This collection of pieces has been a few years in the making and is thus a musical reflection of my life; musical influences, daily interactions, etc. Though it's most important that each listener finds his/her own meaning in each piece, below are the short stories behind each track. ~ CW Day by Day This was the first song I ever wrote - I wrote the main melody during my undergrad when I was hanging out with my best friends in the recording studio at school, just noodling around at the piano. Luckily, I had manuscript paper w/ me and was able to copy down something I thought was convincing enough to warrant some attention. I had no clue what to do with the piece when it was “finished,” but finally, inspiration struck again and a song format seemed to really fit. As I Wait Even while writing it, I was sure this was going to be a solo piano piece. However, it carried a certain vocal and oboe quality to it and I decided to try writing lyrics to see if they would work. The oboe parts in the middle and last verse were completely improvised at the time and I felt that they perfectly captured “the moment,” so I left them be. Walk Beside This song was one of those creative endeavors that ended up getting shelved a few times before its final version. Initially, I’d written lyrics for the melody, as it’d been inspired by a few good talks and hangout sessions with a very close friend during a particularly tumultuous time. However, the said lyrics never felt completely right and it always felt slightly “forced” each time I’d go to sing them, but the general moodiness of the piece and the inspiration still worked well together; the words that came to mind were “dark hope.” It finally felt right to record the piece as an instrumental; sometimes, the best way to express something is to not say (or sing) anything at all. The title, however, is from one of the unused lyrics that ironically became the backbone of the piece. Haunted Another piece written in my undergrad when I wanted to try writing an upbeat piece that might work as a background track for some sort of soundtrack-like...something. Like “Walk Beside,” this piece was also quite difficult to develop into its full form, going through MANY changes. The lyrics were a last minute addition at the suggestion of my best friend and this proved to be a great confidence booster, as I’d started writing lyrics, but thought they were awful. One word, though, stuck out; Haunted. Using that as an inspirational base, the rest of the piece came together rather quickly, musically and lyrically. Nocturne Like “As I Wait” and “Walk Beside,” this piece carried both vocal and instrumental-only vibes to it, though it was one of the last pieces written for this album. After a few failed attempts at writing lyrics and finding out that even background vocals didn’t suit the tonal palette I was ultimately looking for, it became very clear that an instrumental was the way to go. Hold On Life is rough, as we all know. My best friend and I are constantly communicating all the time, whether it be via texting, Facebook chat, email, etc. Though we live far apart, we both have similar struggles and our friendship couldn’t be stronger because of it. This song was written as a reflection of those trying times, but being in a major key, still retains a bit of hope that things will start looking up, even if it’s little by little. Here, Again This piece was written a few years ago as a direct result of an argument I had with my mom and the accompanying frustration that comes with arguing with someone you love and care a lot about. I think we were arguing about random things, but there must’ve been something brought up that we’d argued about before, hence the title! Try Like “Hold On,” this song is about life’s rough times and changes, but in a more retrospective view. Outside the Box Like anything worth doing, it’s not easy to be yourself. We’re constantly bombarded with imagery, expectations, traditions, etc., and it can get very overwhelming. It’s very tempting to take the easy way and just ride with the crowd, even though you’re screaming inside, but don’t want to make a fuss on the outside. Why play it safe?