nidi by Rachel Beetz

This album represents the years of practice during my time as a graduate student at UC San Diego, recorded in Studio A and from live performances. These pieces represent only a handful of what I learned in that time, works that stretched what I thought was possible and what I thought I could do on the instrument. The embodied knowledge of these works planted the seed to create my own compositions, installations, and experiments.

“Nidi” is plural for “nidus,” a place in which bacteria multiply; a focus of infection; or perhaps more positively, a place/situation in which something develops or is fostered. In this pandemic, at home with my practice, I remember the years of learning these pieces with now seemingly endless hours to practice. I am grateful for those years to explore the flute so deeply and hope that we can all find a similar mental space and inspiration in the coming months of solitude to grow into the unknown.

Rachel Beetz is an American performer-composer-improvisor on flutes, various electronics, and an Arp 2600.

rachelbeetz.com