Composed 2015, arr. strings 2025; 10 minutes 

Shelley Washington is a Brooklyn-based American composer, saxophonist, and vocalist whose music blends classical writing with grooves, folk echoes, and the rhythmic drive of jazz and rock. Her works often draw on personal memory while engaging broader cultural stories. Middleground, first written as a string quartet and recently arranged for string orchestra, reflects Washington’s own upbringing in the American Midwest. The title carries a double meaning. It refers literally to the “middle ground” of the country—Missouri and Kansas, where she grew up—but also to a psychological space between past and present, childhood and adulthood.

The music unfolds in bright rhythmic pulses and warm, open harmonies. Washington evokes a sensory landscape—humid summer evenings, laughter with friends, and the sudden release of diving into cool water after a hot day. Nostalgia is the engine of the piece—the moment when personal history becomes a shared emotional landscape.