Program Notes

The opening melody of Water Lilies came to me in the fall of 2023, but I never did anything with it after writing it down. In July 2024, Lori Rhoden, a member of the piano faculty at Ball State University, asked me to write a piano piece for her. As I looked for ideas for it, a melody became stuck in my head that sounded incredibly familiar, but I could not place where it came from; eventually I realized that I had in fact written it a year earlier. I decided to use that melody for the opening and climax of the piece. This piece is dedicated to Lori Rhoden in appreciation for her encouragement and all she taught me.