Yellow Rose

‘Yellow Rose’ narratively depicts the final few days Cameron and his family spent with his grandmother before her passing.

Sonically, while the piece contains tonal progressions that would be clear if read traditionally with a time signature and bar lines, it is instead shaped by performers playing unmetered and with a graphic notation guide, to play out of sync with one another. This results in tone clusters under melodic phrases which are intentionally misaligned, creating a more dissonant and distorted texture. The culminating effect is a harmonic soundscape that serves as both a beautiful celebration of life, a somber meditation on death, and an ode to those we have known and love who have passed on.

The original title ‘In Memoriam’ was changed to ‘Yellow Rose’ — my grandmother’s favorite flower — which is a symbol historically associated with remembrance, familial and platonic love, and resilience in the face of hardship.