L'Eau Changeante
An Organic Variation
D. Kim Dunnick, trumpet
Steven Mauk, alto saxophone
Diane Birr, piano
L’Eau Changeante was inspired by a class in Vocal Pedagogy with Professor Carol McAmis at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY. In the class, I was introduced to the work of Masaru Emoto – a Japanese scientist whose research centers around the phenomenon of water crystals.
I was fascinated by this possibility of water being an organic and responsive medium. Our bodies and our lives are made up of this life-giving substance, but how much do we really understand it? Water vibrates with sound – it can be seen in Tibetan singing bowls – the tides on our planet are affected by the gravitational pull of our moon. How then does music affect our vibrations--our water--in our body?
The music itself is what I call an “organic variation” – it is seven minutes of continually evolving music that ebbs and flows from a few core seeds – here the interval of the seventh and the related second cluster – each section is distinct, but related to the rest, growing out of the music before it.
L’Eau Changeante, or Changing Water, was written at the request of Dr. Steven Mauk and Dr. Kim Dunnick, and their pianist-collaborator Dr. Diane Birr, to seek to expand the limited repertoire for trumpet and alto saxophone. All are professors and former teachers at Ithaca College. I am honored to have written a piece for such talented and respected performers.