Carlos I. Juanillo-Castillo

Above the Clouds

Program Notes

This piece was inspired by the fact that I have never been on a plane. I always wondered what it was like to ride one ever since I was a little kid. I let my childish emotions take over while considering what this piece was going to sound like and evoke. It worked with getting ideas rolling since I played with the musical ideas literally to get the emotion across.

The beginning of the piece contains the engine of the plane which drives the piece forward. The fear in which I feel is conveyed through the dissonant chords and interjections that the upper strings play while the engine is in motion. The piece eventually develops into a tutti section where the fear finally unleashes of the plane taking off. Once I am in the air, I imagine the view must be beautiful, Above the Clouds. After admiring the view, the plane comes down, solemn, now that I have gotten over the fear and have forgotten I was in a plane. All this is my imagination of what it would be like in a plane, Above the Clouds.