“¿What does the Volcana creek sound like as it meets the Medellín river?” and “¿What does a stone eroded by water for millions of years sound like?" are two miniatures for orchestra named after questions on the environment of Eafit University in Medellín, Colombia. The music is a tentative reply to these questions. These and eight other pieces were commissioned in October 2023 by the Direction of Culture of Universidad Eafit to students and teachers in the composition department, and were performed by the Eafit Symphony Orchestra.

For the piece inspired on the question “what does the Volcana creek sound like as it meets the Medellín River?”, I took this encounter as a concrete and climactic event, as it would be experienced, for example, by a small paper boat that floats down the creek on a rainy day. Over a static yet vibrant harmonic background (the water), the pizzicati from the strings come to the surface (stones, raindrops). The density and volume of both layers start to grow (as if the channel went deeper and narrower) until it flows into a dry chord followed by a “wet” echo.

For the piece inspired by the question “what does a rock eroded over millions of years sound like? I divided the orchestra into two characters, rock and water. I condensed the process of erosion, which in millions of years is soft and gradual, to less than a minute, which makes the result violent and rowdy thanks to the seven drums. The music of the water, in the rest of the orchestra, is cyclical and repetitive, although it gets articulated by the rhythm of the percussion, showing the friction between both elements.