The title of this piece is a play on two French phrases - Faux Pas meaning "a significant or embarrassing error or mistake" and Pas de Deux "an intimate dance for two performers."  Faux Pas de Deux reflects both of these idioms: an embarrassing error fashioned into an intimate dance.

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Shaky bow is the unsteady stuttering sound that emerges under heightened nerves, and as a string player, it is a cardinal performance faux pas. After working hard to eliminate it from my playing years ago, it returned in a performance I gave in a competition this summer. I felt gutted - it was like I had regressed years in technique.

I always record performances in a voice memo with my phone in pocket - so I had a raw recording of my big mistake. I took this voice memo in an effort to confront the painful faux pas, and tried to harness it into something new. I wanted that hapless sound to change form. This piece is the aesthetic realization of me confronting my own personal defeat with open arms and ears - it is me doing my best to grit my teeth and make the lemonade.

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