#448: SPOTLIGHT: Susan Estes
#448: Susan Estes
Dec 2, 2025
A Backbeat of Community
Question for Susan:
Is there a specific song, song lyric, or music genre that is particularly meaningful and moving for you? What is it and in what way(s) has it had an impact?
Susan's Response:
As a pianist and sometimes composer, the music that moves me is eclectic. From native American flute music to Gregorian chants to Beethoven concertos to standard jazz to Japanese hōgaku and even K-pop, music is a powerful conveyance.
One song that captured me at first listen, and continues to each time I hear it, is Águas De Março by Elis Regina and Antônio Carlos Jobim. I love how the imagery comes through the beauty of the language, even though I don't know a drop of Portuguese.
Its impact? Musically, the composition echoes the drips and the downhill flow of the waters. Lyrically, it reminds me that the universe can be found in simplicity, in how time and water flow through both difficult and beautiful moments and joy can be our raft.
Plus I love watching them sing it together over a single mic. And who doesn't like a little whistling moment?
"A stick, a stone, the end of the road
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A knife, a death, the end of the run
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It′s the end of all strain, it's the joy in your heart."