The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of the month, each issue of Letters from the Muse Room includes news and updates about my music, as well as something that has inspired me creatively over the past month.
Dear friends,
Wow… what to say? When I wrote the letter last month, I could not have imagined what life would be like a mere 30 days later.
I hope you and your loved ones are well and are finding ways to both survive and thrive as you #stayhome.
I am very blessed to have a job that I can continue to work from home (and I do not take this for granted!). I’ve brought home a second monitor, keyboard and mouse, and voila… the Muse Room is now also an office!
The piano trio, Always Be Clipping, is now posted on my website — with a full MIDI recording and a perusal score to boot! You can see it here: https://www.ajharbison.com/music/concert/always-be-clipping.
I am now starting work on a new choral piece, the second of three pieces I plan to complete in 2020. I love the emotional immediacy of choral music; there’s something about hearing other humans sing that goes straight to your heart.
The text of the piece is actually still being written. My brother, Mark Harbison, with whom I’ve collaborated before, is writing a poem called “Adventus.” It looks back to the first Advent, the birth of Jesus, and also looks forward with longing to the second Advent, Jesus’ second coming — a poetic expression of “already and not yet.”
My music for it will be primarily homophonic — meaning the whole chorus will be singing the same rhythm most of the time, like a hymn or a chant — and the musical style will be based off of this piece, In the Midst of Life by Gerald Kemner. I like how it’s based around a consonant but “ungrounded” chord, and each phrase begins and ends with that same chord.
More to come on “Adventus” next month!
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I shared this quote a year ago this month — Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, “Beauty will save the world.” As the world finds itself grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, the need for beauty seems more urgent than ever.
I’ve written before about how my employer, the Kansas City Symphony, has inspired me, and, well, they’re at it again. Due to the restrictions on gathering sizes, we’ve had to cancel at least 20 concerts, and there’s a good chance we’ll have to cancel the rest of our season as well (through the end of June). But our musicians have found a way to inspire those around them: by sharing performances on Facebook.
The Symphony’s principal flute, Mike Gordon, started it about three weeks ago by recording and sharing a video of him playing a piece he’s loved throughout his life. He encouraged other musicians in the Symphony to do the same, with the hashtag #KCSisStillMakingMusic.
That first video has been shared 185 times and viewed over 10,000 times, and since then more than 20 videos have been posted by members of the orchestra, sharing beauty at a time when we feel the need for it most. You can find them all by entering #KCSisStillMakingMusic in Facebook’s search box and then clicking on “Videos” along the top bar.
Here are some of my favorites:
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Mike playing a Bach cello suite on his flute
A socially distanced cello duet for St. Patrick’s Day
A gorgeous harp solo
A jazz tune arranged for seven tubas (!)
You do need a Facebook account to view the videos (it’s free to join if you don’t have one), but you don’t need to be friends with the musicians, as the videos are public.
I love what the musicians of our orchestra — as well as all kinds of musicians all over the world — are doing to help us all get through this pandemic together. Yes, it’s important to stay informed. But don’t focus on the headlines. Lean into the beauty.
Be well.
Peace,
AJ Harbison