'Alea' is the Latin word for dice. It is the root of the word, Aleatoric, which loosely defined means music where there are purposeful chance elements used in the performance of a piece.
My inspiration for this quartet derives from two sources: One was the study of John Cage's "silence" to which I wrote a paper in college entitled "Silence and its Echo." The second was the experience of sitting in a hallway at Eastman waiting for a class to begin, and getting caught up in an impromptu, non-verbal improvisation with fellow students (using nothing but hands, feet, voices, books, etc.) The joy of simply walking into a room and spontaneously creating music with your fellows is a feeling like no other, and a communication way beyond words!
To create this quartet, the players simply begin to play. There is no verbal plan or discussion and "No Talking!" The piece develops simply by the players listening to each other and contributing what they hear or feel at the moment. When all players stop playing, the piece is done.