This morning while walking the dog
two squirrels on the garage roof. One jumps
and lands the most ungracefully into a puddle of rain
in the alley.
October is the time which precedes the month of dread for troutsongs. Last week, troutsongs killed off the tomatoes, the incessant squash, the remnants of the beans. And sure enough, on Tuesday was the first frost. Kind of late for the north country. Trout fishing is over in local streams- a few lakes have stocked trout, but the time for wild trout is over- they must breed and hunker down.

Here are three things.
THE NOBEL CONCERT. It was a total good time ( and honor) to be part of this experience. Michael and Bonnie Jorgensen are especially gifted interpreters of modern music. Setting three poems for them was a fantastic experience. Troutsongs challenged himself to write a ” legit” piano part,( looking into the river) which had rhythmic complexity, and still supported the vocal line, and the meaning of the text. ” State of the Art” had hilarity and puzzlement: great fun to use bass trombone with baritone voice. ” Tomorrow will be today” was especially meaningful to me, in that I had begun to set my late friend Artuto’s poem years ago, but did not have the right voice to sing it. The song was meant for a tenor, ( high baritone) but not a strict classical, nor a”loose” jazz” style… Michael nailed the feeling exactly, and I am filled with appreciation on the understanding of this text he brought.
In addition, there were 7 other Minnesota composers on the program: Timothy Berry, Stepehn Paulus, Libby Larsen, Stev Heitzig, Dominic Argento, Hiram Titus, and Jocelyn Hagen. We had a fantastic turn-out- I looked behind me and saw hundreds of people- not just academics, but normal, real people.

Troutsongs is looking forward for more opportunities to compose for singers. There is one main stipulation. I need to know, or get to know the singer.
In the next post, I am going to tell you about the wonders of Tony Hymas, Ursus Minor, Desdamona Rox, playing with a new cello player, and…. this and that.

Go roll in some leaves.