Hymn for the Tempest

"Project Storm" can officially be retired as the working title for this composition project.

The new title for this piece is: Hymn for the Tempest

I wanted something a little more poetic and one that reflected the reverence of nature as laid out in my early explorations. I landed on “hymn” as the defining quality, as a hymn is written to express reverence or awe to God, this is meant to express reverence or awe of nature.

“Tempest,” was a late night ah-ha moment as I brainstormed how to describe a storm. I revisited my word exercise from earlier, and built on it adding more descriptors like “grey” and “fury,” to help unpack what the storm is. Tempest popped in my head though as a single word (definition: A violent windy storm) to describe such violent fury all in one. I guess I can thank my junior year AP English class for all the Shakespeare I read for this one. Needless to say, the word fit perfectly.

The last idea was in the turn of “for the.” Initially I had “of the,” so “Hymn of the Tempest,” like the piece was written from the storm, but that didn’t sit right. Since the beginning of this writing process, this piece has been about the observer (us) viewing the storm over the Great Lakes. The subtle turn of “Hymn for the Tempest” now positions myself as the composer expressing awe and reverence for the storm at hand.

Hymn for the Tempest releases this Friday! A few final items left to wrap, but I’m immensely pleased at where I’ve ended up.

Thank you for being a part of the journey with me.