Where Even Shadows Are Light

The idea for Where Even Shadows are Light came to me as I was attending a percussion writing workshop and I had the opportunity to strike a cymbal and a tam-tam. As I drew my ear closer to the vibrating instrument I could hear (and most importantly feel) the alignment of overtones shooting up from the fundamental. At this point in my composition career, I felt the need to escape the more codified system I had created for myself, and I wanted to “get lost in sound.” I wanted to think about music as a metaphysical entity, something floating, something living in the liminal space. This piece is my first attempt at conveying weightlessness, at letting texture behave more freely and create contrast organically by playing around with rhythmic buoyancy, phrases, tension, and release. Form became a result of proportions rather than a rigid shell that enclosed all the music. I thought about relationships between instrument hierarchies. I thought about how gestures, big or small, can be noticed internally (not a specific emotion but just a movement that brought me from one place to another). This work draws inspiration from pieces that evoked those sentiments in me such as Berg's violin concerto, Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’au-delà, Mozart's wind Serenade K.331, and Franck’s Martin Mass for Double Choir, to name a few.

‍Where Even Shadows are Light is published by American Composers Orchestra via EarShot: Advancing Equity through Publishing & Repertoire Development, made possible through support from the Sphinx Organization.

‍What students walk away with:

    • Deep listening skills and heightened sonic awareness
    • The ability to transform everyday sounds into musical material
    • Observation skills that fuel imagination and composition
    • Experience building collaborative soundscapes
    • Curiosity about sound, environment, and sensory experience
    • Confidence exploring personal relationships to sound

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Classroom Listening Guide

This module invites students with or without musical background to sharpen their powers of observation and reimagine the world around them as a source of creative inspiration. Through listening and sonic exploration, students will investigate the everyday sounds that surround them at school, at home, and in nature. Drawing on Where Even Shadows Are Light by Alyssa Regent’s, they’ll learn how the composer draws on both her connection to the natural world and the curiosity of scientific inquiry to shape sound into story. Students will build original soundscapes rooted in their environment and personal experience, exploring how imagination, identity, and attentive listening can transform the familiar into something extraordinary.

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For purchase and module use email jess@americancomposers.org

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