The inspiration for Tread Softly came from two contrasting sources: the religious music of early medieval Spain, and Debbie Locke’s work of art ‘Retracing Your Steps - Bristol I’. Although over a thousand years apart, these two sources share a common feature - a powerful sense of movement enclosed within a static form. In early Spanish music this manifests in the use of extended melisma, and in Locke’s work it is depicted through the seemingly moving, web-like form of the central image. Tread Softly explores the idea of movement within stasis through the use of a main melodic gesture that transforms very slowly, but constantly, throughout.