We Begin

We Begin is a two movement work that explores the act of rising from sleep and navigating an emotional balance throughout the day.  The first movement begins with melodies strongly influenced by an early morning Raga called Raag Bibhas (sometimes also called Vibhas) from the collection of Ragas belonging to Bhairav Thaat in Hindustani classical music. We Begin also incorporates ornamentations from Indian classical music, Persian classical music, and Eastern European folk music.

The second movement uses an Indian classical music form called Lahara that means “a sea-wave” in Hindi and acts as repeated rhythmic and melodic metronome. The Lahara is in Raag Shankara. The melodic material of the second movement is a combination of pitch systems from Indian classical music, Persian classical music, and music of the Balkans.

The piece also uses many tihais, a rhythmic cadence found in Indian classical music in which a phrase is repeated three times in an overlapping meter, where the last note of the third repeat resolves to beat one of the cycle. There is a Dumdhar Chakradhar Tihai (a longer rhythmic cadence found in Hindustani classical music that may include tihais within it, repeated three times where the last note of the third time resolves to beat one, and there is an equal amount of rests between each repetition). My hope is that listeners will resonate with We Begin in a way that helps them embark upon their days.