Falling Upward is the title track from the forthcoming album by my 12 piece ensemble, the Matt Erion Dodecaband. The track and the album tell the story of the journey from inspiration to transformation. The title is borrowed from the book by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM.

This is a pre-release in celebration of "bandcamp day". On the date of release all fees normally collected by Bandcamp are being waived. All proceeds this track receives today and going forward will be donated to the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora IL.

Falling Upward was written about my experiences in addiction recovery. The first theme on the trumpet is joyful and happy. The boy I was created to be. The addition theme is darker and enters early in the story, eventually completely taken over. The notes of the two themes intentionally clash. You'll hear the notes combined into a dissonant chord, which represents trauma. There is a brief transition in the ensemble to depict the damage I've done. Then the trumpet plays the darker/addiction theme in reverse to represent the "new dance" of recovery. Eventually the two instruments align and play in harmony. The notes of the "trauma chord" eventually unravel and harmonize to represent the healing of the trauma in my past. Emerging from that resolution are the two soloists in duet. The duet foreshadows the serenity theme, made up of the notes of both the Joy and Addiction themes, taken up by the two soloists and the full ensemble.