Beschreibung
“A Wave in the Ocean” is a short piece for violin and guitar, which uses many idiomatic techniques for both instruments but treats them in new and unique ways. Melodies are not made simply of pitches, but also through different textures created through specific techniques in both the violin and guitar such as: ponticello, natural and artificial harmonics, pizzicatos and snap pizzicatos, slaps on the strings and body of the guitar, percussive effects on the guitar made by beating the soundboard with the thumb and fingers, and strumming the guitar with the strings muted. These techniques create melodies, not only of notes, but also of color. The piece is in 3-parts. The opening is a very percussive dance-like section, which moves to a
flowing, meditative segment giving way to a greatly altered return of the opening dance-like portion.
The title “A Wave in the Ocean” refers to the Buddhist concept of the ego being like a wave in the ocean that thinks it exists as a separate entity. The wave is there, but it is part of the ocean and does not exist as a discrete being.