The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Monday of the month, each issue of Letters from the Muse Room will include news and updates about my music, as well as something that has inspired me creatively over the past month.
Dear friends,
Volume 2 of Letters from the Muse Room! See, I’m already keeping my promise of writing more. :) Thanks for sticking around, or, if you’re new, thanks for joining!
I hope you’re staying warm; here in Kansas City we had frost on the inside of our windows this past week:
I thought I’d give you just a short update on the music I’m composing right now. I haven’t had a lot of time lately to compose (mostly because I haven’t had a lot of time lately to sleep, thanks to our baby who is still not sleeping through the night), but when I do have time, here’s what I’ve been working on:
- panicpanicpanic — this is the piece I mentioned last month, for speaking chorus. The “music” so far consists of the sound effect “Kshhhhhhh,” inhaling, exhaling, and the words “panic” and “NO.” Exciting stuff. I’ll share more about this next month, maybe with an audio clip.
- Heat Death — this is an orchestral piece I started a little while back. The idea is that the piece describes the past, present and future of the universe, not as science but as a story. It begins with the whole orchestra gradually joining in a single note, explodes with the Big Bang, continues expanding and eventually dies out to nothing. (P.S. The “Heat Death” scenario of the end of the universe makes for fascinating reading. At least to me.)
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For this month’s inspiration, I want to shine a brief spotlight on my employer, the Kansas City Symphony. I’ve worked for the Symphony for a little over two years now, on the administrative side, and I’ve had the chance to attend lots of their concerts. Two in particular over the last month have been inspiring to me. The first one was a Classical Series concert, which had four pieces on it:
- Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin Suite
- Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1
- Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ The White Peacock
- Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite
All four of them were composed or revised in 1919. The four of them together on one concert was a really intriguing look at the crazy variety in concert music at that time.
The second concert I went to was a little different:
My wife and I went to see the Symphony perform the score to the original “Star Wars” movie live as they showed the film on the big screen in the concert hall, and it was so much fun. It gave me new appreciation for John Williams’ landmark score, and also made me think about where the music was placed, and what parts of the movie didn’t have music. The next time you’re watching a movie, try paying attention not only to where music is, but also where music isn’t, and why.
The Symphony did a fantastic job on both concerts, showcasing how versatile and talented the musicians are. If you have an orchestra where you live, I encourage you to support it. Even if you’re not a classical music fan, there may be more to your orchestra than you think!
Thanks again for reading. Here’s hoping for a heat wave over the next few weeks….
Peace,
AJ Harbison