In absentia … SIMON'S ROCK CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Last Thursday, The Simon's Rock Chamber Orchestra premiered "Nestis"  one of my pieces from The Four Elements of Empedocles.  This is a two-year project where I explore Fire (Zeus), Air (Hera), Water (Nestis) and Earth (Aidoneus) --one each semester.

The challenges of writing for this awesome little orchestra are that the members are at varying ability and their participation is largely volunteer.  … and yet in composing for this ensemble, it created a lot of joy for everyone involved.

My daughter is the flute player and had one of her friends send me a YouTube video of it (below) so I could hear it as soon as possible.  (The school  is sending me an archive copy).  It was truly satisfying to hear it … to hear the ensemble's success at realizing a piece written especially for them …

And now … Onward!  Fire, Air & Water await!

Baking Friends

This morning I made a batch of Lemon Pine Nut Biscotti … As I pulled out the little battered recipe book, I couldn’t help but think about my friend, Tony Day.  He gave me that biscotti recipe book years ago when I first moved to Rochester, and Lemon Pine Nut Biscotti was the first biscotti I ever tried to make.  It was a success, and over the years, biscotti became one of my favorite things to bake.

Tony died in the Fall of 2008, and I have missed him very much.  He was a wonderful person who had a way of making people feel successful. When I met him in 1996, he had retired from the Rochester Police Department.  In his retirement, he took on the job of looking after the neighborhood and everyone in it.   The neighborhood where I live was like his “Beat” and we all felt safe and cared for as he walked the street and talked with all of the neighbors.

I especially appreciate all the things he did to help me learn how to be a homeowner. He would often come to my house to help me because he enjoyed my creativity and wanted to help me realize my dreams of a beautiful home.  He seemed to intuitively know what I needed and helped me because he seemed to know that I would never ask anyone to help me.

He would do things like … bring me a better tool, give me unused building supplies he had in his stash or had scrounged up … or he would show me how to do something … like tiling, or changing a light fixture.   He would put me in touch with good repairmen and others who could help me get the work done if it was beyond his knowledge or expertise. 

So today, as I work in a new house, and I bake biscotti, I think of this wonderful man and how he touched and changed my life –and so many lives –in so many ways.  Thank you, Tony Day.  Thank you for helping me.  With every bite of my biscotti I thank you for showing me how to do things and for helping me succeed.  Most of all, thank you for being my friend.

Revisiting the Work

Last Wednesday, my friend Steven Daigle gave me three CD copies of MAYTIME by Sigmund Romberg.  The CD's mean a great deal to me because they contain the orchestrations that I created and re-constructed from a piano/vocal score for the Ohio Light Opera's 2005 Festival Season.  It was a cathartic experience to listen to the recording because I had not heard them since the opening performance in 2005.

As I listened, I was overwhelmed by what I actually accomplished eight years ago.  The way I remember it ... in 2005, Steve called and asked me if I could re-construct/create orchestrations from a piano/vocal score ... that it was an emergency.   He told me that the original Romberg scores no longer existed--that they had literally crumbled and the show was set to go into performances within about three weeks.  I told him I could try ... and spent the next two weeks reconstructing a score of a much larger show than I anticipated.

What AMAZED ME in my listening is that the orchestrations are very, very good.  AND  how much I LOVE TO ORCHESTRATE.

I realized too, how wonderful Time can be.  For in the reflection, I can see that I am a skilled orchestrator ... and an even more skilled composer today than I was then ...  I can acknowledge --without bragging --that have great skill because these CD's are evidence.  Time shows me that  I can look back with greater knowledge and acknowledge (and in this case applaud) something that I did ...

Artistic Journeys

This past weekend, I took the early train from Rochester, NY to New York City, and arrived around lunchtime.  The trip was easy and relaxing.  With the added bonus of wireless Internet on the train, it enabled me to review notes, read online scholarly articles, and make notes in books about Emily Dickinson.

The trip became an artistic journey in and of itself because my time was spent preparing for a project I have begun with the great actress/writer Sarah Dacey Charles.    When I arrived at Penn Station, I was prepared … and I could feel my joyful anticipation of working on the project combine with the pulse of the city. 

In any artistic endeavor, it is a marvelous experience to be in the same room with an artist you respect and admire because there is an almost palpable excitement in gathering talent and ideas together to create something meaningful.  Faith is at work because an understanding already exists before the meeting—the understanding that something magical may happen.   

Faith is present too when there is recognition of the extraordinary gifts of each other and what we each can contribute.   And … in this case … how could we ‘go wrong’ when respect for each other was/is present and the poems and letters of the extraordinary and enigmatic genius of Emily Dickinson were/are our source material?

The hours flew by, and through our work, next steps became clear:  We meet this week via Skype; we visit ‘The Homestead’ (Emily Dickinson’s home in Massachusetts) later this month, and Sarah attends the Emily Dickinson International Society conference in D.C. to hear lectures about Dickinson.  The gathering of knowledge about Emily Dickinson fuels our creative process.  And so, our artistic journey begins together. 

Experience has taught me that whenever next steps are identified, a new work can emerge.  Next steps empower the artist and make a project real because they reveal parts of an undiscovered path. 

They allow the artist to dwell in the possibilities.

Satisfying Moments

There is something so incredibly satisfying when I complete a composition project.   During a very long holding pattern with our show Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A Musical and its anticipated move forward into a UK production, I have taken this time as an opportunity to complete projects that have been in folders atop my piano ... a new Christmas Carol called "Noel" arranged for unison voices and then a more complex arrangement of it for SSA, and now another art song for my Garden Verses.  At the moment, I am also almost done with a new melody for the dark Advent hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel for SATB and flute.

As I complete each one, I realize what an astonishing thing it actually is for a composer to create something--especially since on paper, it still really lives in an abstract form  ... I am also astonished to recognize that as I bring every creation into this realm, I never really know if it will ever be sung, performed, or enjoyed.  And yet, I still create ...

This is why I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have been given to have my work heard.  Each time anything is performed, the work is given a chance to live ...

It is why today I am so extraordinarily grateful for all of the people who believe in me and the work that I do.

Encountering “Unexpected” Genius

Last night, I was supposed to meet a friend in Tacoma, Washington at The Grand Cinema to see the movie “42”.  However, plans changed unexpectedly as traffic was unkind and we were delayed.  Instead of being upset about missing the movie, and not waiting for the next showtime, we opted for the very next movie “whatever it was”.  At the time, we didn’t realize that the movie we were going to see would be “Caesar Must Die” (Cesare deve morire), that it was part of a film festival with only one showing at The Grand, and that it was an Italian film about a theater program where prisoners learned and performed Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. 

It was awesome!   … and I truly mean AWESOME.  Not only did we see the genius of Shakespeare’s play of Julius Caesar and his murder (in Italian and with English subtitles), but throughout the film, we witnessed the miracle of what theater does in our lives, whether through observation as audience or participation in the production process.  Based on a true story, it was clear that the men who portrayed Shakespeare’s iconic characters saw their lives reflected in the art.  They “got it”, and lives changed.

Theater has the power to bring us into community, into harmony and to understand ourselves.  This was never more evident in the story telling of this film … and I was never more uplifted than through this unexpected encounter with genius.  Serendipitous too, it was Shakespeare’s birthday!

Here is a review from the New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/caesar_must_die_taviani

If you have a chance, see it!!

Encouragement and Appreciation

Last week, I had the pleasure of returning to my alma mater, Wesleyan College, as a guest composer/playwright.  In celebration of a centennial year, the college collaborated with the Morning Music Club of Macon, Georgia to present a musical review of our show, "Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A Musical".

One of my responsibilities during the week was to give a speech before the opening performance.  I was delighted that after the show, I was asked to submit my speech to the Morning Music Club for their archives.  I called the speech,  "Encouragement and Appreciation" and share it with you now.

*****
It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight, and to celebrate with you the centennial year of the Morning Music Club.  It is an honor to be here.

Throughout an artist’s life, there are several things an artist must be given.  Two of the most important things are encouragement and appreciation.

About thirty years ago, the Morning Music Club encouraged me by presenting me with a scholarship … and tonight I am encouraged even more by the fact that you have included my work in this celebration.  The very act of producing my work, validates my artistic life and I feel appreciation.

It is amazing to me to think how I performed on this stage for the first time in 1983 for my Junior Recital.  Throughout my artistic life, I have always held great reverence for the stage and what a stage represents. 

Some of you who knew me when I was 18 know that my earliest dream was to be performing artist, a pianist, and … in the years that followed, my life as that performing artist dramatically transformed into who I am today, a composer, a playwright, and an artist educator.  I now have the joy of working professionally within three artistic disciplines: music, theater and the visual arts.

I marvel at how all the artistic disciplines are connected, how they inform each other, and what they teach me.

The visual artist uses tools and materials— paintbrushes, pencils, a blank canvas, clay, paint, etc.  Through her work, the artist transforms those materials into a work of art, and when she is finished with a piece, the work becomes tangible--something lasting.  The cycle of her creative process is complete when her work is displayed within a frame on a gallery wall or placed upon a pedestal. 

The act of displaying the work is remarkable because an audience viewing the work can visit and revisit the work again and again, judge it, criticize it, admire it, and decide whether or not to develop a relationship with that work of art through purchasing it or displaying it.

Within the other three artistic disciplines, this isn’t possible.  The work of the dance, music and theater remain within the minds and memories of its creator, the performer and within the mind of the audience.  The dancer dances, the musician plays an instrument, the thespian tells a story before our eyes.  For the creative artist, it is the live performance that completes the artistic process as a composer, a playwright and a choreographer..  While recordings and videotapes are possible, they are mere shadows of their work.

Like the visual artist, each of these three disciplines requires a platform or a place to display.  And, that platform is a stage.  This is why a stage is so important.  This is why the stage in Porter Auditorium means so much to me.

Tonight, you will have a window into my life as a composer/playwright through a musical review of  “Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A Musical” , which is a work I share in collaboration with Lindsay Warren Baker.

When Lindsay and I began writing the show in 2000, we wanted to create a show that we wanted to see.  Throughout its development, the show has seen several incarnations … productions, workshops, and staged readings.  We have researched, written and rewritten, cut songs, added songs, rewritten songs.  And today, we are under commercial option with producers in London who are working toward a West End production.

Throughout our process, Lindsay and I have generated and amassed lots of material.  In celebrating the centennial of the Morning Music Club, we prepared and created a production especially for  Wesleyan College and its Music Department.   (As a side note) We thought it serendipitous too that 2013 marks the 200^th’ anniversary of the publication of Austen’s novel … Pride and Prejudice.  So … The show you will see tonight is a musical review of our work.  It draws, from both current and earlier work—work that helped create the commercial show we have today. 

Many many thanks to Nadine and Ellen—all of the young women involved, and everyone who made tonight possible.

Making Things

This past week, I spent a few days at my sister's in Macon, Georgia.  She has two teenage daughters and I enjoy spending time with them because they both like to "do" things.  Margaret is especially interested in trying things and together we explored the art of making origami book marks out of her old french assignment papers.  After folding them, we then proceeded to decorate them using pencil, watercolors, and crayons.  Very simple art supplies ... and yet how fantastic they turned out!

What I loved most, however, was spending time with Margaret and learning about the kinds of books she enjoys reading.  What I realized is that the act of making something together created an activity not only for our own self-expression, but it also gave us a window into each other's lives and the things we like to read.  I plan to incorporate this activity into the YOGA-GIRL curriculum!

THE ALPHABET FLOWERS

One of the greatest gifts an artist is given is the vision and a capacity "to do" whatever comes to him/her.  This is especially noticeable as I work on a new (and unexpected) project I am calling "The Alphabet Flowers", which is a collection of 28 little poems to celebrate the love of flowers.  The poems encourage literacy and they are designed to create positive adult-child interactions as a child learns the alphabet.


Ordinarily, I work on music or plays or some aspect of educational psychology and the integration of the arts into our lives.  So, I was surprised when I had the inspiration to create poems about flowers--alphabetically, and that I feel so compelled to illustrate them using techniques I experimented with this past summer (crayon, watercolor, regular 8 1/2 x 11 office paper and gold craft paint.)


The poem paired with the illustration above is:

Bachelor Button petals are
raggedy and blue.
Plant seeds early in the spring
and they will bloom for you.


Since I am a composer/playwright, what the project is teaching me is that no matter what realm of art we work, we can be open to the possibility of expanding ourselves in all kinds of ways ... and when we do, we receive so much more joy by exploring that unknown.  For me, I am receiving the gift of "Delight" ... Creating the poetry was a delight!  Printing the poems and placing them into a working binder made the project real ... as did creating its community FaceBook page .  These tasks were a delightful process.  And now, for the next several evenings,  I will color the letter/flower designs and work to complete the pages ... preparing for whatever follows.

Click HERE for a link to a slide show

COMING SOON

Over the past two years as I have taken the required classes for a PhD in Educational Psychology, I have read numerous articles about the benefits of arts education and/or arts-based instruction.  These articles have been used to support the many discussions and directed the focus of my education onto the necessity of the arts in our lives.

Combing the databases, I find that there are many articles that provide needed evidence for those who advocate on behalf of arts in our schools.  Scientific evidence is necessary to those who make decisions and spend taxpayers' money.

Today as I completed one of my last coursework papers, I discussed arts education and public policy.  In the process of writing, I realized how important it is to let people know what the arts do beyond their aesthetics.  As  a result, over the next several months, I have decided to begin posting synopses of the articles I have read for those who are interested.  Hopefully this will provide valuable information for those who need evidence to support their arts programming and arts education  programs.

What will you do for your country? ...

Over the past two years, I have taken numerous psychology classes to meet PhD requirements for a degree in Educational Psychology.  Within every class, I have geared my discussion essays and responses to The Arts, and combed the databases for articles to support what I write. As a result, I have uncovered a plethora of studies that support the need for Arts in our lives and evidence of their untapped potential to help our world solve its problems. 

This past quarter, I took a class called "Topics in Adolescence and Childhood".  Each week, we were required to write essays that address problems in adolescence and childhood through Bronfenbrenner's theories and examine the policies and laws that impact our nation's children. Through this query, two things have become obvious to me:  (1) the government -- this entity as it is at this moment -- is unable to meet our nation's needs, and (2) we are the government.

In 1961, when John F. Kennedy spoke at his inaugural address, he challenged this country to find solutions for the nation's problems when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country" (Historic Documents, 2012).  He was right.  We must work to be part of a solution instead of perpetuating or complaining about the problems.  Also ... If we are the government, then we have the responsibility to make our nation a better place, and what better way than in the work of the artist.

When I think of creative solutions to some of the biggest problems in our country, and look to myself for answers to the question: What can "I" do?  I come up with many ideas.  However, two ideas that I am especially are research-based programs that are designed to address numerous issues related to children and adolescents.

The first is a lullaby program for mothers and their babies that will address attachment, postpartum depression, mother well-being, parental confidence and lay the foundation for language acquisition.  If you click on Learning to Lullaby, you will be able to read about a program I have been developing that could help so many young mothers.  It just needs to be implemented.  Who will work with me?

The other is a program to nurture tween girls, a population who are being rushed into maturity without ever really knowing who they are or who they want to be.  It's my most recent idea and I call the program "YOGA-GIRL: Playshops for the emerging tween goddess".  I envision it as a series of playful arts-based/yoga workshops that are research-based and designed to help young girls 'unplug', dream and explore who they are, and who they want to be.  I am launching this one over the summer.

In the process of bringing these programs to light and life, I will be a part of the government and I will be answering Kennedy's challenge ... but instead of asking my country "what" I can do, I'll be able to shout: Hey!!  Here's what I am doing to help ... Check it out!

References

Historic Documents.  (2012).  Ask not what your country can do for you.  Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/documents/ask-not.htm

IMPACT of LEGISLATION and POLICIES on ARTS EDUCATION

            Ever since the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) was signed into law, education became a hotbed of debate (ED.gov., n.d.).  This can be attested by the general outpouring of articles that defend NCLB, the public protests against the act’s weakness, the measuring of the effects the act has had on academic achievement, and/or the criticism of its inability to meet the educational needs of this nation. This has led to additional educational reform that keeps reform in the forefront of educational debate. 

It is ironic that in the process of the debate, the original good intention of the educational law is lost.   As attention is placed on the law’s inadequacy and the need for educational reform, the education of children and adolescents is diminished.  Ironically, children are left behind; the educational excellence that is held in esteem eludes the nation as policy makers and educators fight about how best to educate the child.  Nowhere is this more felt than in arts education.

            The way the laws are written, there is room for the arts to remain lost in the shuffle as states and their schools districts fight for educational funding and recognition for academic excellence in meeting standards.  When considering the structure and disbursement of Federal funding to arts education, Federal laws do not require states to include arts education, it only supports arts education by providing some funding.  Next, the states that voluntarily include arts education the school curriculum most often make their school districts responsible for implementing their arts programming. 

This leads to educational inconsistencies in arts instruction because everyone does not agree that arts education is essential, even though Federal law claims it supports the arts.  People are people, and when the people who make decisions for a school district are biased in their opinions about the worth of the arts, funding is not provided and/or programming is cut.  When school districts are ignorant to the overwhelming benefits of arts education, children and adolescents do not have arts education experiences. 

Organizations like the Arts Education Partnership (2012) provide a gateway to reliable and accurate information about the benefits of arts education.  ArtsEd Search (2012) acts as a clearinghouse of peer-reviewed articles, dissertations and other supporting reports that support arts education.  This site is free and easily accessed; it is a tremendous aid for arts advocates because findings from valid research can be amassed to support the need for arts education in schools. Yet even so, the inconsistencies remain because every school district has a different idea of what children should know and what students should learn, and decisions are made accordingly.  Bias plays a huge role in determining what is important and who will hear what arts advocates have to say.

What is ironic is that while research consistently provides evidence that arts education improves education and positively addresses almost every educational problem, school districts are either ignorant of this evidence or they ignore the overwhelming benefits.  When decisions are made to remove or reduce arts education to improve test scores, research shows that the decisions makers are going in the opposite direction of their educational goals.  With so much evidence showing that arts education help schools and students attain their educational goals, why isn’t there an increase in arts education?  When placed in this light, decision makers who remove arts education to make way for more math and more science appear a bit ridiculous because they become less effective in providing the highest quality of education to children and irresponsible with the taxpayer’s money.

For example, in a recent study in Switzerland about the impact of musical training on school performance (Wetter, Koerner, & Schwaninger, 2009), researchers found that elementary students who had continuous musical training from grades 3 to 6 had greater academic achievement than those who did not, even when considering socio-economic status of the participants.  In a quasi-experimental design with three groups, the musical training was tested against every subject, except physical education.  Across the four-year span of their investigations, they found evidence that children who maintain a steady diet of musical instruction experience higher achievement in every subject.

The arts are a powerful tool; evidence repeatedly shows that arts instruction helps children and adolescents achieve and often surpass the academic goals policymakers set.  When this power is ignored, the education system is using a metaphorical rowboat instead of a motorboat.  Right now, educators seem to be more concerned with reforming laws instead of providing an education.  If they are really serious about providing high quality education for every child, arts education should be embraced, expanded and explored.  Until this happens, the laws are only lip service.  

 What is the solution to making arts education important? Arts advocates either need to become part of the decision making body and make the changes themselves, or they must educate as many people as possible, unite with them, and make changes as a movement.  Otherwise, the arts will remain a core subject in name only.  If the artistic disciplines are to be true core subjects, their power must be unequivocally acknowledged and taken seriously.   

References 

Americans for the Arts. (2005).  No Subject Left Behind.  Retrieved from http://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/no_subject_left_behind.pdf

Arts Education Partnership.  (2012).  Retrieved from http://www.aep-arts.org/research-policy/state-policy-database/

ArtsEd Search.   (2012).  Retrieved from http://www.artsedsearch.org/

ED.gov.  (n.d.)  Elementary & secondary education: Subpart 15 –arts in education.  Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg80.html

ED.gov. (n.d.)  H.R. 1804 GOALS 2000: Educate america act.  Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/index.html

Wetter, O., Koerner, F., & Schwaninger, A. (2009). Does Musical Training Improve School Performance?. Instructional Science: An International Journal Of The Learning Sciences, 37(4), 365-374

 

Improving School Performance through Musical Training

 Does Musical Training Improve School Performance?  This was a research question posed by Wetter, Koerner & Schwaninger, and they published a report of their findings in Instructional Science: An International Journal Of The Learning Sciences (2009).  Yet, as a composer/playwright, and prior to my PhD coursework in Psychology, I had always thought the answer to this question was a resounding “YES!” because from what I have observed in the last thirty years of my life as an artist, it just seems like people who study the arts “know” more, or “think” more.  Yet, until scientific evidence is collected, The Arts in education have very little to stand on, and, in general, I find that education systems neither respect nor believe the voice of the artist.

During the last two years of my PhD coursework, I have focused my discussion posts around The Arts and how necessary and beneficial they are to human development.  For my most recent discussion post, I could not find an article with the right research methodology (multiple regression) that could contribute to a potential dissertation topic about lullabies, so I typed in multiple regression (the topic of the discussion) and music into the database search engine, and up popped a very interesting article that drew correlations between musical training and school performance (Wetter, Koerner  & Schwaninger, 2009). 

In a retrospective study, Wetter, Koerner & Schwaninger (2009) compared three groups of students (Grades 3 through 6): those who practiced music and those who did not, and those who participated in learning handicrafts.  They were careful to test all subjects (except sports) and took great care to consider socio-economic status (SES).  Using a multiple regression analysis, they found a positive correlation between continuous musical training and school performance, and that continuous musical training appears to help a student achieve and maintain high levels over time. 

Since the researchers were interested in the duration of musical training, they concentrated their study to participants from third through sixth grade.  They hypothesized that students who have studied longer would show greater strength than students who recently begin musical practice.  They present several sound options for the interpretation of their results by first offering the explanation that “there are no significant pre-existing or initial neural, cognitive, motor, or musical differences” (p. 371) between children before they choose to learn an instrument.  Secondly, they explain how more affluent parents can afford extra-curricular musical activities that enhance a child’s academic success, and third, they offer evidence that music activates cerebral regions of the brain involved in the processing of language.  By considering and addressing these elements in the design, the researchers were able to argue their points effectively.  The average scores reflected the advancement of student academic performance when paired with music instruction.

The article offers evidence to support reasons why we must keep and increase a child’s exposure to The Arts and encourage arts-based instruction in our classrooms.  If music and/or arts education is not provided to children, and especially to those in lower SES, where and when will these children have an opportunity to learn?   Won’t they be left behind? 

Based on this study, if musical instruction boosts academic performance as Wetter, Koerner & Schwaninger  (2009) suggest, then why is music the first to go when budgets are tight?  Wouldn’t tax dollars be better spent on arts instruction?  It certainly would seem be a more efficient (and responsible) approach.  So I challenge policy makers, parents and education administrators--everyone--with this question:  What would happen if our education systems made The Arts central in the design of its curriculum?  After all, isn’t one of the primary goals of education to increase academic achievement?  Without The Arts, it seems education will only be working ‘hard instead of smart’.

References

Wetter, O., Koerner, F., & Schwaninger, A. (2009). Does Musical Training Improve School Performance?. Instructional Science: An International Journal Of The Learning Sciences, 37(4), 365-374.

Why Music Should Remain in Schools: A Sixth Grader's Perspective

Tonight as I was rummaging through old papers, I ran across interesting samples of my daughter's school work.  In particular, I found a short essay she wrote in sixth grade that responded to the prompt: "Music should remain part of the school curriculum because ..." I remember the night she wrote that essay because she entered it into an on-line essay contest and she had to struggle to keep the number of words under 250.  I also remember thinking  that it was good.  Tonight, I was even more intrigued by what she had to say because she made very important points.  Here is what she wrote:

"Music should remain part of the school curriculum because it taps into a different part of the soul that academics cannot reach.  Sure, a person can be good at math, or have amazing vocabulary skills, but music is another language.  It is different from everything else taught, and learning music is not something easily tapped into as an adult.

Part of why it is important to keep music in the curriculum is that most people are not in an environment where they are encouraged to take part in musical activities.  In school, a person has a chance to explore it.

Learning to play an instrument is a "life skill" that may help them later on because it increases their knowledge about the world.  In addition, it gives them something  interesting to talk about.  Knowing how to play an instrument creates activities where someone can meet others who share the same passion, even creating life-long friends.

Music is a powerful tool that people use to get their thoughts and feelings across.  It is an important part of our lives. Without it, forms of communication, venting emotions, and spiritual awareness could not be accessed.

As a society, how can we neglect something that makes us feel better after doing it?  How could we ever hope to achieve high levels of music making without proper education?  Music must remain part of our curriculum if we want to be an educated and happy society."  --Elibba Dean

In Context ...

Today I made an impromptu visit to the Advanced Voice Class at Penfield High School after working with Lindsay earlier in a senior English class.  It was fantastic to see everyone and to hear the voice class perform again because (1) they are awesome, and (2) it has been a little over a week since I heard them give their stunning performance at the Women in Music Festival in the Main Hall at Eastman School of Music.   

During today’s visit, they were continuing to rehearse one of the songs from the cycle, “#18 Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” It is the beginning song in the cycle, and at the start of the class, they had some questions about the work itself.  How did we envision it?  What was the feeling?  What was the moment?  For a composer, these kinds of questions are the most powerful moments in the collaborative process because the work is “speaking” to the performers.  This is evident BECAUSE the work is being questioned. 

What this means for us as composers is that the performers are trying to “get inside our heads” in order to understand how we thought about the work as we composed the music.  By asking these kinds of questions, they are comparing their own experiences with ours to gain insight and understanding.  In the case of #18, I described an early April morning at the edge of 2008 Lilac Festival at Highland Park.  This beautiful walk Lindsay and I took four years ago was the inspirational moment that we drew upon, and what directly contributed to our creation of the music. 

For a performer, this is an exciting step in understanding “Truth in Beauty” because each Shakespeare sonnet --in and of itself-- is already a complete work even without the music.  Also, each sonnet could be interpreted or understood differently when music is not present.  However, with the additional layer of music and musical form, a sonnet is transformed, and each sonnet within the cycle is shaped and interpreted by the actual construction of the composition.  This is why clarification is needed and why composer/performer interaction is so valuable.  This sophisticated process is what ultimately helps a performer interpret the work. 

 “Truth in Beauty” is an ensemble experience for the Advanced Voice Class, and their process is creating a masterful experience.  They are thinking of the work from an individual perspective and then contributing this thinking to a collaborative experience.  This is what makes them advanced singers, and this is what makes their work as singers so extraordinary.  Their thoughtfulness is placing everything in context and taking their performances to high levels.  The result is that they are living the text and expressing the essence.  For Lindsay and me, it is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to work with such a talented director and intelligent singers and we are embracing the joy of every moment with them.