The first thing you may notice about Water Rays is that it is inescapably post-impressionistic. References to Debussy and Ravel are intentional and obvious. But there is more to it. I am fascinated with the patterns of light rays below water that we see in pools or shallow lagoons. The dynamic motion of these rays make a sublime dance and while trying to imagine a sonic analogue on the piano, I realized that just holding the pedal down and letting simple sonorities ring creates a beating of the sound waves that have their own complex dance of collisions and bounces much like the light rays on water. I begin Water Rays just like that—very minimally and quietly with just a major chord decorated with diatonic notes (other notes of the scale). But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the overtones above these simple sounds creating an elaborate dance high above, almost higher than you can hear. The rest of the piece uses the increasing energy of trills to both capture these higher resonances and play with them, propelling the music into ever higher transcendent plateaus. Water Rays has three sections, played without pause, each dedicated to a different harmonic color (F “majorish” D “majorish” B “majorish”) that I associate with different shades of blue (aqua marine, cyan, deep turquoise).

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