All County Chorus Resounds

The students of the Volusia County (FL) High School All-County Chorus sang a wonderful concert Saturday that included my I AM IN NEED OF MUSIC and CANTATE DOMINO with brass, along with Mozart, Whitacre and Robert Ray.  They were well-prepared, engaged in rehearsal and a joy to conduct.  Bravo to them and their teachers!

Brunner Fest!

I was honored to hear my colleagues in Orange County perform ten of my pieces in concert in the last two days.  Yesterday Matthew Swope and Joseph Kemper at Winter Park High School presented I AM IN NEED OF MUSIC, THIS WE KNOW, IF I COULD FLY, WINTER CHANGES, ALL I WAS DOING WAS BREATHING, and the men's version of YO LE CANTO TODO EL DIA. Tonight Lori Lovell, choral director at Maitland Middle School, performed FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, HOLD FAST YOUR DREAMS, GRACE, and the treble YO LE CANTO. Some old, some new -- one I've not heard before and one from long ago -- all beautifully prepared and sung.  Thanks to all of you for wonderful performances!

Weekend at Westminster

I was at Westminster Choir College over the weekend where I presented at the New Jersey ACDA Fall Reading Session.  110 choral directors and college students participated in a day-long event which also featured Lynnel Jenkins, Amanda Quist and Tom Shelton.  While at Westminster I met with a large group of music education majors as part of Al Holcomb's Friday afternoon class.  It was great to be with old friends and enjoy the beginning of autumn in this beautiful area of Princeton and surrounding small towns.  Just before leaving Sunday, we loaded up on just-picked apples at Terhune Orchards on the first weekend of their Fall Harvest Festival weekends. Back now to Orlando in the 90's...

The World is Full of Poetry

Just home from a month of hiking, biking, canoeing, and eating our way through Maine with the three dogs -- a fantastic time split between Southwest Harbor and Acadia national park, Portland (our house near Cape Elizabeth and the Portland Head Light, just blocks away from Willard Beach, Scratch Bakery, and that homemade ice cream place), and the woods of ski-area Bethel, near the white mountains of New Hampshire. The entire trip was full of fantastic food (lobster, blueberry ice cream, whoopie pies -- yes -- but also excellent Thai at Boda, noodles at Pai Men Miyake, pizza at Otto's and Micucci's Italian grocery, breads from Standard Bakery, pour-overs from Tandem coffee, the incomparable Fore Street, and an outdoor farm-to-table dinner at Jordan Farm), beautiful scenery (forest, rocks, mountains, lakes), and 70 degree temperatures -- a welcome change from Florida this time of year.  Though I heard no live musical performances, the entire trip was full of musical and poetic moments -- particularly along the rocky coastline of Acadia and further north (or "downeast") Schoodic point.  The rhythm of waves against the rocks and the sounds of the same water, seagulls, buouy bells, and foghorns is unmatched and somehow resonates deep inside me.  I can't get close enough to it and, at every opportunity, have to touch the rocks, be on them and surrounded by them.  In a similar -- but much different way -- the silence of wooded paths, the rustle of leaves, the presence of my footsteps equally moves me.  I was reminded continually of James Percival Gates' words "The world is full of poetry" (used in my Earthsongs) and felt ease and comfort and grace and gratitude.

New Treble Versions of Old Favorites

Boosey & Hawkes has requested new treble versions of two best-selling pieces:  VIVA LA MUSICA! and I AM IN NEED OF MUSIC.  Both are finished, at the publisher and should be out this year.  Viva La Musica (Long Live Music) rings brightly in this new voicing and will work well for emerging, as well as experienced choirs.  I Am In Need Of Music is a setting of Elizabeth Bishop's exquisite words that have resonated with so many choirs and audiences in the mixed chorus setting.  "I am in need of music that would flow over my fretful, feeling fingertips..."