Music with Oliver (2015) by Chris Neiner published on 2015-07-26T21:07:58Z In 2015, I composed Music with Oliver as a Mother’s Day gift for a close friend to celebrate her first Mother’s Day as a mother. With this in mind, I decided to capture the interactions between her and her child, Oliver, in a short narrative depicting Oliver’s bedtime. The narrative can be divided into four distinct parts, each section portraying a different event. First, the stars twinkle in the night above Oliver and his mother, characterized by high, sparse piano writing. Then, a lullaby is sung to Oliver by his mother as he is rocked back and forth. Oliver is placed in his crib in the third section, and he is memorized by its mobile spinning in a fluid, continuous manner. Slowly, he drifts deeper and deeper into sleep. Last, Oliver dreams of flying to the moon with his mother and father. Beyond this scenario, Music with Oliver reflects on the nostalgia of remembering the growth of child who is now all done growing up.
