Talk about a glorious housewarming party! Indian Trails High School in Kenosha dedicated its gorgeous, brand new auditorium with a festive concert that involved the school’s chamber choir, wind ensemble, and concert orchestra. It may have been miserable outside, thanks to drenching rains and 40 mph winds (with gusts up to 55) – but inside that beautiful new performance hall, life could not have been any better.
I was there because I was commissioned to compose a new piece of music for the occasion – and choral director John Choi was quite insistent that the piece needed to be a big, splashy showpiece for all of the school’s top musical ensembles, plus its spectacular new 9-foot Fazioli concert grand piano. This was a bit intimidating for me because I tend to write more modest kinds of pieces, and never in my life had I written anything that would involve such massive forces. I also had echoing in my head a plethora of “Isn’t Music Great?” / “Join Hands & Sing a Happy Song” sorts of pieces that all seemed like regurgitations of the same song over and over again. . . and really hoped to write a piece that would say something a little more meaningful. But wow, that’s certainly easier said than done. I struggled with this challenge intermittently all summer long, and every idea that came to mind seemed tired and pedestrian, the musical equivalent of reheating leftover hamburger helper. (Now there’s a pleasant thought!) It was not until the very end of the summer that I posed to myself the question of why music matters beyond it being fun or educational. And it was while pondering that question that the spark of inspiration finally took hold. And here’s the text I finally was able to write:
What a wonderful room! What a beautiful stage!
We can hardly wait to raise the curtain and turn the page!
Think of the marvelous harmonies. . .
Think of the stirring soliloquies
that we will share – that will fill the empty, awaiting air.
It is when we sing – it is when we dance –
when we finally learn to leap and take a chance –
it is when we dare – it is when we strive
that We Are Most Alive.
In the fanfares we play – in the poetry we say –
in the deepest sort of feelings that we convey –
It is when we dare to reach across the dark
to touch another soul
that we are most alive and completely whole.
I was enormously relieved to finally have some ideas down on paper, and even gladder when I sat down to play the piece for John Choi and Ken Wiele (the band guy at Indian Trails) and had their hearty assurance that the piece would work. But I was in some potential trouble because when I had approached my colleague and friend James Ripley back in the spring about doing the instrumentation, I promised to have something to him midsummer, when life is relatively easy for the typical college professor. Instead, I first handed Jim music during the first weekend of the new school year- talk about atrocious timing- and would not have blamed him a bit if he had said “Sorry” and left me high and dry. But Jim could not have been more gracious and understanding – got right to work – and in no time had produced an orchestration that was nothing less than brilliant, remaining true to what I had written while also perfectly reflecting the skill level of the young instrumentalists who would be playing it. That’s part of the rub- writing something that will be simple enough to be doable while also being challenging enough to be a worthwhile undertaking for all concerned. The final acid test, as far as I was concerned, came the day I went to Indian Trails and played and sang the piece for the choir, who seemed to like the piece… and we were off!
What was scary is that life’s craziness kept me from having any role whatsoever in the musical preparations after that- so I was entrusting this composition in the capable hands of Ken and John and orchestra conductor Keith Robinson to get it all put together. When we gathered together in the Indian Trails auditorium Tuesday afternoon for a rehearsal with most of the musicians, it was my very first chance to hear what they had done. And lo and behold, they had learned the work really well and remained true to my intentions. And although there was certainly some sense of uneasiness in putting all of these elements together, we all walked away pretty certain that we were not headed off of a cliff — and that became especially certain at Tuesday night’s dress rehearsal. In fact, that rehearsal was great fun for me except for the moment when I said that I was hearing wrong notes from several brass players – requested that they sit out those couple of measures – and then insisted that the brass players were still playing the measures in question. It turns out that the wrong notes I was hearing were being played by the vibraphone right next to me! Arrrrrgh! I’ve never claimed to know much at all about the intricacies of instrumental music or instrumentation, but I would have thought I knew the difference between a french horn and a vibraphone. I’m always grateful for the many ways in which life has a way of plunking a dunce cap on our head just as we’re preparing for our own coronation.
Anyway, there was no dunce cap for anybody last night. The entire concert was so nicely performed- and I also very much appreciated the fact that it was not an overly lengthy evening. (I suppose it couldn’t have been since it’s so early in the school year.) There were remarks both from the Indian Trails principal as well as Kenosha Unified’s superintendent. And the grand finale of the evening was my piece, which I was asked to introduce to the audience. Most of that moment is a blur except for my first remarks, in which I acknowledged how jealous a lot of us are of this splendid facility -and my final remarks, in which I dedicated the piece to music teachers, saying something about how it has never been tougher to be a music teacher, and never more important. I’d even intended to slip in a little slap at the TV show Glee by saying something to the effect that despite what a show like Glee would have us believe, great music performances do not happen as if by magic…. and music teachers certainly play a far more vital role than that of cheerleaders and spectators to their own students’ successes. Great music making is begotten by hard work, and nobody works harder in all that than music teachers. I was ready to say all that- but then as I looked out at that audience, I realized that there were probably Glee fans out there – and very likely some Glee fans on that stage, about to perform my composition, and I didn’t want the air clouded with my little editorial aside. So for once, I held my tongue- and I’m glad …. because everyone on that stage already knew as well as I did what the producers of Glee evidently do not – that music is hard work, and worth every ounce of the effort it demands, and those who give their heart and soul over to it are forever changed and better people. I hope that’s what I managed to say that in “Most Alive.”
pictured above: The chamber choir and some of the instrumentalists performing “Most Alive” last night under John Choi’s very able baton. By the way, during both the Tuesday morning and evening rehearsals, I was so very appreciative of Ken Wiele’s unfailingly positive way of addressing the myriad little questions, concerns and problems that came up – scurrying in and around the instrumentalists to answer questions, make corrections, – and even explaining to me the difference between a french horn and vibraphone without making me feel like a complete idiot. Now that’s a gift!