Flowers

Abstract

Flowers is a three movement long piece that was inspired by the culture and symbolism surrounding different types of flowers. I worked with a friend of mine who is a talented percussionist from start to finish on this piece. Roses are seen as a symbol of love and passion, so much so that sometimes they feel like a cliche. Love is a complicated thing, yet it is extremely hard to explain in words. It can be painful, but life wouldn't be worth living without it. I used a typical binary form for this movement to signify the popularity and possible overuse of the roses, as most love songs and pop songs are in binary form. The Lotus is one of the most common symbols of spirituality, often being linked with meditation and wellness. These flowers are often found in ponds. They delicately float on top of the water during the day, and at night, they rest underneath the water. In this movement I played with a written down dictation of the harmonic series. The harmonic series, or overtone series. This allowed me to achieve this ethereal feel. Cherry Blossoms often symbolize birth and death, beauty and violence, etc. Their falling leaves are a symbol of the fleeting nature of life and new beginnings. I used a few different versions of a pentatonic scale in this piece, and two different time signatures to play off the birth versus death, beauty versus violence symbolism surrounding cherry blossoms.