First To Those Peaks

Some shameless feel-good cultural-appropriation music. :D I've been listening to Video Games Live music, which led me to a CD by Christopher Tin (Civilization IV) call Calling All Dawns, which is a collection of world music in the vein of the Civilization IV theme. What impressed me about it was that it was extremely accessible and yet not entirely predictable- he'd throw in little licks and colors to keep the "I've heard it all before" musicians interested, all without compromising the appeal to a very mainstream audience. Now that my semester is over, the weather is nice and I once again am free to do fun things, the very open and expansive sound of the music really struck a chord with me. It felt very liberating. :) So today I thought I'd write something similar and see what I could put together.

I see a protagonist taking flight for the first time, or perhaps what feels like the first time, and challenging a friend to a race to some distant mountain peaks. At times the music is very grounded as his heart races, and other times the bottom drops out as he glides along effortlessly, taking in the view. Feedback appreciated!