- Digital Copy -

Instrumentation: Solo Marimba

Duration: 8:00" or 14:00" with optional movement

Difficulty: Advanced

Range: 5.0

In many religions the lotus flower is a symbol of enlightenment and/or purity. This is due to it growing in boggy environments - untouched by the detritus of its surroundings. The lotus flower blossoms in beautiful and rich colors out of unclean, soiled waters, much like how enlightenment leads one to reject the impurities of the mortal world. 

In reality, the lotus is often an invasive species, and with no predators, it overpopulates its waters and completely overcasts its surface. This denies oxygen and sunlight from entering below the surface, ultimately suffocating the life below.

This drastic discrepancy between the symbology and reality serves as an allegory for human attachment to ideas. An ideal or method may seem like a solution for all of our woes. but it might also be the exact thing that decays the foundation we build on. When we realize what it is - take the time to understand it from all angles - it may already be too late.

Compositionally, Lotus Nocte depicts both the literal and allegorical imagery through a pseudo-programmatic approach, all culminating in a rushing heartbeat going flat.

Requiem - This is an optional pre- or postlude meant to depict the uncovering of the end of a prior civilization due to a “lotus”. The motives of Lotus Nocte are obfuscated, and moments of forgotten trauma and pain arise throughout. Programmatically the allowance of this movement to be played before or after the ‘main’ movement is meant to represent the cyclical nature of this phenomena. Ultimately, even with the knowledge of how certain ideologies have led to suffering, the flowers continue to grow and spread.