Jester Galop

LaMotte wrote Jester Galop as a final project assignment for one of his music theory classes back in 2022, during his time at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. The point of the assignment was to write a piece in Sonata-Allegro form, a popular formula of many classical composers' works, for a string quartet instrumentation. In LaMotte's eyes, he wanted to create a piece that reflected the times in which Sonata-Allegro form was popular, while adding a refreshing spin to it. And thus, LaMotte decided to take the "galop," a lively ballroom dance from the late 18th century, and combine it with the concept of a jester, a clown-like entertainer that originated a few centuries before. The style of the piece is overall pretty classical, but incorporates a few joking elements throughout the piece (i.e. slides, sudden changes in melody, etc.).