About the Series: Waves of…
Waves of… is an ongoing choral series that explores the human experience through elemental, poetic imagery. Each piece begins with the idea of a “wave”—not just as a physical motion, but as a metaphor for presence, emotion, memory, and transformation. Waves move through us and around us; they shape, erode, carry, and return. In this series, they become a musical language for what cannot always be said in words.
Each installment in the Waves of… series is intended to stand alone while also contributing to a larger arc—a collection of sound and text that charts our relationship to the invisible forces that shape us. Whether exploring light, silence, emotion, or memory, the series invites performers and listeners alike to surrender to the current, to listen deeply, and to let themselves be carried.
Waves of Life (2022)
Waves of Life is a reflective, atmospheric choral piece that traces the earliest moments and quiet wonders of awakening—awakening to sensation, emotion, and the presence of life itself. Built around spare, poetic language, the text captures the intimacy of a “first” experience: the first look, the first touch, the first time one feels alive beneath the skin.
Set against the imagery of ocean and light, the music mirrors the unfolding of consciousness—starting from stillness, then gently swelling like waves toward a moment of clarity and transformation. A distant light appears. The darkness gives way. The ocean begins to shimmer. Each phrase is a breath, a heartbeat, a memory of becoming.
Yet, even as the piece moves toward illumination, it does not deny the presence of shadow. The final lines acknowledge that while the sun rises and life moves forward, something—perhaps pain, memory, or loss—lingers in its wake. This emotional honesty grounds the work in the complexity of being alive.
Waves of Life invites listeners into a deeply personal space, where sound becomes sensation and silence speaks. It is both a beginning and a reckoning—a moment when the tide turns and we realize we are, fully, here.
Waves of Time (2023/25)
“Waves of Time” is a contemplative choral work that explores the quiet, continuous passage of time and its impact on memory, identity, and the soul. Through gently swaying rhythms and vivid yet restrained imagery, the piece evokes the ebb and flow of life as it moves beneath the surface of awareness—subtle, powerful, and always present.
The text drifts through scenes of silence, breath, and memory, likening time to a vast sea in which all things are eventually carried away or transformed. Echoes rise and fade, stars pass without words, and the listener is drawn into a world where each heartbeat becomes part of a larger, unknowable rhythm. Rather than lamenting time’s passage, the music invites surrender to it—a quiet reverence for what is lost and what remains.
The refrain of “swaying, swaying” acts as both a musical anchor and a symbol of emotional alignment—an invitation to drift inward, to listen, and to be carried.
Waves of Time asks the listener not to chase meaning, but to feel it—like footprints left in the mind by a tide that never stops moving.
Waves of Light (TBA)
This piece will explore light not just as a physical phenomenon, but as an inner experience—illumination, hope, revelation.
Waves of Silence (TBA)
Silence in this context is not the absence of sound, but the presence of stillness—full, resonant, and deeply alive. This piece will delve into the power of quiet: the spaces between words, the breath between phrases, the calm at the center of being.
Waves of Stars (TBA)
An evocation of the night sky and the vastness of the unknown. This piece explores memory, mystery, and distance—how we look outward to understand inward, and how stars (as symbols of hope, destiny, or eternity) guide us in the darkness.
Waves of the Wind (TBA)
Wind is movement, breath, spirit—felt but unseen. It explores change, impermanence, and the invisible forces that stir us from within and move the world around us.