What if you had a universe to communicate, but you could only speak fifteen words per minute? What if you needed complex math to solve astrophysics problems, but you couldn't hold a pencil? What if you were hearing music from a distant planet, but nobody believed you?

I was invited to write a piece for Thalia Symphony and I immediately began thinking about Stephen Hawking, Sun Ra, and the shape of the supercluster we reside in: Laniakea, of which the Milky Way is a tiny galaxy in a far edge of the whole. It’s a Hawaiian term that translates as Immeasurable Heavens. Big orchestra, big thoughts.

A few weeks after I'd been gleefully reading up on Hawking, he passed away and started appearing in my dreams. I thought "Joke's on you, Stephen", because he didn't believe in an afterlife. In any case, I've been inspired by space all my life, and Hawking, who constructed 3D models of physics problems in his mind, illuminates the possibility of using entirely different tools to approach any task.

I owe a lot to Sun Ra finding his space music, influencing a world where free jazz flourishes, and sounds of the peaceful spheres permeate. Knowing that he heard something utterly outside his realm, and wore the mantle of responsibility to bring it, and believe in it. Sun Ra had an interstellar experience as a young man and brought his outer space perspective on our little ball of earth to his music making. He reminds me that it is ok to float above and view the scene with outsider’s eyes.

“The string theory concept describes the fundamental constituents of the universe as tiny vibrating strings”. Hawking was able to speak fifteen words per minute through his vocal prosthetic. The Prologue takes approximately one minute to play, slowing the normal cadence of speech to one word every four seconds, highlighting the speed of speech that is out of step with the speed of mind, but which possibly yields greater attention to the weight of each word.

Speed of Mind...The finger clicks at the beginning of this movement accumulate in density without resolving into a groove. Things begin to click. It is the sound of mind whirring into gear and might sound like an awakening of cicadas in the evening.

I'm fascinated right now that the Hawaiian (official) name for our supercluster translates as "Immeasurable Heavens" at a time when some Hawaiians are protesting the construction of a new telescope on the sacred volcano, Mauna Kea, a measuring device that would attempt to measure the un-measurable, and cause harm to a sacred space on earth. Hawking's advice might be to find another way. Sun Ra's advice might be to listen closely.