WINDS OF CHANGE - 2021
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Winds of Change reflects the ebb and flow that often comes with large life changes. In 2021, I moved towns, started a new job, started a band program from the ground up, got married, and more all in the course of a couple months. I remember a stark contrast between the flying flurry of the day-to-day tasks being in stark opposition to the adjustment period that would follow.
The opening bars of this work serve as an establishment of the current state of life: a "status quo". This is followed by a flurry that completely upends that status quo without warning or buildup. Each day is a new set of curveballs to figure out how to hit, and each minute presents itself with an exhaustive number of decisions to make. It feels lively and fun, but it is not overly sustainable and takes its toll over time. Eventually that flurry of change runs its course, and it comes time to let the new status quo set in. There is a precious short time of slow contemplation where we can breathe, but that contemplative state is not meant to last long and is again interrupted by the flurry of more sudden changes to the status quo. This cycle repeats itself with greater intensity each time, reflecting the compound effects of many life-altering events occurring consecutively. Eventually, the status quo is but a distant memory, and a new status quo must set in. The final moments call back to the beginning recognizing the existence of the same life with most of the same pieces, but those pieces have been rearranged and switched around considerably to make way for progress. There is no regret in moving forwards, but there is a wistful longing for the simplicity of the familiar past as we make our way forwards. |
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