I awoke one morning to the sounds of cows mooing in the pasture next to my home. Music to my ears, the moos became the inspiration for a concerto in three 'moo-vements', which premiered at the Salt Lake Alternative Music Festival in October 1990.

Titled 'Garland Hirschi's Cows', the piece includes the voice of the cows' owner, Garland C. Hirschi of Rockville, Utah, as he tells the story of growing up with cows and what makes them moo. 'You wanna' know a little bit about my cows, huh?' asks Hirschi as he introduces the piece. The music is an innovative blending of classical orchestral style with cutting edge computer and digital techniques. The cow moos and Mr. Hirschi's words are transformed into expressive musical instruments. The composition weaves sound and story together into a fabric which has musical and dramatic impact.
'Garland Hirschi's Cows' was featured in concert at the 1991 Telluride Composer-to-Composer Festival. It has been choreographed by Ririe-Woodbury's Karin Frank-Ramos for Another Language Performing Arts Company in Salt Lake City. (Phillip Kent Bimstein)