Winter Variations | November Challenge 2024

It's pretty obvious by the title that I chose winter. I'm pretty sure it's the season that has been getting the most submissions and - though I may be biased - I can see why. Winter is my favorite season, especially here in the midwest, not just because the bugs are gone, but also because of the untamed beauty it presents. There is always something healing about taking a step outside during I attempted to capture my favorite aspects of winter, the frigid air, the turbulent blizzards, the calm of a winter morning, all of it.

I chose the piano as the primary instrument to represent the falling snow as the piano often has arpeggios or back and forth between two notes that felt like they matched that very feeling. The woodwinds could be characterized as the winds, which adds to the aspect of something both calm and turbulent that can change from hour to hour. The strings represent the more abstract harsh aspects of winter, such as the wind chill that so often has many wishing for warmer temperatures. I don't expect this to win, but it was quite fun writing a piece about my favorite season!