Solstice
Six years and six days ago, on Christmas morning 2001, I awakened from a dream having just heard a choir singing a wordless progression of descending notes and harmonies that sounded glorious to my ears. I jotted down the descending melodic line, and spent the next several days recreating the harmonies that I had heard.
A month or so later, I had developed it into a piece for the jazz ensemble I directed at North Florida Community College. This was my last semester there before moving north. The band did it justice! It helped the improvisations that the D minor pentatonic scale fit over the entire piece--which was not immediately obvious because of all the harmonic shifts between B-flat and B-natural, and E-flat and E-natural.
I remember during one rehearsal in particular, one of the band members asked, "So, what key is this piece in, anyway?" I paused to consider the question. "I don't know," I said. "I'm not sure. I'll have to give it some thought." Well, I gave it some thought and concluded that D is the most likely tonic pitch, but the piece is "modal" in such a way as to make any assertion or perception of tonic understated. The chord progression is really much more a chord succession. It turns around in such a way that it's not progressing anywhere. That is, metaphorically, it seems to be "standing still," which is what "solstice" means.
Several years later, I turned "Solstice" into a solo piano piece. And here it is, Track 9 on Meditations in Blue, the conclusion of Part II. Enjoy! SH
Solstice
