Farewell is a song I wrote in dedication of my mother, Tracy Bogdon (1975-2021). I could have not asked for a better mother than her, nor would I be the person I am today without her. I have been trying for years to write a song to serve as an appropriate tribute to someone as special as her, but I never seemed to be able to write anything I felt was fitting. The main issue I ran into was forcing all of the negative emotions I felt about losing her into my writing. I was writing dissonant, loud, aggressive music when I should have been writing music filled with love, just as her heart was. After many failed attempts, revisions, and tears, Farewell was finished. Farewell is written for piano accordion, as it is my primary instrument, and because my mother only got to see the start of my journey as an accordionist, so this serves as a way for her to hear how far I have come. Farewell opens with a simple melancholy melody with a waltz-esque feel. This continues with a few time signature changes to elongate phrases, portraying feelings of elongated sadness. This leads to a more mechanical feeling section that uses even rhythms and staccato articulations to represent processing death and loss. Soon after, a louder section begins with huge, full chords. This section resembles a few different ideas to me. It sounds like the internal heartbreak caused by death (grand organ or choir feel), and her soul passing to the afterlife. I believe all of these ideas are present. This builds up to one big silence, and a softer, gentler reprise of the opening sneaks in, one final goodbye. The dynamic starts to lower, as does the tempo, leading to one isolated bass note. Feelings of uneasiness creep in with a few chromatic, more dissonant chords coming in right at the end. After the feelings of uneasiness pass, a resolution is reached, and acceptance is reached. Of course, life is not always easy after such a loss, so I found it appropriate to incorporate an optional extra measure that would end this song on a minor chord. Writing Farewell has given me some much needed closure, and I hope she would've found this song to be fitting as her final farewell too.