Triple Point (for Percussion Trio)

Justin Ochoa, Morgan Tao, and Thomas Yee — Percussion

Performed on March 25, 2017 in Bates Recital Hall

Movement Order for this Performance:
Freezing
Sublimation
Condensation

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Program Note:

"We often think of water as only being the stuff that we drink to stay alive, but water actually comes in several different forms—solid, liquid, and gas. Without all three of these states, life as we know it would not be possible. But even more fascinating than the diversity of water’s forms is the process of change between them, known as the “water cycle.” From liquid to solid, gas to liquid, solid to gas, or the other way around, these transformations are foundational in sustaining life on planet Earth. Without condensation, the plant life of the world would not receive the necessary water, whether by dew or by rain. Without freezing, our planet’s oceans would be unable to regulate its global temperatures via glacier formation, and the impacts of climate change would be even more volatile than they are today.

While considerably rarer, sublimation is an astounding and beautiful natural phenomenon in which solid water transitions directly into gas form, without first becoming liquid. At very low temperatures and even lower air pressures, such as can be found at the peak of Mt. Everest, white sheets of vapor can be seen rolling off of snow drifts, as if a cloud descended to embrace the snow. Thanks to sublimation, the water cycle is not simply a line from gas to solid, but truly a cycle, best modeled by the shape of a triangle, with all phases feeding into one another. There is no beginning, nor an end—only a perpetual process, foundational for all life as we know it."