John Doan: Music

The waltz is a romantic gesture. Gently pulsing every three beats, it seems to float outside the constraints of time. This elegant music has become distant to the sensibilities of a fast-paced world; it takes time to appreciate a waltz. To begin writting this piece I drew upon themes of my favorite waltzes by Frederic Chopin and Anton Dvorak. As I began to understand them better I added several themes of my own.

At about the same time, I received my grandfather's photo album just after he passed away. Wrapped in old linen and lovingly preserved through world wars, a depression, earthquakes, and family members going their separate ways, the album revealed snap shots of moments in his life. One photo pictured him bundled up in his mother's arms in a cloth very much like the one that protected the album. My favorite of him is with his hair combed straight back as he straddled a 1917 Harley Davidson. There were pictures of his courtship with granny. That was when he was a conductor, not of symphonies, but of trolleys on the route to Venice Beach from downtown LA. There is one with my dad, cradled in his arms in a little white blanket. This album is a true panorama of my grandfather's life, where years pass with each page like steps to a noble dance - a dream waltz.