a flight of fancy in each movement and to create the musical equivalent of a character drawing. Forward Six and Fall Back Eight uses fiddle fifths, or the tuning gesture of country fiddling, to propel the idea of six notes rising followed by eight notes descending. The movement is a hoedown jig. The second movement, Divide the Ring, is an homage to Gene Autry, one of the great Cowboy singers, and one of my childhood heroes. In this movement, I composed a phrase in a cowboy swing style, which is a paraphrase of a typical instrumental introduction to a Gene Autry song. It is first heard as the introduction to the movement and returns throughout the piece. Varsouvianna is a slow, simple, and dreamlike waltz. Percussive, unpredictable in its accents, and virtuosic in its ensemble. Rattlesnake Twist can be thought of as a Jazz-driven equivalent of a tarantella.