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
Comments (3)
I really like this. It is very simple, but has a nice feel to the smaller licks in between the chord voicings. I pretty much zoned out while I was listening to it, kind of forgot what I was doing (I was supposed to be writing Forum Post 1!). Nice piece. And the recording sounds good too? Pro Tools?
Posted by Chris | January 23, 2008 5:21 PM
Posted on January 23, 2008 17:21
Hi Chris,
That's nice to hear. Thanks! I mean, after all, these are "Meditations."
Yeah, Bob Klotz is a professional recording engineer, and he does use Pro Tools. We recorded on the stage of Esber Recital Hall on March 09, 2006. btw--All these tracks are complete, unedited takes.
SH
Posted by Stephen Hopkins | January 24, 2008 11:12 AM
Posted on January 24, 2008 11:12
Wow. That's cool to know they are unedited. It definitely adds to the music.
Posted by Chris | January 24, 2008 8:28 PM
Posted on January 24, 2008 20:28