JOURNEY TO THE YELLOW SPRINGS

much that I

fashioned a piece for this combination.

"The Journey to the Yellow Springs" is a Chinese myth detailed in Maria von Franz’s Jungian masterpiece, Number and Time. At death, the two aspects of the soul, yin and yang, are separated and each must experience its opposite. Yin, the dark principle, ascends to the lighter divinity. Yang, the light, descends to the dark divinity. Afterwards both are united at the ‘yellow springs,’ in a mystical resurrection marriage ceremony.

The composition uses some extended techniques, multiphonics, graphic notation and indeterminate pitch and rhythm. The pitch set is derived from the three-note cell, A, F# and E. The work was inspired by the bells of a Ukrainian church near our house in Chicago. The bells rang frequently, and while my husband practiced his tuba, they formed an intriguing duet. I liked the sound so much that I fashioned a piece for this combination.