This small group of six pieces reflects the significance of
trees to me; some environments may not have as many, but they surround
me on my walks and from my windows and I'm extremely aware of them.
Besides having great folk symbolism in various myths and religions,
they parallel human life in some ways: being more uniform when young,
more scarred but also more individual when older, suffering hidden
infirmities but responding to care, struggling for the elements they
need but sheltering and replenishing other life around them.
As I said last year, music has the power to put us in touch with
something
deeper than passing feelings. One of the pieces is named for the winged
seeds that spiral down from our Japanese maples in the spring
(called samaras). Many fall on the pavement or wash down into a drain
or get eaten by wildlife. But some fall in good places and sleep there
until the right time to germinate. This reminds me of so many historic
music pieces where I see the composer gave an opus number, yet all the
missing numbers are probably lost. I hope that some of what I scatter
may fall into a few hands somewhere, and I'm hoping those hands will be
yours.
| Link to the folder
of pdf files for printing sheet music: |
 |
MP3
sound files
(hit the dots that say "pod"): 
|
By the way, there are other earlier pieces in the collections of
previous years at the "Leslie's Pieces" link below, that also relate to
this theme, such as Forest Shadows, After the Storm, Gentle Rain,
Moonlit Pines, Mimosa, Pink Magnolia, Eyes in the Trees, Camellias in
the Snow, and Hymn of the Oak.
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