Odometer

1 of 2 Winners of the Hear No Evil 2016 Call for Scores; performed on the Hear No Evil Season Finale Concert on May 12 at the North Door. This recording is the Studio Recording, also by Hear No Evil.

~~~~~

Program Note: "Light surrounds us. Its presence is essential to our sight and is a foundational building block for all life on Earth. We believe we have harnessed it, tamed it, molded it for our daily purposes at the whim of a switch. Yet, in all its everyday familiarity, do we really know it? Have we even scratched the surface of what light can do?

Our quest begins with Sir Isaac Newton and a chunk of glass—well, two prisms, to be precise. Using the prism, he demonstrated that a ray of "white" light actually contained within it every color known to man—once light hits the prism, each color refracts out into its own distinct identity. In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein's work on the Photoelectric Effect paved the way for light to be recognized as being both a particle and a wave—a fact with implications that are still being fleshed out today. And though these breakthroughs may be common knowledge today, there are still plenty of light phenomena that astound all, but that few will ever witness.

In the planet's deepest, blackest oceans—where no sunlight can penetrate—ethereal forests of light glimmer forth from the bodies of creatures that reside there. On a specific February evening each year, the water of Yosemite's majestic Horsetail Falls is stained a furious orange-red by the setting sun, seeming to light it ablaze. In frigid remote regions of the north, sometimes the sky itself flows with vibrant streams of green, pink, red, yellow, blue, and violet—the Aurora Borealis.

And some testimonies even report, though this is far from proven, that these Northern Lights even sing—a sound as otherworldly as the sight. One can scarcely imagine it: the music of light itself..."

© 2015 Thomas B. Yee (ASCAP)

I. Prism

Some composers found their love of music at the symphony hearing Brahms or Beethoven—Thomas discovered his from the 8-bit beeps and boops of the family Super Nintendo. Though his musical adventures have since broadened from slaying virtual dragons, he has carried the music's power of narrative with him ever since. Whether exploring what outer space might sound like, depicting the Hero's Journey with the colors of the orchestra, or fighting against genocide with the song of the mythological Leviathan, Thomas strives to connect with listeners' hearts through musical storytelling. In addition to composing, he reads and listens to analytic philosophy (often at the same time!) and can frequently be found cooking restaurant-worthy cuisine with his wife Tori. He dreams of collecting all the world's pens that have unconventional features—though he frequently has to start from square one when they fall out of his pockets.

I. Prism

Thomas B. Yee

Related tracks