Amongst the Clouds (2020)

For Symphonic Orchestra


Grade: 4Duration: 6:45(Picc, 2, 2, 2+Bass, 2) (4, 3, 3, 1) (Timp + 2 Perc.) Strings

Score sample here.

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My love for aviation and the feeling of flight reaches back all the way to my early childhood; one of the earliest things I can remember is going to see my dad on the weekends and playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 for hours on end (and four year-old me crash-landing the planes more often than not - oh boy!). As the years passed by and I began considering what I wanted to do for my career, being a pilot was one of my top choices. While the exorbitant costs of getting an airline transport license, required to fly commercially, eventually led to my decision to turn away from a career in aviation for one of teaching and writing music, getting my private pilot’s license is still a dream that I hold onto and intend to pursue.

The structure of this piece is programmatic in terms of the different parts one would experience when going on a flight; one can hear the excitement someone would feel pulling the plane out of the hangar, the engine revving up as the aircraft takes off, soaring through the air at 10,000 feet, perhaps a bit of turbulence from getting too close to a storm, the feeling of relief when you break through that weather and touch safely back down on the ground, and looking forward to the next time you get to do it all again!


Live performance by the Crusis Composers' Orchestra at Shawn Lee's Senior Composition Recital, March 3, 2020.