Tonal Visions is a collection of original compositions for solo piano. Each piece explores a distinct emotional or philosophical world, unified by a shared clarity of intention — music that has something to say and trusts the listener to hear it.
The album is planned as a digital release. A central ambition of the project is accessibility: every piece will be made available across the widest possible range of formats, free of charge, including standard notation, large print, Braille music, MIDI, MusicXML, and audio. These will be published here as they become available.
The Pieces
The Looking Glass
A meditation on light and darkness in human nature — how humanity is simultaneously the stage for great good and great evil. Written during a period of personal reflection on how to live a righteous life. The piece carries no resolution, because at the time of writing, Ethan had no answers. The suggestion is that these may be questions with no answer — and that the working out of the answer is itself the purpose of life.
A single motif — a fractured version of the musical notes of Ethan's name, first used in The Victory Quintet — runs through the entire piece, reappearing in different forms. The tonality travels upward through the mixolydian modes of D, A, and E major, then back down, before arriving at three emotionally clear keys: G♯ minor (sadness), E major (hope), and A major (conclusion — neutral, a plea to move on). Duration: 4–5 minutes.
The Looking Glass is the first piece in the Tonal Visions accessible output pipeline, and will be the first to receive the full range of score formats below.
First Moments of the Day
Written in gratitude for a particular warm summer morning, when Ethan listened from his window as birds and wind moved through the trees — a moment he saw clearly, perhaps for the first time, as stillness and peace to be cherished before the world takes over.
The piece opens from silence. Two principal melodies unfold through variations, each building in intensity until the full vitality of the work reveals itself at the close — mirroring the gradual coming to life of the body in the morning. Key: C♯ major.
Last Moments of the Day
The Calling
Hard Times
Human Connection
The Owl of Romanticism
Acceptance
Scores and Audio
Every piece will be made freely available in the following formats. Formats will appear here as they are produced.