Writings about Music

Tree Music

I like these thoughts. There is a lot of wisdom here. The scene from the film Green Card, whereupon a French composer improvises a sad poem following his thunderously discordant piano performance for a gathering that donates plants to poor New York neighborhoods, comes to mind:

Once I heard the sound of the wind in the trees,
Once I heard the sound of the laughter of children,
And I wept warm, salted tears for the lost trees.
"Let the little children come under the trees and I will give them hope", he said.
But there are no trees for the poor, lost, poor children,
Decay is their toy; despair is their game,
They have only chaos to climb.

 


Next door, they cut down what was likely the largest Banyan Tree in Los Angeles County in the process of building a new structure. That giant plant was easily over 100 years old, and I still feel its presence when standing on the pavement grey of the driveway, recalling the undulating ocean of soaring leaves caressed by daylight and evening breezes with a soft, shimmering music truly divine.

These are some compositions of mine related to trees: Forest Regions, Giant Leaves, Moonlit Palms, Trance in Bamboo, Dragon Pine, Jacaranda, Dancing Trees, Haunted Trees, Yucca Tree, Fresh Leaves and The Forest. I had no idea there were so many until this subject came up. There are likely more - I stopped counting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Michael Robinson, February 2017, Los Angeles

 

© 2017 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

 

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer (musicologist).