If the only tool you have is a hammer, …

Every Problem is a Nail was commissioned by and written for pianist Keith Kirchoff. Supported in part by the American Composers Forum through the 2013 McKnight Composer Fellowship Program. When I was a student, more than a few professors attempted to teach me about the overtone series–and by extension, timbre–by holding a key down on a piano, and thwacking another key one or two octaves lower, saying “Hear that? Do you hear that?” I never heard it. But I do now, and so much more, with the aid of microphones and amplification. Frequencies between the keys and timbres often masked or ignored are revealed with these tools, further illuminated with the addition of digital signal processing.