Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku294 – spring dawn

     spring dawn
     wind turbines harvest
     silver fog

This haiku was by Michael Baeyens, a young Belgian author of speculative and dark fiction, horror, fantasy and the supernatural, as well as haiku.

Considering the subject matter, I had to write this piece in the form of a round.

Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog was written for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog
Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog – Score

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The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku293

     Each time they roll in
     the beach waves break up
     the plovers

This haiku was by Shiba Sonome (1664–1726). She was a haiku poet and disciple of Matsuo Bashô. Reichhold wrote about her: “One sees that most of these women gained access to the inner circle around Basho by being related either by marriage or blood to one of his disciples. It is possible that Shiba Sonome was one of the few to be accepted as a poet on her own.”

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers was inspired by Margo Kõlar’s “Ammuste aegade laulud.”

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers was written for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, solo Violin, solo Viola, solo Cello, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers
The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers – Score

Polarized Sky

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku290 – Polarized Sky

     polarized sky
     the mixed melodies
     of twilight birds

The pen name “an’ya” loosely translates into “a peaceful surprise light in the moonless night”. Though nowadays she writes mostly tanka, in 2011 an’ya was voted one of the top ten haiku poets in the world by Simply Haiku.

I had never heard of tanka until reading about an’ya. In response I decided to form my piece in the shape of a musical tanka, which I decided to be a repeated set of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 beats per measure.

Polarized Sky was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

Polarized Sky
Polarized Sky – Score

Waterfall, River, Ocean

Waterfall, River, Ocean was written in response to Disquiet Junto Project 0393: Mix Master
Step 1: Choose three pieces of music you recorded previously.
Step 2: From each of those three pieces, choose one element you particularly like.
Step 3: Create a new piece of music combining the three elements whose selection resulted from Step 2. (Additional elements may be added, certainly.)

The weeks I can I submit to the Naviar Haiku blog. The three most current entries were titled A Clear Waterfall, The Shore Of A River, and When I Gazed Down The Ocean. It looked like there may be a pattern here.

I grabbed the main themes of two of the pieces and a connecting section from the third. After getting the keys to agree I found that I could get these to play nicely with each other, thus Waterfall, River, Ocean

Waterfall, River, Ocean was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Cymbals, Gong, Crotales, Timpani, Violin, Viola, Cello and String Bass.

Waterfall, River, Ocean
Waterfall, River, Ocean – Score

A Clear Waterfall

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku288 – A clear waterfall

     a clear waterfall
     into the ripples
     fall green pine needles

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Issa was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun.

I remember watching the Steve Allen show when I was a kid. Someone would suggest a few notes to him and he would improvise a piece based on those notes. So I decided to do the same. Without anyone to suggest notes to me, I decided to use the letters of the first line of the poem, translating thus:

ABCDEFGH    I    K    L    M    NOPQRSTU    V    W    X    Y
ABCDEFGA#/BbC#/DbD#/EbF#/GbG#/AbABCDEFGA#/BbC#/DbD#/EbF#/GbG#/Ab

This translated to:

a cl ear w aterfal l
A CGbEAE GbAGEEFADbDb

The problem was is that by definition this placed things into a minor key, which could not work with the intent of the piece. So I removed the flats, allowing me to work with a major key, which resulted in the theme I used.

a clear waterfall
A CGEAE GAGEEFADD

A Clear Waterfall was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello and String Bass.

A Clear Waterfall
A Clear Waterfall – Score

When I Gazed Down The Ocean

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku286 – when I gazed down the ocean

     When I gazed down the ocean,
     I could see with amazement
     The countless lights that shone

This haiku was created by by Marco Sebastiano Alessi & Talk to Transformer.

I imagine floating in the three dimensional water, watching what is going on around me, then moving to another area and doing the same. This has little difference with what I like to do on land – examine, enjoy, move on, repeat.

When I Gazed Down The Ocean was written for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trombone and Bass Trombone.

When I Gazed Down The Ocean
When I Gazed Down The Ocean – Score

North Carolina, August 2007

I was photographing in North Carolina in August 2007 during the third day of an improbably hot stretch. In the middle of a large field I set up my tripod, put my 4×5″ camera on top, and inserted a 150mm lens. The dark cloth went over my head and as I focused the image the sweat dripped mercilessly into my eyes, the salt stinging them, making it hard to see. I am cold adverse and heat has never caused me to not do something, but for the first time I decided, after releasing the shutter, to pack things up, find a bar, and grab a beer.

It was this that was in my mind when I wrote North Carolina, August 2007, the hottest day I can remember experiencing. The idea of pushing through and literally leaving it all on the field left me exhausted but happy.

North Carolina, August 2007 was written for two Horns, Trombone, Bass Trombone and Tuba.

North Carolina, August 2007
North Carolina, August 2007 – Score