When You Leave...

When You Leave… is a piece that I want to be open for interpretation. I do not think it should have one set meaning, because I feel every performer should bring their own emotions into it. But as the person who wrote it, I know it is also my job to explain why I wrote this piece and why it turned out the way it did. Someone who was very close to me had to move away. From the moment I met this person, I knew that one day this would happen, and I had been preparing myself for it for a long time. When the time got closer, I wanted to make the most of it. We hung out, we did fun things, we went on adventures. But in the back of my mind there was always this question: what happens when you leave? That question, and the anxiety that came with it, is what I put into this piece. This piece is centered around D minor. It uses both minor and major chords to create a very solemn feeling. The main theme comes back over and over again to give that sense of knowing what is coming, even if you do not want it to. The piano has a big role in this piece. I believe the piano is one of the most beautiful instruments, but here I do not use it in a flowing, harmonic way. Instead, it provides a constant pulse. That pulse represents this person. They are beautiful, they are steady, they can be wild at times in ways that I love, and they are the motif that keeps repeating in my life. In the end, I chose to close on an F major chord, the relative major to D minor. That chord represents hope, because what lies ahead is the most exciting part.