sacrifice to hills and fountains

performed and recorded by Decoda_July 2023 at Decoda Chamber Music Festival_Appleton, WI

The name of the piece comes from “dhyana” a word that is multifaceted and described as many things: immovability, free from the notion of form, detachment from the mind. The character used to transliterate dhyana originally meant “to sacrifice to hills and fountains” or “sacrifice to rivers and mountains.” Players focus on a singular task: realize dhyana and maintain focus as the framework of the piece changes from different performance practices namely guided improvisation through improvised conducting, composition and conventional notation, and then finally to shared generation rendered through graphic notation.