Program Note

For my final Bachelor's degree exam, all classical piano performance majors had to a final "solo graduation recital" (around 1 hour-ish of music). Throughout our many exams, we were required to play music from different periods, but I had yet to fulfill the "contemporary/written after 1960's composition" requirement. However, I thought: “If I compose something, isn’t that technically post-1960s?” As a result, I wrote this piece and played it in my final recital.

Technique-wise, it is a voicing etude during the three-stave sections. The melody is hidden in the middle staff, and the pianist has to use voicing and finger control to bring it out.

In terms of imagery, I imagined out of focus bells with glistening reflections in the water— faint and out of sight. However, "reflections, out of focus" also refers to the more metaphorical sense of looking back, reflecting on my time studying piano here. How all these memories of the past (even that of being a first-year student) are already becoming blurred—nostalgically out of focus—and reflecting on this journey. As I finished this piece and looked back at my piano experiences, I decided it was only right to dedicate it to my piano professor, Prof. Marina Mdivani.