Musings of a Composer

On July 3rd I had the amazing experience of playing 4 of my Name Music compositions solo on violin (with one duet with my niece Emily), for two outdoor memorial services for two uncles, and aunt, and a cousin, all of whom passed away during the pandemic. It was a magical day in the Catskills of connections from the past strengthened, new connections forged, a new future envisioned. One service was in the middle of the day, held in a wooded glade above the pond my uncle Guido created, by the side of the house he designed. Three were gone from that family -- Gi's wife Liz, and their son Mike, had passed away as well as Guido. In The compositions "Guido" and "Liz" I was evoking their very different characters, and even the way Guido walked in his later years. Liz was full of a Russian folk passion, and featured the oodles of kindness and gentleness that was her hallmark. For Mike I wrote a funky vocal line and a pizzicato, imitation guitar line for the violin, and ...

 One of the side effects of releasing an album a couple of weeks ago from our 2002 Live At Annabel Taylor Chapel concert, is the resurgence of my memories of the early Water Bear experience — both in how we recorded in the studio, what our rehearsals were like, our gigs, and the magical things that happened. Even though the early Name Music pieces I wrote were in fiddle tune form — AABB, and most often in 6/8 or 3/4 time, I wanted the pieces to be like jazz also, and like the Mahavishnu Orchestra as well, if possible!  So I liked the idea of trying to create the conditions for all possible magic to occur, without specifying exactly WHAT magic, WHEN. How about if we were to improvise the arrangement, and have the “rule” that for any of the sections each of us to could choose whether to play or not, and if playing, whether we played the chords, the melody, the harmony, or improvised over the chords? And what if we agreed that we would stay with our choice through that section, a...

 On Mother’s Day I gave a short house concert for 3 listeners, in our living room (where I usually compose, play, notate, etc.) — and it was very fun. Bear wanted to honor Helen with me playing her piece for her, and she invited a friend to come as well. I was focused in that way I remember from years ago on all of the setup, like seating, and where would I play, and what feels comfortable. All so that I could feel supported and free to express, and the audience would be supported and free to listen deeply. And it all worked well! The event lasted about 45 minutes, with maybe 25-30 minutes of playing, and I got to talk about how I compose, and I even made up a piece for the other guest based on his last name to illustrate how the process works, and lo and behold a reasonable piece was coming out of my fingers. I was in the flow! Afterwards I was still elevated from the experience, and very happy that it turned out so well, and that I was able to speak easily and manage my reactions...