"Shifting Sands" by Saad Haddad for piano and electronics

Perusal Score, Program Notes, and Purchase Information: 
http://www.saadnhaddad.com/shifting-sands.html

Performed by Dzovig Markarian
Engineered by Saad Haddad
January 26, 2015
https://directory.calarts.edu/node/19503

Shifting Sands (version for piano and electronics)

Calena was my first prom date and summer school math partner. She was such a beautiful and kind person that I always felt so relaxed around. I created this piece for her. It made me happy to think of the times we shared growing up and of driving Holmes by her house a thousand times a day so he could "accidentally" meet her and ask her out. When she passed away in November of 2011, I posted our prom picture on FB and her Dad commented on it: "Calena's cancer was rare and aggressive. She went to the hospital the day of the Mineral Earthquake (Aug 23) here in VA. There is no known therapy (chemo or radiation) proven for NUT Midline Carcinoma and only about 50 cases have been documented. She was so brave to the end and passed without pain; just like she was running a marathon or playing soccer. I love her so much and will miss her always". - Calena's Dad

Calena

I want ___ please, for processed harp and fixed media

You have to pull them out of their bodiless dream. You have to make them talk to you; they have to practice speech, but they're nonverbal, so you have to make a mouth for them out of paper, or a laptop, or their hands. Any tongue you can find, any teeth you can afford, you try, you try, you try, because when they age out of high school, you can't help them anymore. If you can't instill the habit by age 22, there's a possibility that no one will ever ask or push them to use language again.

This piece is dedicated to the staff and students at Heather Empfield Day School and Transition Center, a school for children with severe and profound autism.

I want ___ please

vit - EABD 2018 rough demo

i put your flowers in a jar beside my bed 
that night before i went to sleep 
thoughts of you danced in my head 
and when i woke, my room smelled sweet 

waved goodbye to all my grey skies 
and let your sunlight burn me up 
and even though i’d end up blistered 
still i couldn’t get enough 

and now it’s easier to breathe 
these spring rains will wash me clean 
i’ll take the flowers 
that we’d grown 
and plant a garden all my own (g) 

i tore down the walls you built me 
and built new ones painted blue 
but every time i saw the sunshine 
it reminded me of you 

i took the flowers from my bedside 
and the stars out of my eyes 
and as the blindness was subsiding 
i saw the flowers all had died

credits
from Flowers, releases February 22, 2019 

Music and Lyrics by Lillian Snyder 
Produced and Engineered by Mark Snyder 
Mixed by Delbert Bowers 
Assistant Engineers - Daniel Hubert and Taylor Neal 
Recorded at Jacksonville University Studio

Lillian Snyder - vocals 
Joshua Camp - keyboards 
daniel Hubert - bass 
Isabella Martinez - backing vocals 
Taylor Neal - guitars 
Mamie Lou Small - viola 
Mark Snyder - drums 
Tony Steve - percussion

Calena

Marklsnyder

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