I wrote a score for piano and bass, but used no notation. I wrote a poem, which I gave to Andrew. Told him that I wouild start with a Gminor chord ( d bass)   I had a few changes in mind, but wanted the bass line to emerge as a melody.   To give it grounding, I had Andrew  invent melodic phrases utilizing the speech rhythms of the phrases..  I deliberately went for mostly long phrases.

We presented this at the premiere of  THE NEW RUCKUS , a composer’s group at Studio Z.  It was very successful.  The friendly audience thought we were reading from a musical score… I shared the poem with them LATER. It was an almost unanimous  agreement that sharing the poem ahead of time/passing out the poem to the audience would have cluttered and diverted attention from the music.   If you  would like to hear this, i can send it to you via high tail. just send me an e mail, or a message!

Come to the next NEW RUCKUS event.  It is exciting,supports the creators of new music, and IS FREE!

 

•the vines of the summer squash , withered, pale sickly green, finally done sprawling over the whole garden…

• Mornings of moody, thundering clouds, tinged red and orange, ready to rain…

•a riotious wind, gusting and greedily pulling yellowed leaves off of the trees…

• Humidity in each breathe, followed by a clear day of cold crisp air- a Haroldson apple crunching in your teeth…

•white-throated sparrow flitting in the verdant green bush outside my window, leaves ready to turn red and drop…

• my little white dog, on our afternoon walk, barking excitedly, wagging his tail as the smiling Hmong woman walks to her car…

•the wind full of leaves…

•hard sidewalks; crunchy acorns under your feet…

• an empty book of two thousand years of Chinese Poetry…

• They were going to go camping this week, but it’s too  damned wet and cold….

• time to dig manure into soil, worn out by tomatoes and zucchini…

•geese honkering overhead, then a couple dozen crows…

• the garden is over… is my life?