I Stand Silent

Over the past six months I’ve presented these six demo recordings of tracks for my upcoming album I Stand Silent | six meditations on the lives of trees. Orchestral music for meditation and contemplation.

Here now is the complete album demo, compiled for the first time.

I described this series as lessons from trees because of the insights that I have discovered by paying more attention to trees. Being, belonging, becoming, resilience, regrowth, nourishment, community.

I hope you discover something about yourself and the world around you in this music. Perhaps you’ll consider the lessons from trees that I’ve suggested and that I offer here in words and music. Or you might not relate your listening to trees at all. One person responded by writing that they ‘felt like they were the wind, like they were flying’.

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The track order follows the life cycle of a tree. A seed Falling to Earth, the seedling striving Toward the Light, the battle against the elements and the Resilience to survive as a sapling Among Giants, aided by an underground network of fungi and microbes in A World Beneath; finally reaching maturity as an elder of the forest, The Wisdom of Trees.

Track listing (each title links to the original post, which includes a music video, orchestral score, analysis and discussion – times indicate the start of each track in the recording above)

1. Falling to Earth – Becoming (0:00)

   a seed
   dormant
   waiting to become;
   awakened

2. Towards the Light – Nourishment (5:12)

   seek the light from dark places
   seek the light however remote, however dim
   seek the light
   because we are
   by nature
   light-seekers

3. Resilience – Resilience and regrowth (9:47)

   through fire, storm, drought 
   flood, heatwave, freezing cold
   human ignorance and greed
   
   fated by a single seed landing
   in this place
   a hundred years ago
   
   here I stand
   and here I must be

4. Among Giants – Being (15:23)

   the gathered trees impose their heft and grandeur
   conveying a sense of permanence
   of being and belonging
   surrounded by their fallen ancestors
   who, covered in moss 
   are slowly returning to the soil

5. A World Beneath – Community (21:55)

   solid trunk emerges from solid ground
   extending into branches
   supporting buds, leaves, flowers, fruits
   visited by animals, insects, birds
   
   above ground
   a tree is a world within itself
   
   below, there is another world
   dark and mysterious
   teaming with microscopic life
   networks of interactivity and mutual support
   a world beneath
   
   as humans travel into space
   to discover new worlds 
   there are wonders beyond imagining
   just millimeters away
   beneath our feet

6. The Wisdom of Trees – Belonging (27:00)

   by nature
   trees are rooted to the earth 
   stand still and silent 
   slo w   t h  e    p a  s  s  i   n    g      o    f        t      i      m       e

photo: Gypsy Lehmann

I Stand Silent

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What next?

I made these demo recordings using sampled instruments with the goal of eventually recording them with a real orchestra. I started my By Nature Substack to share this music and to gauge people’s responses to it. I’m pleased to say that I have received a lot of encouraging feedback and currently have 118 subscribers.

With a little help from my friends

I’m currently in discussion with a professional orchestra that is considering recording this music. It is of course an expensive business and I need to convince them that there is interest from a potential audience for such an album. If you genuinely enjoy this music, I would appreciate any comments you have that I might use to help present my case.

Please write them below, send me a DM, or if you received this via email, send a reply.

Based on the ‘build it and they will come’ principle, here’s a short promo video for the final album.