Qi colour from hidden resonances : for piano

This piece was written for my friend and University of Western Sydney colleague, Diana Blom, for her China-Australia exchange project. The work was inspired by the Chinese literati philosophy where subtle hidden sounds of yun sit alongside more robust qi energy. Hidden half timbres from rubber-stopped and finger-dampened strings, as well as silently undampened strings as resonators for attack dyad resonances gradually build to and decay from juxtaposed colour blocks of sound strewn across wide resonances as a type of qi inspired energy. Chinese modes in joyous linear bursts in the treble register heighten the exuberance. The wild juxtapositions draw on the free improvisation of MMW (Medeski, Martin and Wood) as much as Chinese literati philosophy. The work closes with a return to the hidden resonances, but, with high melodic modal touches imitative of birds awakening the bush at the base of the Blue Mountains on my morning run.