In my work, Imitation of Walking By A Babbling Brook we have the
flute picturing the gentle flow of a babbling brook. I employ two fragments from African American spirituals, Wade in the Water and I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray. You will hear the invitation to ‘wade in the water,” and then hear the phrase way down yonder by myself, to indicate that the walker is alone. The flutter tones represent the wind blowing through the leaves and the trills at the end of bird songs.