After picking on Emily Dickinson, what can I offer as superior poetry?

After picking on Emily Dickinson in my blog post "The Declivity Factor™, I feel I should back up my snideness (hehe) by offering some poetry from more recent times which I feel is far more worthy of our respect. I am going to post three poems here that I have set to music recently that have some similarity to the Dickinson poem being mocked in my Declivity post (hey, please know that that post was all in fun- to me, everyone and everything is fair game for good clean fun and I include myself as a target).

The three poems I am going to post here all are somewhat similar to the Dickinson poem in that their theme is about release-- maybe release from the cares of the world, maybe about the release of death. etc. Obviously the Dickinson tells you upfront that the poem is about death- yet my poems are far more subtle in regard to the identity of their theme.

The first poem, set by me in a fairly romantic way for SSA/piano. Published by SBMP. Cat #831
(excellent recording posted at sbmp.com)

Lake Song, by Collete Inez

Every day our name is changed,
Say stones colliding into waves.
Go read our names on the shore,
Say waves colliding into stones.
Birds o'er water call their names
To each other again and again
To say where they are.
Where have you been, my small bird?
I know our names will change one day
To stones in a field of anemones and lavender
Before you reach the farthest wave,
Before our shadows disappear in a starry blur,
Call out your name to say where we are.



The second poem, set as the final movement of a four movement SATB/piano piece commission by The Festival Choir, the whole piece using the title Into this World (the other three movement texts are by Elinor Wylie, Robert Louis Stevenson, and an adaption of Rilke)

Into this World, by Natalie Goldberg

Let us die gracefully into this world
like a leaf pressed in stone
let us go quietly breathing our last breath
let the sun continue to revolve in its great golden dance
let us leave it be as it is
and not hold on
not even to the moon
tipped as it will be tonight


And finally , Laura Chester's [HUSH], set by me for SATB/cello/piano


HUSH, WAS WHISPERED, guard it. There is

nothing to be done now, listen. Nothing you

can do. First snow descends most silent. Falling

through worlds to be our covering, our rest,

putting us beside the wood stove, where

the copper pot sings for its supper, and the mouths

of the children breathe against the frozen

glass. There is nothing to accomplish, no

test. Just allow that flower to break

its sheath of ice, and warming, bloom in

brightness. No one has to take it.

Nothing to be said. Let it open--

toward the hills, the higher hills. Let it

be the song on which you rise, even as

the snow descends, and absence

animates the landscape, even at

this time of darkness—sing, for

tomorrow will amaze us, as the

constellation rides, and the moonlight

doubles in the heart of the beholder,

balancing the curving slopes of white.


What do all these texts have in common, other than the death or release theme? Well, they certainly don't rely on simple rhymes to create their art, like the Dickinson does. The meter is sophisticated and changes as the needs of the poet's ideas change during the course of the poem. They also each create an immediate world unto themselves, another mark of a great poem. Lake Song immediately creates the water world and the animals that inhabit it and the undertext which is the meaning on the fate/human condition level. Into this World likewise presents a world of us and our actions..."let us die... let us go, let the sun", etc. [HUSH] presents a family drama, seemingly with a subtext of its own, to be guessed at and uncovered by the reader.

Each poet crafts their own world of subtle interior or exterior action or meaning. But things are not spelled out for the reader--the reader has to work at their meanings, especially in HUSH. Additionally, the texts are humongous motherlodes of textual content, phrases rich in interior value and outward physical imagery, such as...

"I know our names will change one day
To stones in a field of anemones and lavender"


notice "our names" ie., our significance, also the (sad) contrast between stones and living anemones and lavender


"let us go quietly breathing our last breath
let the sun continue to revolve in its great golden dance"


notice the microcosmic personal "let us go" and then the macroscosmic "let the sun go"


"sing, for

tomorrow will amaze us, as the
constellation rides, and the moonlight
doubles in the heart of the beholder,
balancing the curving slopes of white."


This phrase just leaves me breathless. The complexity of the whole here is a logrhythmic multiple of its parts. To me, this phrase is one of the most beautiful poetic images I have ever read.

What composer would ever want to seek out pedestrian rhyming poetry and create kneejerk compositional responses to such material, when richness abounds in free verse poems such as the three poems I have shared here?

Finally, as you see in reading all three of these texts, there is no Declivity Factor™, not a single word that requires looking up. There is brilliant personal insight into the human condition without ever the need for fancy overreaching words.

I'm very thankful to have discover these three poems and these three wonderful authors, who have been very gracious toward me when I requested permission to set their texts to music. I hope you will be curious enough now to discover their work and learn more about them: Colette Inez, a survivor ad great artist; Natalie Goldberg.. a woman whose books on journalling inspire others to find their creative voice; and Laura Chester...a woman open and alive to the world.

The Declivity Factor ™

(Emily Dickinson- looking kind of Virgin of Guadalupe-ish)







Someone asked me- Paul, ole buddy, why have you not set any Emily Dickinson texts to music? And my answer is, 1) everyone else already has! 2) The Declivity Factor™. And, what is The Declivity Factor ™, you ask? Well, it is simply this-- I heard a piece by Gregg Smith (what a nice man) setting some Dickinson, and at some point, the word declivity was uttered or sung or something. And I stopped and said to myself, "Self, what the heck is that word?" And, truly it was unbeknownst to me. So, I then said to myself, "Self, you have studied at a university (or pretended to study) and yet you know not of this word. What is wrong with this cinemascope"?

And then it hit me- The Declivity Factor™! Which is--- no poem can be set effectively to music which has such ridiculous East Coast learn-ed words- it just doesn't work. Lest you think me wrong and uncouth, no less than the great choral composer Kirke Mechem has stated this as well- though far more "couthly". Mr. Mechem states (I paraphrase here) that choral settings of poems must utilize texts where the language is immediate, and that the big honking Oxford Dictionary 20 volume OE2 (comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages- retail price $995 , for sale at amazon.com today for $848.02) need not be at hand. Mechem goes on to state that immediacy, action, emotion, and imagery are the key elements necessary to a text's successful metamorphosis into a successful musical setting.

MY DREAM CAGE MATCH:
EAST COAST/LEFT COAST SMACKDOWN

Big word guy William F. Buckley (149-3-5)
motto: I'm smarter than you, na-na-na-boo-boo
VS.
Savvy composer guy Kirke Mechem (0-0-12)
motto: say what you mean, mean what you say





(Hey, I think Kirke is probably a lover, not a fighter;
but actually he has a chance to win, as he is still composing and Buckley is doing the opposite)

So, long story short, or maybe vicey-versa- I haven't set any Dickinson texts because they have some of these fancy words sprinkled here and there (plus, declivity just has no musical sound to it whatsoever, I don't know how to make that word musical). Additionally, so many of the Dickinson poems are short and quite sing-songy. Their rhythm/cadence is quite often far too simple-- while the subject matter they are connected to is often not simple at all- to me a very bad disconnect.

Which leads me to the following nail in the coffin: In addition The Declivity Factor™ (which I just trademarked a few minutes ago, in case you hadn't noticed)) there is The Yellow Rose of Texas Factor, popularized by humorist Roy Blount, Jr. Since so many Emily poems are in simple ballad meter with nice cushy rhymes, you can sing her poetry to ballads such as The Yellow Rose of Texas, or even the theme song from Gilligan's Island. These types of short lines/simple rhymes might make for somewhat passable beginning level children's choir music, but really, for serious music, the continual rhyming is actually detrimental. The reason being, that no really long musical lines can be established with any kind of sophistication--the simple rhymes keep popping their narcissistic heads up demanding attention. And if you do grant their wishes, your musical will usually be very choppy little four bar phrases. Furthermore, I think I am not alone in the belief that the
best poets couldn't care less if their poems don't rhyme. So, pardner, I think I will pass on the Dickinson oeuvre (I've never said or typed oeuvre before) for now, at least. Here is a poem cut and pasted for you right here, so that you yourself can try singin' it to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas":


BECAUSE I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility.
We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity. YEEHAW!

Btw, I am a big fan of Copland's solo settings of Heart, we will forget him, and Going to Heaven.


P.S. Dickinson lovers, bring on the hate mail if you want.

If you have read this far, poor soul, here is your final reward:

declivity

Noun

pl -ties a downward slope [Latin declivitas]

declivitous adj

Noun

1.

declivity - a downward slope or bend downslope, declination, declension, decline, fall, descent downhill - the downward slope of a hill incline, slope, side - an elevated geological formation; "he climbed the steep slope"; "the house was built on the side of a mountain" steep - a steep place (as on a hill)

One early use:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

to fetch a pail of water,

Jack fell down the declivity and broke his crown

and Jill came tumbling after.

(photo of Carl Sandburg)




This Saturday, April 25, 2009- premiere of a fun new piece called Prairie Songs (texts by Carl Sandburg) commissioned by the Hinsdale Chorale for their tenth anniversary. If you are in the Chicago area please come!

For more info- click:

http://www.hinsdalechorale.org/Spring_2009.htm

The WFMT/Chicago program announcer's audition

Here in waaaaay too cold Chicago (yes, spring and summer combined last from mid-May to about August 23rd) there is a great classical radio station, WFMT, which does warm our souls. Founded over fifty years ago, the station has never been tempted to become classical lite with a 5o tune playlist the way some classical stations in other cities have. Many of you around the country may actually listen to WFMT via cable or the internet. Besides the classical music, it also is the home of The Midnight Special, a Saturday evening program of traditional American folk music, which has been running ever since the station was founded.

I really don't think the station uses the following script anymore as an announcer audition (and not sure if it ever really was an audition script), but it has been preserved as a bit of fun on the station's website. Most people agree that this script was written by Mike Nichols (of Nichols and May fame, and later, of course, a very famous Broadway producer) when he worked at the station in his early 20's. See how you do on it yourself- maybe your next career is in radio!

(Elaine May & Mike Nichols--apparently propping up a sloshed water cooler friend of theirs)

Btw, this post drove my spellcheck crazy-hehe!

Announcer Audition

The WFMT announcer's lot is not a happy one. In addition to uttering the sibilant, mellifluous cadences of such cacophonous sounds as Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Carl Schuricht, Nicanor Zabaleta, Hans Knappertsbusch and the Hammerklavier Sonata, he must thread his vocal way through the complications of L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and other complicated nomenclature.

However, it must by no means be assumed that the ability to pronounce L'Orchestre de la Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris with fluidity and verve outweighs an ease, naturalness and friendliness of delivery when at the omnipresent microphone. For example, when delivering a diatribe concerning Claudia Muzio, Beniamino Gigli, Hetty Plumacher, Giacinto Prandelli, Hilde Rössel-Majdan and Lina Pagliughi, five out of six is good enough if the sixth one is mispronounced plausibly. Jessica Dragonette and Margaret Truman are taken for granted.

Poets, although not such a constant annoyance as polysyllabically named singers, creep in now and then. Of course Dylan Thomas and W.B. Yeats are no great worry. Composers occur almost incessantly, and they range all the way from Albeniz, Alfven and Auric through Wolf-Ferrari and Zeisl.

Let us reiterate that a warm, simple tone of voice is desirable, even when introducing the Bach Cantata "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis," or Monteverdi's opera "L'Incoronazione di Poppea."

Such then, is the warp and woof of an announcer's existence "in diesen heil'gen Hallen."

Floor, Wall, Wall, Ceiling (ad nauseum)

(Fritz Reiner, a mean old S.O.B.)




The conductors I like... are the ones who haven't robotically waved their arms *floor, wall, wall, ceiling* in such a long time-- that they, and no one else can recall them ever doing it.

The conductors I like... are the ones who understand that a downbeat (floor) can be a really strong, hardwood or cee-ment floor, or a cushy carpeted one, or just a wispy cloud that they are sort of floating on.

The conductors I like... are the ones who realize that each beat might just have a different personality, and that those personalities might change during a piece, maybe even a lot, piling up Sybil like!


(Sally Field, "you like us, you really like us")

The conductors I like... are the ones who know that "Wall #2 " (beat 3 in 4/4 time) is their opportunity to move things forward into the second half of the bar, and is also often an opportunity to use an outward expansion of their arms to expand the sound (here is one of the few decent reasons to mirror conduct), hopefully even LITERALLY expand their singers breath/muscular apparatus. Wow, "wall #2" can do a lot, especially with the breath in choral music (I have seen Joe Flummerfelt teach this in conducting masterclasses, though not using my funky terms here).

The conductors I like... know that they can learn new approaches to rhythm from other styles of music; for instance, jazz ( think Count Basie at his swingiest, or a bazillion other jazz artists). "Ceiling beat" (beat 4 in 4/4 ) isn't the goldarned end of the measure- it's the sweet beat that propels on through to the next beat one. This is one of many reasons why jazz is so swankily rhythmic. For instance, classical musicians are often stuck in this square mindframe: 1234/1234/1234/1234 with the barline being an unfortunate wall.
Jazz is more like this: 1234-->1234-->1. If you are a beat number in a jazz tune, being first doesn't matter-- it's more important to figure out what you do with your beat value in relationship to the beats around you. What a difference... a kind of "it takes a village" thing!

The conductors I like... own metronomes that, luckily for us, broke twenty years ago and haven't been replaced.

The conductors I like... let the rhythms breathe (and breath in rhythm with their singers)-- let them out of the box of the "tyranny of the barline". They are dancers, not dictators; painters, not pothole patchers. They like their choirs, and their choirs like them. They invite you into a beautiful soundworld, not glare you into the naughty corner if you don't revere their power. An S.O.B. like Fritz Reiner could bully orchestras into brilliance, yet you can't successfully bully a choir- the psyche of the individual voice and the collective soul of a good choir is too fragile for that (in my opinion).

The conductors I like... are the ones who are sublime to watch and listen to, or whose choir are sublime to listen to with eyes closed.

The conductors I like... smile (and make me smile). In fact, I can easily sense, even with their back to me, that they are smiling and having fun with their choir.

Therefore Aesop and Confucius say: The next time you catch yourself doing a whole bunch of square, robotic *floor, wall, wall, ceiling* conducting (or a lot of mirror conducting for no valid reason) let go of the tension you were burdened with from your classical music conservatory training. Loosen up, pretend you are Sonny Rollins or Danilo Perez-- and let the music's natural rhythms flow. It's okay, really!

Highly recommended- Univ. of Michigan Summer Choral Conducting Symposium

(photo of Jerry Blackstone)

This is a great summer symposium with grad credit available. A couple friends of mine have attended this symposium in the past and loved it. If you are not familiar with the university choral world in Michigan- I have to tell you that things there are great. In fact, I go up to Michigan for their ACDA events as much or more than attending Illinois events (sort of sad, but true). Each of these four instructors is unique from the other, a big strong point.
Pearl Shangkuan does not teach at U of Michigan during the year- her home is the excellent program at Calvin College where she also works with my fiend Joel Navarro.

Oooh... and they're working on one of my favorite pieces- Rejoice in the Lamb by Britten.

University of Michigan Choral Conducting Symposium

DATE:

July 6 - July 10, 2009

INSTRUCTORS:

Jerry Blackstone, Paul Rardin, Pearl Shangkuan & Julie Skadsem

(photo of Paul Rardin)

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Conducting Masterclasses

Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Score Study Sessions

Reading Sessions

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

This workshop is devoted to the enhancement of beautiful and communicative choral singing. To that end we will discuss conducting and rehearsal techniques appropriate for a wide range of choral ensembles. Students will conduct in class and be videotaped to aid in the evaluation of their work. Reading sessions of new repertoire will take place daily as well as practical opportunities for workshop participants.

(photo of Julie Skadsem)

ADMISSIONS:

Workshops may be taken for graduate credit (NCFD), Continuing Education Units (CEU), or for personal enrichment without college credit.

GRADUATE CREDIT:

CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS:

This workshop has been approved by the Michigan Department of Education for SB-CEU.

Total Number of SB-CEU: 2.8

APPLICATION:

Personal enrichment and CEU participants complete the application below.

Application deadline - June 15, 2009

(photo of Pearl Shangkuan)

Online Application

Or print and mail: 2009 Choral Conducting Application

Mail all materials to:

Summer Programs Office

School of Music, Theatre & Dance
2005 Baits Drive Rm. 220

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI 48109

FEES:

Non-refundable Application Fee - $25 (not included in the workshop fee)

Workshop Fee - $450

SB-CEU Fee: $ 25 (optional)

CONTACT:

For more information about Summer Workshops, please contact Regina Ferguson, Program Coordinator.

Email: rcferg@umich.edu

Phone: (734) 764-5429

Fax: (734) 647-6916

RELATED LINKS:

Jerry Blackstone

Paul Rardin

Pearl Shangkuan

Julie Skadsem

Choral Conducting Program

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

You will be responsible for providing the following materials:

Mozart: Coronation Mass (Kyrie and Gloria)

Available for downloading for study purposes:

http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/nmapub_srch.php?l=2

Handel: Messiah (Movements 1, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-26067-4 (Edited by Alfred Mann)

Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb

Boosey & Hawkes, #48008987 (ISMN M-060-01512-0)

In addition, please bring the following supplies:

◦ VHS videocassette tape
◦ baton
◦ colored pencils

DAILY SCHEDULE:

(Tentative schedule)

9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Conducting Masterclass

Topics include:
◦ score study techniques
◦ rehearsal strategies
◦ building tone
◦ effective use of warmup
◦ repertoire resources

1:30-3:30 p.m.

Conducting Masterclass and Reading Sessions

3:30-7:00 p.m.

Monday-Thursday - Enjoy Ann Arbor!

7:00-8:30 p.m.

Monday - Summer Sings - community-wide sing through of major choral work with

soloists and piano; Jerry Blackstone, conductor

Tuesday-Thursday - Workshop Chorus Rehearsal led by faculty and workshop participants

with 50-60 voice choir

CORPORATE SPONSORS:

Musical Resources of Toledo, OH

"'Tis but my URL name that is my enemy"

Courtesy of independentsources.com


The top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs


Attn: Entrepreneurs
Everyone knows that if you are going to operate a business in today’s world you need a domain name. It is advisable to look at the domain name selected as other see it and not just as you think it looks. Failure to do this may result in situations such as the following (legitimate) companies who deal in everyday humdrum products and services but clearly didn’t give their domain names enough consideration:

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
www.powergenitalia.com

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
www.ipanywhere.com

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is
www.cummingfirst.com

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website:
www.speedofart.com

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
www.gotahoe.com

Morning Person, a dizzying dazzling poem by Vassar Miller

Here is a wonderfully creative poem by Vassar Miller which I set recently for SATB/piano four hands. It is newly published by Roger Dean, cat # 15/2599R. It was premiered in October 2008 by the White Heron Chorale, directed by Rick Bjella, and a second performance by The Festival Singers, Madison, WI, in February 2009, conducted by yours truly.


MORNING PERSON

God, best at making in the morning, tossed
stars and planets, singing and dancing, rolled
Saturn’s rings spinning and humming, twirled the earth
so hard it coughed and spat the moon up, brilliant
bubble floating around it for good, stretched holy
hands till birds in nervous sparks flew forth from
them and beasts---lizards, big and little, apes,
lions, elephants, dogs and cats cavorting,
tumbling over themselves, dizzy with joy when
God made us in the morning too, both man
and woman, leaving Adam no time for
sleep so nimbly was Eve bouncing out of
his side till as night came everything and
everybody, growing tired, declined, sat
down in one long descended Hallelujah.


I discovered this poem in Garrison Keillor's collection Good Poems (I have set 3-4 poems already that I found in this great compilation). I knew nothing about Vassar Miler when I read this poem, but I certainly recognized a text just itching to be set to music! There is so much energy, so much imagery, that it immediately jumped out at me from off the page. So after gaining permission to set from the copyright holder (I'll blog about that later, it's an interesting story) I decided I would join the crew of composers who have tried to paint the Creation (hello, Papa Haydn). Of course, this text is so fresh and creative, most of the heavy lifting has already been done by the poet. I just needed to find an entry point. something to get started with. I felt that once started, this would be one of those pieces "that writes themselves". The germinal idea did come to me, a sort of a blur of primordial electrons spinning in the piano four hands part in a John Adams-ish sort of way (think Short Ride in a Fast Machine). Why piano four hands? So that we can create lots of jangly busy noise, of course, when things really start cooking!

After the "Adams-ish" oddly metered (usually 4/4 + 1/8, just to throw things off kilter) piano part sets the stage, the choir enters, in some slightly Randall Thompson-ish shifting parallel, and/or contrary motion figures. Things stay energetic for a long time, and at times there are even some suggestions of Stephen Sondheim's more advanced harmonic structures and shifts, usually controlled through the very busy piano/four hands part. Yes, I think it's okay to borrow, even more okay to give credit to where the influences come from (let's see, I have already mentioned three- but they sure aren't a shabby three).

I wanted to create some variety in my setting, so I decided to slow the pace down temporarily (and then go back to musical ideas from the beginning, thus creating a big ABA form). To do this, I decided that after all these mentions of critters cavorting and the general dizziness of creation, I would set apart the mention of the creation of Adam and Eve- humanity. It's hard to for anyone to deny that we are special creatures, and therefore it seemed natural to set us apart from the beginning Allegro. So the piece slows way down, and thought the text doesn't talk about it, my harmonies and slight dissonance in this slower section are a hint of the Fall from grace. The music is purposely a cappella here so that only the human voice is speaking about the first humans. Additionally, the harmonies of this ensuing subplot to the creation story are just a bit churchlike in fashion (far less extended harmony 7th, 9th, and 11ths than the outer sections). But I don't linger to long on this subplot, as I want one more Allegro ride!

To finish, I would have hoped to write a fast and loud ending, as I am trying to write more of those these days- there are just too many contemporary choral pieces in the slow, doleful touchy-feely mode- don't you agree? However, Miller's text pretty much forbade this- as she (and therefore I must follow) lays all of creation to rest for the evening. I'm still happy with the ending, especially the big pile of stretti choral entrances (my college counterpoint teacher, Ben Johnston, would be proud I think) right before the coda.

In conclusion, I loved the energy of this poem and truly enjoyed enhancing it musically. Singers seem to love it, as it gives them a chance to really sing out and tell Vassar Miller's great, dizzying story.

FYI, here are the program notes that were used for the Madison, WI performance:

The music for this setting of Vassar Miller’s poem begins with the swirling of tiny particles in the vastness of space (represented by the piano introduction) as Miller’s “Morning Person” awakens to create the universe, according to the poet – in one day, not six. The enthusiasm in the choir for each new creation is dizzying, and only slows down to reflect upon God’s creation of man and woman—the music here is more subdued, a somewhat melancholy hint at the Fall and banishment from Eden. The music then speeds up again and reaches one more grand climax before every newly created life rests for the evening- whew! Vassar Miller (1924- 1998), wrote her poetry on a special constructed typewriter due to the cerebral palsy which affected her speech and movement. Her poems, most of which dealt with either her strong religious faith or her experiences as a person with a disability, were widely praised for their rigorous formality, clarity, and emotional impact. In 1961 Miller was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her collection Wage War on Silence. An outspoken advocate for the rights and dignity of the handicapped, Miller was not only a poet of extraordinary talent, she was a woman whose indomitable spirit enabled her to overcome her significant physical limitations.

Morning Person

Published by Roger Dean Publishing Company
Catalog # 15/2599R

SATB/piano four hands

Spiritual (non-denominational) text in English
Difficulty rating (1-5): 4
Duration: 4:30

Complete perusal score available from Roger Dean or contact www.paulcarey440.net

A wild fun ride as God creates the universe, with an exhilarating text by Vassar Miller,
premiered October 2008 by Rick Bjella's White Heron Chorale.

---

"A poet confessing to mental illness is like a weight-lifter admitting to muscles"--Roddy Lumsden

I found this very interesting musing on one man's creative process, and thought I would share it with you. What might seem at first to be an unconventional type of creative process is probably far more common (with individual variations of course) than we think.

(Roddy Lumsden)

Mis-shapes and gaudy details – the process of writing poetry

The eating habits of snakes, a short-cut, moths and coca-cola – words and images which lodged in Roddy Lumsden’s head. Here he describes how they ended up as poems.

Last summer I was walking near Piccadilly Circus when I found myself taking a rather neat shortcut of the type visitors to London wouldn’t risk. I felt mildly smug; I had been living in London for over three years and now here I was, at last, enough of a Londoner to be jinking through alleys and back-streets to get to my destination more quickly. I had acquired The Knowledge. I ticked myself off – zipping through a shortcut is hardly worth an Olympic medal. Yet, I knew right away that I should ‘write’ about it and, sure enough, fifteen minutes later, there was the poem, in my head, exactly as it was published six months later.

The Shortcut
On a summerday like this, you pay
for the delicious pleasure
of finding and taking a shortcut:

someone’s little finger
will turn up in the heap
in the Used Tickets canister;

there will be the five wild faces
of the Matriani sisters
in the bay window of the bedlam;

news will reach you
of the death of a horse
you once rode across a burning field.

I have placed ‘write’ in inverted commas since, as with quite a few of my poems, there is no writing involved; I typed it up when I got home, but by that time, I had already chewed over the details (which body part should be unexplainably severed, which odd surname to give the mad sisters) and made all the changes I needed. It only has one sentence of twelve short lines and just sixty-six words; it won’t change the world or appear in anthologies fifty years after my death, but I like it – I think short poems get a bad deal and poems which try to change the world are mostly embarrassing. It’s a typical example of a poem I write now and then, a short lyrical piece consisting of an idea, set down using some potent images.

The poem’s meaning, or message, in as much as it has one, is that our small pleasures might be balanced by small tragedies elsewhere, an age-old idea which has crept into my work (and into some recent yogurt adverts!) a few times. The poem works as a sort of ‘alternative definition’ for the word shortcut. There is no strict form, yet it’s not as shapeless as it may seem – note the run of near rhymes (pleasure, finger, canister, sisters) which act as a small ladder to hold the poem up. As well as choosing particular words while composing the poem, I found myself repeating it over and over to get the flow, the melody right; for me, it has a certain speed and rhythm which is important to it. I’m one of those writers who feels that the page only ever holds a written approximation of what a poem really is – a spoken piece – as poems were for centuries before a literary tradition developed and captured them in print.

Poets split broadly into two halves in the way they write – some are like composers, with phrases and rhythms whirling in their heads, while others, scribbling ideas down with a pencil, are more like sculptors, bashing away at a lump of raw material until it takes shape. A friend told me recently that he had made over one hundred draft versions of a sonnet, probably spending the equivalent of three full days of his life getting fourteen lines just right. Who is to say that his twenty second draft wasn’t the right one? I couldn’t work that way: it creates different, but not necessarily better poems. Secretly, poets like me worry that another fifty drafts might make our poem perfect; poets like my friend are concerned that too much reworking ruins the initial inspiration.

I feel that life’s surfaces, mis-shapes and gaudy details deserve their mentions too. I do write of love, death, faith, science, but some heavy subjects, the ‘big safe themes’ as they have been called by detractors, are better handled by those more convinced than me that these are poetry’s core subjects (and more convinced that addressing history might earn them a place in history). So I have stepped aside and written of ventriloquism, barmaids, nudists, the belly, wedding dresses, cola and moths.

Oh, and also the eating habits of snakes. The poem ‘My Reptilian Existence’ is part of a long sequence I wrote about that old chestnut of a theme, myself. My first two books, Yeah Yeah Yeah and The Book of Love contained many poems written in the first person, but that person was rarely me. The sequence Roddy Lumsden is Dead looks at parts of my life which I find difficult to deal with, especially problems with love, happiness and mental illness in both my recent and distant past. These are not original themes (as I comment in the book, ‘a poet confessing to mental illness is like a weight-lifter admitting to muscles’), but I have balanced the more serious poems with unusual and humorous ones.

In 2000, I was living in Stoke Newington in London, an area full of Turkish restaurants and, sadly for my waistline, I had acquired a bit of a kebab habit. I was tending to eat one huge meal in the mid-afternoon and nothing else all day, which is very bad for you. It’s also how a snake feeds! A poet I know had recently translated a French poem by Baudelaire about a snake which is full of rich images, and I probably had this in mind. Like ‘The Shortcut’, this poem has strong rhythms and some rhyming (and notice the click-track of words with strong ‘k’ sounds), but there is no strict form. I wrote the poem straight onto my computer screen, made a few drafts and may well have changed one or two words on the advice of friends (many good poems are given a gloss by others).

My Reptilian Existence
I feed just once a day, a swollen package
of cheap meat, cold veg, salty bread

and pungent sauces. I idle on the floor,
unable to move and consider my fate.

I taste the air on Manor Road for syrup pudding,
jailbait, bin-fires, crack-laced Thai chicken.

I’d like to skulk along the railway track,
picking for kickshaws and tidbits

in the summerday greenery. You poets
can call me lazy, lazy all you like.

Why don’t you hook my Scotch mouth
over your tumbler and milk me for my venom?

I wanted the piece to be short and, being about food, laziness and snakes, driven by unusual language, and so I chose swollen, syrup, skulk, kickshaws (meaning ‘trinkets’), greenery, tumbler, venom, all of which are rich and pungent words. The mention of crack, incidentally, comes from a local fried chicken shop having such an addictive batter recipe that locals say it contains cocaine! This rather strange little poem is, I hope, both serious and humorous at the same time, a trick which we Scottish and Irish poets are supposed to value much more than English or American ones.

As with many poems, there is a slight twist towards the end – here it involves addressing the readers directly, and as ‘poets’. The repetition of ‘lazy’ works as a sound effect adding both a wink of humour and emphasis. The image of the snake’s forked tongue has been used by myself and other poets to symbolise dual identity, two languages, as in Scots versus English. One of the themes of the sequence is moving between Scotland and England and how that shift of identity mirrors the shift between self and deluded self, real person and ghost, being in love and being alone.

A poem’s ‘subject matter’ may seem its most likely starting point, but it seldom is. Most poets will talk of a ‘seed’, an odd phrase which enters the head, or an image they encounter or imagine. I keep a little hardback notebook in which I enter the ‘seeds’ I don’t yet know where to sow. Here are some random entries I have made in the past few years: fox fire, all of the above, rubies, canned laughter, Inca music, hotel rooms in the 1970s, London Scottish. Some of these may still find their way into poems, others will remain moments of inspiration which fade till I no longer understand them. Did I really plan to write poems about dung on snow, Tom of Finland or Jesus’ wrists? And remind me, what do peculium and bezoars mean again?

Roddy Lumsden’s second collection The Book of Love was a Poetry Book Society Choice. ‘The Shortcut’ and ‘My Reptilian Existence’ are taken from his most recent collection, Roddy Lumsden is Dead (Wrecking Ball Press, 2001).

This article first appeared in emagazine 18, December 2002

Composer to head Seraphic Fire's Miami Choral Project

Shawn Crouch, a composer, conductor and educator, will bring a love of music to needy children as part of an innovative Miami Choral Project that he hopes to expand across the nation.

Shawn Crouch, 28, (center) listens to rehearsal of his music. He was commissioned to write a a piece on the bombing of Hiroshima. Crouch wrote "Requium for Hiroshima" which premiers at the Church of the Epiphany by the choral group Seraphic Fire.

RAUL RUBIERA / FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

• Photo

BY JESSICA KIRCHNER

Special to The Miami Herald

Shawn Crouch wants to bring the magic of music to needy youngsters as the newly appointed foundation director of Seraphic Fire's Miami Choral Project.

He knows its power: Crouch has been playing, experimenting and studying music since he was 5. His seven brothers and sisters play instruments, too.

''I have made it a mission that young people know the importance and power of music,'' said Crouch, who has been a composer, conductor and educator at New York's Hunter College Campus School.

The newly started Miami Choral Project is funded by a $684,500 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It is a tuition-free program that creates a ''little league-type'' network of choral ensembles for children in low-income areas in Miami-Dade.

''This program is the first of its kind in America and one of the most important music education initiatives ever undertaken,'' Crouch said.

And Patrick Dupre Quigley, Seraphic Fire's artistic director, said Crouch was best suited to lead the effort. ''When we conceived this project, I knew that the only person I'd want to have at the helm would be Shawn Crouch,'' Quigley said.

``I have worked closely with Shawn on numerous projects for almost a decade now and I know firsthand his dedication to both his students and to classical music in general.''

The project, scheduled to launch in August 2010, is still in its preliminary stages.

Crouch, however, knows exactly what he wants to achieve.

''We want to better low-income communities through participation in choral singing,'' Crouch said. ``Children who sing together are taught important life skills: how to listen to one another, how to work as a team and how to strive for their personal best, adding their voice for the benefit of the choir as a whole.

``We will nurture these life skills through music and help foster them outside of rehearsal into the child's community.''

The grant funding the choral project is part of the Knights Arts Challenge, a five-year, $40 million initiative to transform South Florida arts.

''The arts have the power to bring a diverse community together, like few other things,'' said Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation Miami interim program director. ``This project, under Shawn Crouch's leadership, will unite young Miami-Dade residents and build a love for the arts and friendships across communities.''

The choral project is starting in Miami, but Crouch wants to expand it across the United States.

''It would get kids involved with singing across the country,'' Crouch said. ``Choirs would come together for regional choral festivals. What a wonderful idea, bettering the world through music.''

This isn't the first choral project that Crouch has taken on.

Crouch increased Hunter's concert choir from 20 to 80 singers and started a chamber choir and a men's and women's ensemble.

He said he focused on helping students ``hear the pitches inside their heads and sing them.''

''We have toured throughout Europe and are now recognized as one of the finest high school choirs in New York City,'' said Crouch, who holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and the Yale School of Music.

He plans on moving to Miami in late August and is already anticipating the rewards of starting the choral project.

''As an educator, I love watching students light up when they learn about and perform music,'' he said.