Genre: Ballad

This is the first song I have written to be played on sanshin. It is likely the first song that was written for God's glory that has ever been played on this sanshin, which belonged to my great-grandfather. At my request, my sister told me to write about a flower and a dancer who are envious of each other, but learn to love themselves as God made them. The song is in 5-part rondo form, which is characterized by a back- and-forth pattern of repeating themes. First, the dancer expresses longing to be like the flower, then God responds, saying they were made for their own purpose. Likewise, the flower wants to be like the dancer, but God responds to it in the same way. In the fifth section, God tells them to stay as they are because He loves them and made them beautifully. Because I am not yet trained in traditional Okinawan music, I chose to write a pop ballad with traditional flairs. Most of the melodic plucks of the sanshin strings are kept to the Ryukyuan scale, do-mi-fa-sol-ti-do, but I did use a Western harmonic progression, causing me to stray from it sometimes. Vocally, the song is less traditional due to the lack of melismatic movement.