*Wink Back

Information:

• Source: Hello World Notebook
• Key: C Major / A Minor
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:33 Min
• Pages: 4 Pages

“A wink is a silent way of saying everything you shouldn’t say out loud.”
— Unknown

GESTURES 101
Everyone knows what a wink is, but nobody seems to agree on what it really means. Is it flirting?, A joke?, A secret signal passed between partners in crime?, Or just something that goes terribly wrong at the wrong time? It lasts for only less than a second, but its message is so powerful that can carry so much meaning. One eye closes, the other stays open, and suddenly you have communicated confidence, intimacy, irony, or total embarrassment.

Where I live, in Mexico, winking is not necessarily a bad thing. Still, one must know to whom to wink and, more importantly, when. It is not a skill taught in school. There is no school subject called: Facial Gestures 101. Instead, it belongs to the category of mysterious social skills that we acquired with age, a little experience and a few regrettable misunderstandings.

WITHOUT FANFARE
Being human, I like to wink playfully at life itself. Because, to me, a wink can be a deliberate, calculated gesture meant to accomplish something without fanfare, something that might enhance another person’s existence. It can be grand, like making a substantial donation to a charity but opting to remain anonymous. Or It could also be something as simple as holding the door for a stranger, even - or especially - at the risk of never being acknowledge.

Sometimes, offering a respectful compliment about someone’s outfit, or haircut can be a socially acceptable way of winking at them. It says just enough and nothing more. It is a kind of wink that behaves itself, does the job and exists the room at the right time.

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR
As if on cue, life winks back at me just as well. Not long ago, I was having lunch with William. Across the table sat a family of six: a father and five children, all clearly of different ages and, surprisingly, impeccably well behaved. I mentioned this to William, still mildly suspicious, as one is.

As they were getting ready to leave, William complimented the father on what a remarkable job he was doing raising such polite children. A bit of small talk followed, brief but pleasant, and then they were gone.

When it came time to pay our bill, the waitress casually informed us that the father, the one with the five children, had already taken care of it. Life, it seems, acknowledge the gesture in the only way it knows how: by paying for lunch.

CONSPIRATORIAL WINK
Years ago, while I was teaching piano, I released a series of books designed for beginner-level students. This was less a creative impulse and more an act of self-preservation. I had realized that most piano books for children are filled with music so dreadful it borders on educational malpractice.

I knew the tunes from this books were bad, my students knew these tunes were bad, and no one should have to suffer through musical purgatory just to learn where middle C lives. So, writing my own music and teaching it, was my way of offering my students a conspiratorial wink

SOMEONE PLEASE SHOOT ME
Take Hot Cross Buns, for instance: a lethally efficient way to extinguish both a child’s and teacher’s enthusiasm. A tune everyone knows, no one enjoys, and yet somehow “it” survives generation after generation like a stubborn musical virus. Aagh. Someone please shoot me.

Then there’s London Bridge, lurking in nearly every children’s piano book, dutifully passed down as if no one has ever stopped to ask whether children deserve better. Or teachers, for that matter.

THE BEST ANTIDOTE
“The piano series” books - as I called them - were a great success in my studio. The music was carefully tailored to my students’ tastes. Needless to say, one piece in the first book in particular, titled Wink Wink, quickly became a favorite. This came as no surprise to me.

The music in those books were my antidote: no bridges falling down, no baked goods involved. Just melodies that respected the musical intellect of both the student and myself.

5/4
Composing a brand-new piece where I stay inside the lines didn’t feel quite winky enough for this entry. Instead, I decided to compose an Andantino in 5/4 time, set in the clear key of C Major.

There is surprisingly little music written in this asymmetric meter, which gives the rhythm an unexpected, slightly off-balance pulse. Because human movement, heartbeats, and speech naturalize even patterns, 5/4 creates a distinctive limp, an out o step we need to adjust when listening. Composing a piece in an unconventional rhythm is my way of winking back at the world.

Sheet Music Archive

Published Score.
The complete work is available for consultation and download.