Ask
For Solo Vibraphone
Program Notes
Ask was written in the summer of 1991, in a large room, called A 300, at the California Institute of the Arts. It became the title track for the first cd, the following year, because the simple act of asking questions, listening and watching to see things more deeply, and to hear with the soul, is what the whole creative life is about – asking, without expectation, - asking, without assuming to know already, - asking because it is in our nature to desire – and if we simply direct that desire to asking what is most essential, then we can use all of who we are for what is the greatest good – and that always has something to do with simply being who we are, unique, and complete, without asking for anything else, reflecting an implicit desire to be, and to experience that being with fullness and peace. Ask reminds me to look at myself, and what I desire, and to think about what is most important. The final melodic phrase of the piece is an echo of that question. The chordal statements of dissonance and harmony throughout the piece express the tension between desire, assumptions, expectations, and letting go. Ask is about letting go, instead of trying to hold onto something – because letting go of what you think you see is the only way to see anything new.
Performance Instruction:
The + sign implies mallet dampening of
Julie Spencer © 1993