The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other month (though not this time), 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 two months.
Dear friends,
Happy September! It’s been a long ten months since the last Letter from the Muse Room. But it’s not because the Muse Room has been silent! I’m writing today because I have two new projects to share with you.
First, most of my year thus far has been taken up with writing a new piece for full orchestra. It was commissioned by Kirt Mosier, the music director of the Lee’s Summit Symphony. Kirt commissioned three other composers, as well as himself, to each write a piece for the Lee’s Summit Symphony titled The Haunted Pavilion. (The Symphony plays at the Pavilion at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit, and the concert’s in October, so… you get the idea.)
[The Pavilion at John Knox Village.]
I had a blast writing my version of The Haunted Pavilion; it’s a spooky and fun piece that features ominous glissandi (slides) and a sinuous waltz melody that unwinds over a slow version of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice melody in the bass. Listen to a MIDI clip of the first two minutes of the piece here: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/thehauntedpavilionopening.mp3.
But MIDI can never do the real thing justice — so if you’re in the Kansas City area at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, come to the Pavilion and hear my piece (and three other pieces with the same title)! Just click this button for tickets:
I hope to see you there!
[The first page of The Haunted Pavilion score.]
The second project I’ve been working on (after finishing The Haunted Pavilion) is a reworking of an old project. Nine years ago, my brother, my sister-in-law at the time and I wrote a musical.
[Two brothers excitedly gesturing to a sign advertising the musical they wrote.]
If we were to take another picture today like this one, I would probably be wearing a hat and he probably would not be.
My brother wrote the script, my sister-in-law wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music. It was an enormous project and I had a short time in which to write a whole lotta music — 28 songs, plus underscore and orchestration. I recorded rough vocal demos of all the songs, but because I was pressed for time, they were very rough vocal demos.
I recently was listening back through those vocal demos, and remembering how much I’d liked the music I’d written, and thinking that the one run of performances the show had nine years ago wasn’t enough for how good the material was (the script is REALLY good and the concept is brilliant — ask me about it sometime).
So, I have decided to go back and arrange some of the songs for piano, and lower them (because the role of Saul/Paul is for a tenor, and I am not a tenor), and record them, so I have good recordings and not just very rough vocal demos.
[The opening line of music for the song “The Law and the Prophets.”]
My goal is to finish the composing/arranging by the end of September, and finish the recording by the end of October (and then do a little mixing and mastering after that). So hopefully in two months or so I will have some good recordings of these songs to share with you!
—-
A book that has inspired me over the past several months was one I wasn’t necessarily expecting to agree with, due to its provocative title — Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music by Martha Bayles.
[The cover of Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music by Martha Bayles.]
But I was pleasantly surprised by the book’s incredibly astute evaluation of the popular music of the 20th century. Martha Bayles is extremely insightful and incisive in her observations and analyses, and also has some very funny wry commentary. It’s a long book, and some of the subject matter (dealing as it does with “perverse modernism” in art) is not for the faint of heart, but it’s well worth the read.
Thanks for reading through this newsletter! I hope to see some of you at the concert on October 12, and I hope to have some new music to share with all of you in November!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other month (though not this time), 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 two months.
Dear friends,
My news and inspiration for this month were one and the same: playing my first pop music show in a very long time at PorchFest on October 14!
[Me playing guitar and singing on a porch!] It was a chilly day, but more people showed up than I expected, and I had a blast performing. It was great to finally share the five new songs with the world. Here was the setlist:[My PorchFest setlist!]
A friend with high-quality cameras showed up and took some great pictures:
[Me singing at PorchFest.]
[Me singing at PorchFest, with the back of my daughter’s head in the foreground.]
[Me singing at PorchFest, with my Fender Acoustasonic amp in the foreground.]
My other piece of news is that I plan to record and release an EP, hopefully next year, featuring the five new songs. The EP will be called After The Flash, and this will be the tracklist:
Who I Am Part 2
Earthquake
Paradise Lost
Love After The Flash
Ocean Eyes
I look forward to sharing more about the EP in the months to come. In the meantime, though, my friend also recorded a few video clips, including clips of two of the new songs. Check them out at the YouTube links below!
“Too Far” clip (from Songs From My Shelf): https://youtu.be/VGksE3LeMhc
“Paradise Lost” clip: https://youtu.be/-Dq9zrqi2TU
“Ocean Eyes” clip: https://youtu.be/1jEpoGoeTkQ
(These links are unlisted for now, to give you all the first sneak peek, but if you’d like to share them with a friend please feel free!)
[Me singing passionately at PorchFest.]
—-
If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook over the past two months, you know that I’ve also been inspired by the Indigo Girls:
[The Indigo Girls album Retrospective.]
And this book by composer Dale Trumbore:
[The cover of Staying Composed by Dale Trumbore.]
And this quote by composer Ben Johnston:
[Quote from composer Ben Johnston.]
And this lovely view of Shirley Bush Helzberg Symphony House (where I work) at sunset!
[Shirley Bush Helzberg Symphony House, the headquarters of the Kansas City Symphony.]
Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful holiday season, and I will see you in the New Year!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
Welcome to fall! (I know it doesn’t officially start until September 23, but, kids are back in school, PSLs are back at Starbucks, leaves are starting to blow off the trees… c’mon, it’s basically fall.)
I have two announcements in this Letter, one about concert music and one about pop music.
In the concert-music realm, I’ve recently joined Scorefolio, an online service that creates score videos, and I’ve done two so far. The first was a short piano prelude called “To The Nines” (because it’s based around ninth chords). The second one is my flute duet A Long Weight of Silence, a reflection and meditation on the pandemic through the lens of the six stages of grief. If you’re interested, you can watch the score videos on Scorefolio here or on YouTube here.
[A screenshot of score videos on YouTube.]
In the pop-music realm, I wrote last time about how seeing Matchbox 20 in concert had inspired me to do some pop music songwriting again. I’m happy to report that I’ve done just that. I’m planning a five-song EP, and I have four of the five songs written (and have started on the fifth). One of the songs I performed once (MAYBE twice), in California, 10 or more years ago; the other four songs are brand new and never-before-heard. I’m excited to share more with you soon.
[A pencil with some lyrics for “Who I Am Part 2.”]The first song is called “Who I Am Part 2.”
But in the meantime, I’m very excited to announce something I haven’t been able to announce in years: If you’re in Kansas City in October, YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO COME AND HEAR ME PLAY MY POP MUSIC LIVE, FOR FREE. That’s right, I’ll be performing at PorchFestKC this year.
This is an awesome local festival that takes place in the Valentine/Roanoke midtown area; homeowners volunteer to host musicians on their porches, and people can come to see a particular artist or just stroll down the street and stop at whatever porch sounds like their kind of jam. I did this back in 2016 (wow, that was a long time ago) and it was super fun.
[AJ performing at PorchFestKC in 2016, with his three-year-old daughter next to him.]A cute blonde came and crashed the party. :)
The festival is Saturday, October 14, and I’ll be performing on a porch near 39th and Broadway at noon. I’ll be debuting the new songs as well as playing others from Songs From My Shelf and maybe a cover or two. I’ll send more information and reminders as we get closer. I would love to see you there!
[The official graphic for PorchFestKC 2023.]
—-
I’ve recently been inspired by a book with a provocative title: Real Artists Don’t Starve, by Jeff Goins.
[The cover of Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins.]
As often happens with me, I bought this book a while ago but never got around to reading it until now. And it’s had a lot of really good things to say. Its goal is to expose the “starving artist” archetype as a myth and show creatives how they can instead be “thriving artists” who make money from their art, connect with their audience and have a real impact.
If you’re an artist, a creative of any stripe or even an entrepreneur, I’d highly recommend it. Jeff Goins also has a Substack you can subscribe to where he writes about writing, life, creativity and the lessons he’s learned from them all.
Thanks for reading. If you’ve made it this far, I want to let you know that I really appreciate it, and I truly hope that these newsletters bring a little spark of joy and inspiration to you. Until next time, I hope you find some small (or some big) ways to thrive.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other month (though it’s late this 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 two months.
Dear friends,
I hope you are all enjoying your summer! It’s hard to believe July is almost over.
Speaking of which, this Letter is late — this isn’t the first Friday of the month. That’s because we took a family road trip to Chicago the first week of July; read more (and see some pictures of really tall buildings) below.
[The Harbison family in Chicago with skyscrapers in the background.]
I don’t have much music news to share this time; with the vacation and being between projects at the moment, I’ve mostly been doing some composition study and some melody and harmony exercises (as I mentioned in my radio interview on Classical KC). But I do have something to share with you!
I wrote last year about the Olympus Choirs Elements sound library, and how I wanted to share a before-and-after comparison of how it sounded for my piece Seal Lullaby. But I had deleted the before version in my excitement about the after. Well, a little while ago I redid another of my choral compositions, Adventus, with the Olympus library, and I did save the before version of that. So you can hear some before-and-after comparisons at this link!
[The opening system of the Adventus score.]
‑‑‑‑
I was certainly inspired by our trip to Chicago. There’s something about having to crane your neck all the way back to see up to the top of something that inspires a sense of grandeur and even awe.
[Looking up the steep side of a skyscraper in Chicago.]
We took the architecture boat tour and it was filled with beautiful buildings and fascinating history. Everything from older, ornate buildings:
[An older, ornate skyscraper in Chicago.]
to futuristic buildings (the way the future was envisioned in the 1960s):
[The Marina City Towers in Chicago.]
to a building designed to look like a bottle of champagne, built at the height of Prohibition:
[The Carbide and Carbon Building in Chicago.]
to the world’s tallest building designed by a woman architect:
[The St. Regis in Chicago.]
We also went to the Skydeck at Willis Tower, and spent two minutes in a glass box sticking out from the side of the building 1,353 feet above the ground.
[The Harbison family seemingly suspended in midair.]
On the way back we stopped at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, where we took in the beauty of natural creation after a week of the beauty of human creation.
[Wildcat Canyon in Starved Rock State Park.]
This canyon is 125 feet deep, and it was very quiet at the bottom. It was a magical spot.
These two places didn’t inspire anything directly, though they certainly “filled the well.” My other inspiration did, however.
[Matchbox Twenty performing at the Starlight Theater.]
Two weeks before our trip, I saw Matchbox Twenty perform live at Starlight Theater in Kansas City.
[Rob Thomas on a video board at the concert looking half crazed.]
I’ve loved Matchbox Twenty for more than 20 years now, but it was my first time getting to see them live. It was a fantastic show and I had so much fun.
But it also inspired me to do some pop music songwriting and recording again. If you’re interested in my pop music and you want to hear some new stuff — stay tuned.
[Matchbox Twenty performing.]
I hope you find inspiration in creations this summer — human, natural, musical, and otherwise. I’ll see you in September!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
I have one word that characterizes my Letter this month: gratitude.
It’s been a thrill and a privilege and I am fantastically grateful to have had two fantastic performances in the past two months.
[Program page from the Symphony’s Wild Adventure concert.] Look Ma, I’m in the program!Performance No. 1: The Kansas City Symphony performed Chameleons on their March 12 Family Series concert in partnership with the Kansas City Zoo.
Ever since deciding I wanted to be a composer, I’ve dreamed of having an orchestra perform a piece that I wrote, and thanks to the KC Symphony I realized that dream.
I got to introduce the piece at the concert and the orchestra of course performed wonderfully. Very grateful!
[Me introducing Chameleons in Helzberg Hall!]Performance No. 2: This was a different performance than I was expecting. newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble was slated to perform the live, in-person, two-flute premiere of A Long Weight of Silence in their concerts last weekend, but their flutist got sick at the last minute.
[Sascha Groschang performing Shapeshifter!]Graciously, Sascha, newEar’s cellist, stepped in to play the world premiere of Shapeshifter, the piece I wrote for her that we were hoping to premiere sometime later this year.
I’m very grateful to newEar for programming my music in the first place, and very grateful to Sascha for learning a hard piece a month or two ago and performing it at these concerts with just a few days’ notice. She did a terrific job and it was wonderful to hear the piece come to life. And the rest of the music was great too!
[Sascha and me after the Sunday afternoon concert.] [Composers and performers at the newEar concert.] All the composers and performers from the newEar concert!—-
These two performances were certainly inspiring to me this month, and I hope if you were able to attend one that the music was inspiring to you too.
I do have one other piece of inspiration for you as well. I recently discovered the music of Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian guitar virtuoso. I’ve really enjoyed his music because it’s virtuosic without being showy, and most of his songs are genuinely, sincerely, infectiously happy.
My favorite song of his is “Halfway Home.” The opening lick never fails to get stuck in my mind, in the best way, and I end up whistling it for the rest of the day. The album version of the song is on YouTube too but here’s a live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkKcd51QCiE&ab_channel=TommyEmmanuel.
[Tommy Emmanuel performing his song “Halfway Home.”]I hope you find joy and inspiration in music this month. Till next time!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
I have a short and sweet Letter for you this month. My big news is I have two exciting performances of my music coming up!
Performance No. 1: The Kansas City Symphony is helping me realize a dream I’ve had since I was a kid: having a piece I composed performed by a full orchestra!!
I wrote about this piece a year ago, and now it is finally being launched out into the world. It’s called Chameleons and it’s being performed on the Symphony’s Family concert on Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m. in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I’ll be talking about the piece a bit at the concert and it’ll be a lot of fun (the whole show is about animals and is being presented in partnership with the Kansas City Zoo). Here’s the ticket link: https://tickets.kcsymphony.org/wildadventure. I would love to see you there!
Performance No. 2: newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is going to be presenting the world premiere live performance of my flute duet A Long Weight of Silence!
I composed it for Kansas City Symphony Principal Flute Michael Gordon, and he created an amazing video that was the world premiere of the “one flute in isolation” version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSgIUjob6sE&ab_channel=MichaelGordon
newEar will be performing the world premiere of the “two flutes together” version in their concerts at the end of April. Two performances to choose from! Saturday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m. or Sunday, April 30 at 4:00 p.m. at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. I’ll be at both performances and I would love to see you there too! Here is the ticket link (you can choose your preferred date and time on this page): https://newear.ticketbud.com.
—-
Two musical videos were inspiring to me over the past two months. I wrote last time about the cello piece I’m working on, and in the research process for that piece I came across two really unique string performers.
The first video featured a double bassist, Florentin Ginot, demonstrating how to play harmonics* pizzicato** on the bass. And using nonstandard tunings for his bass strings he gets some really cool sounds. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2RHu3buSh4&ab_channel=EnsembleMusikfabrik.
* ethereal-sounding notes you can create using physics and math on a string
** plucking the strings instead of using a bow
(Unfortunately I found this doesn’t really work on the cello — it doesn’t have the same resonance as the bass and this technique sounds too clunky — so I won’t be using it in my piece. But if I ever write a solo double bass piece this is definitely going to be a feature.)
I discovered the second video while researching double- and triple-stops — playing two or three strings at a time instead of just one. And I found that there’s an incredible cellist named Frances-Marie Uitti who plays with not one bow but two — one above the strings (as usual) and one below the strings — so that she can actually bow all four strings at the same time. And if you thought the double bass harmonics were cool, just wait till you hear what this sounds like: https://vimeo.com/38649952%C2%A0 (she picks up the second bow around the 7:00 mark).
I have to say one more time that I would love to see you at one or both of the performances coming up if you’re in the Kansas City area. I’m really stoked about both of them. I hope to see you there!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful and refreshing holiday season and you’re excited to jump into 2023. After a week with family between Christmas and New Year’s, I am taking this week to set my goals for the year — and set up my new Moleskine planner.
[An old Moleskine planner and a new Moleskine planner.]
Out with the old, in with the new!
I wrote last year about how goal-setting is always inspiring to me, so I won’t write about that again, but I will say that I have a goal to make 52 pitches of my music to performers and organizations in 2023. If you are a performer and you’d like to help me meet this goal by receiving a pitch, just let me know! :)
[A meme about pitches. Using baseball. Very clever.]
As I wrote about last time, my next project is a solo cello piece called Shapeshifter. I’m writing this for a new friend and I hope to be able to share a recording of it with you in the March 3 Letter.
[The opening of Shapeshifter.]
Guess I need to change that composition date to 2023…
I didn’t finish the piece by December 31, but I am currently working on revising it and then I’ll finish it up with input from the cellist.
The piece is a theme and variations, of a sort.
On a recent playthrough of Super Mario World on my Super Nintendo Classic, I was struck by the fact that the music for each of the different kinds of levels was basically the same music, in a different disguise.
You can hear all the music from the game in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgUmFPnkoHU&ab_channel=MusicGamesOnly (the theme listed as “Overworld” is the one that’s reused over and over).
[The original box art for Super Mario World.]
So the idea of Shapeshifter is to present an original theme in different disguises, with added twists of sudden shifts in pitch, rhythm, playing technique, etc.
Here’s a MIDI version of the intro (shown above in the score clip) and the theme: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/shapeshifteropening.mp3.
More next time!
—-
There were three things that inspired me over the last two months. The first thing was losing myself in choral music. I ride the bus to work every day, and amid the stress of December and the noise of a bus in the city, I would turn on the noise cancelation on my headphones and play some ethereal choral Christmas music. It was a nice way to relax for a few moments and be transported to a very different place than where I was.
[Chanticleer’s Sing We Christmas album.]
One of the ethereal choral Christmas albums I listened to.
The second thing was an article in the New York Times about humpback whale songs and how they’re constructed and how they’re passed literally around the world. A glimpse into the musical culture of humpback whales. Really really fascinating. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/science/humpback-whale-songs-cultural-evolution.html
[A humpback whale breaching.]
And finally, I’ve written before about how I’m a big fan of Dessa. I recently listened to an interview with her that made me even more of a fan.
[Dessa sitting on a couch.]
What really struck me was a comment she made about time. I’ve always said that (in an oversimplified way) the visual arts exist in space but not in time, while music exists in time but not in space.
She says something similar but looks at it from a different angle. She talks about the difference between lyrics and poetry, and who, in each case, is controlling time. Really cool.
I think (since I’m a fan, you know) the whole interview is worth listening to, but the discussion about time starts at 3:06. Listen to it here: https://www.wypr.org/show/midday/2022-11-16/dessa-on-her-music-her-writing-and-her-unique-performance-art
[Screenshot of the audio interview with Dessa.]
I hope these things bring a little spark to the start of your 2023. See you next time.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
One of my favorite things is checking items off a list. I’m one of those people who will write something I’ve already done onto a list, just to cross it off.
[A fully crossed-off list.]
This picture makes me happy.
I got to cross something off a big list last week — I finished my rewrite of TheSpaceBetween!
[The end of TheSpaceBetween.]
I am hopeful that I may get to hear a live performance of the piece soon, but in the meantime, I’ve put the full MIDI recording up on the piece’s page on my website, where you can also look at a perusal score, read the program notes and even buy it. Check it out here: https://www.ajharbison.com/music/concert/thespacebetween.
My next project is a solo cello piece that will hopefully see several performances in and around Kansas City early next year. My goal is to finish it by December 31, so I’ll have more to share on it in my next Letter on January 6. Till then!
[A file titled “Shapeshifter” on my computer.]
—-
There were several things that inspired me over the past two months. I could have written about how the Kansas City Current professional women’s soccer team went from joining the league in 2021 and finishing in last place to playing in the championship game this year…
[The Kansas City Current logo.]
…or how I finished a really, REALLY long book…
[The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky.]
…but instead, I’m going to write about these guys:
[The Dirty Loops.]
I was introduced by a friend of mine at the Symphony to the Dirty Loops, a band I can best describe as “maximalist jazz-pop fusion.” All three of them (lead vocals/keyboards, bass, drums) are truly amazing musicians, and their music manages to be both astonishingly sophisticated and incredibly fun.
[Henrik Linder, bass player for the Dirty Loops.]
The bass player’s bass has seven — count ’em, seven — strings. A typical bass has four. I’m telling you, they’re maximalist.
They first made a name for themselves for doing covers, and their covers tend to show up their sophistication. One of my favorites is their cover of Avicii’s song “Wake Me Up.” The original song — catchy and fun, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_KJAg8bHI&ab_channel=AviciiOfficialVEVO.
The Dirty Loops’ version? An elevation of the original, with way more complexity, crazy jazz changes and a brash key change (just for the outro) that’s one of my favorite harmonic changes in any kind of music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sYj4wxyk0&ab_channel=DirtyLoopsVEVO.
[From the Dirty Loops’ “Wake Me Up” video.]
Another great cover of theirs is of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” Just listen to the insane chord changes under the chorus (and, you know, the straight-up jazz piano solo in the middle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sYj4wxyk0&ab_channel=DirtyLoopsVEVO
[The Dirty Loops’ drummer.]
I know the musical style and the songs aren’t for everyone, but the talent and craftsmanship on display in all of their songs is awe-inspiring.
I hope the final two months of your 2022 are filled with joy, hope and light. See you in 2023.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
I have a couple of new sounds to share with you this month!
My latest composition project has been rewriting TheSpaceBetween, which was premiered last year and had another performance this spring. I wasn’t really satisfied with either version of the piece, and I’ve been fully rewriting it, with mostly new music, for a different instrumentation.
[The opening of TheSpaceBetween.]
The piece is about the distance that the pandemic put between us, and the creative ways of connecting that came about as a result. Each instrument plays a solo line, in isolation; then there are two instruments that play together, then three, then four, and so on, with a piano interlude between each group.
I’m much happier with this version, and I’d like to share part of it with you. Here are a couple of minutes from the middle of the piece, including the quartets, the quintets and the sextet, with piano interludes in between: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/tsbclip.mp3.
[The sextet, or at least three instruments’ worth of it.]
The other new sounds I wanted to share with you are those of the Olympus Choirs Elements sound library. I recently purchased this library and I’ve been very happy with the way it has sounded.
[Olympus Elements, from SoundIron.]
I spent some time a few weeks ago figuring out how it worked and creating a new MIDI demo of my choral piece Seal Lullaby. It still doesn’t sound like a real choir, of course, but it’s way ahead of what I had before.
I was going to post a before-and-after clip, but in my excitement over how good the “after” sounded, it appears I deleted all the “before” versions. Whoops…. Alas. But! You can hear the “after” on the piece’s page on my website, here: https://ajharbison.com/music/concert/seal-lullaby/.
Finally, for any regular readers who are wondering if I’m able to share news about my orchestra piece, unfortunately the answer is not yet. The performance has gotten pushed back and is not officially confirmed. But I’ll keep you posted, hopefully soon!
—-
I have two things that inspired me this past month, both music-related. Both of them are a mashup of two seemingly unrelated things that I am a fan of, and thus I can’t help being a fan of the result.
I love good rocking metal songs as much as the next guy. But when the good rocking metal songs tell the story of Norse mythology and Ragnarök, the Armageddon-esque battle between the Norse gods and the forces of evil — what’s not to love??
[Album cover of Emblas Saga by Brothers of Metal.]
Brothers of Metal are a Swedish band and they lean into Norse mythology like it’s more real than the real world.
Their official website about page begins, “BROTHERS OF METAL consist of eight powerful Viking warriors that originate from the glorious kingdom of Falun, far up in the north. Falun is a mighty town that lies within the dark iron woods where only true metal warriors reside.”
I love it.
Their label describes them as “a thunderous, catchy mixture of power metal, irresistible melodies, heavy riffs and some folkish elements,” which I’d say is pretty accurate. Their most recent single is “The Other Son of Odin,” and in addition to all those things, it also sounds like all that was awesome in the music of the 80s. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGkutszRFA. And here’s their official YouTube channel, with all their songs: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrothersofMetalOfficial.
The other mashup that inspired me started with Mozart. I love Mozart symphonies as much as the next guy.
[The opening of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor.]
But when a Mozart symphony is performed by one of my favorite non-classical bands?
[Rodrigo y Gabriela.]
Magic.
Here’s the original version of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, first movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNZGarhNKbA.
And here’s the Rodrigo y Gabriela version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxV2T563b-Y
[Rod y Gab’s Mozart cover artwork.]
I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do. See you in November!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other month (or the last Friday of the month, in this particular case, since I’m very late getting it out this 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 two months.
Dear friends,
Forgive my tardiness on this month’s Letter. It’s hard to believe July is almost over! After a busy month of June at work, a fun cross-country vacation with my family and then a couple of busy weeks after getting back, I suddenly look up and wonder where summer has gone.
But I really enjoyed the vacation. It was our first big road trip with the kids (15 hours each way!) but they did great and we enjoyed seeing my parents in central Virginia.
[Deer in my parents’ front yard.] Four deer in my parents’ front yard.
[A double rainbow and cars in the rain.] Double rainbow!
(More on the vacation below, in the inspiration section.)
In the Muse Room the last couple of months, I’ve been studying aspects of contemporary melody and harmony in a deeper and more analytical dive than I’ve probably ever done. Not a whole lot to share there, though I do feel I’m becoming a better composer.
My other main Muse Room project since returning from our vacation has been working on some preludes. At the church where I’m the music director, a pianist (often me but sometimes others) starts off the service with a short prelude, around 3 minutes. I’ve been compiling and arranging some original preludes that I’m using for this purpose.
[Me playing a prelude at church, with my daughter making a cameo in the front row.]
I’m drawing a lot of the preludes from music I’ve written in the past. There’s one based on an early draft of the melody from Rainlight, one based on a piece I wrote back in 2005, and one based on a prelude that I improvised on a new melody I wrote for the hymn “Just As I Am.” The latest one is based on a string quartet I wrote in 2012. The string quartet never saw the light of day, but the music is getting new life as a piano prelude. You can listen to it here: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/pianoprelude.mp3.
—-
I’ve written before about how goal-setting every year is inspiring for me. I get excited about new things I want to do to become better — a better person, a better composer. Setting goals is very energizing for me.
[A Moleskine notebook and stickers, for setting goals.]
But, as with all energizing things, after a while the energy wears off and my pursuit of my goals falls by the wayside.
But something my wife and I have wanted to do for a while is a goal re-evaluation retreat — taking some time in the middle of the year to revisit our goals, assess our progress, and make adjustments if needed. We got to do it on our vacation, out on my parents’ back porch.
[My parents’ back porch. It was hot and humid but still fun.]
It was a wonderful exercise for me. I didn’t make any huge adjustments. But I did think about some slight realignments, some new short-term goals that would help me get to my larger goals. And it re-energized me to the point where I was excited to jump back in to some things (like working out) that I’d fallen out of the habit of doing. If you’re a goal-setter, I highly recommend re-evaluating at least once a year. My wife and I are planning to do another re-evaluation in the fall.
I hope to have some exciting news to share next month — revealing the identity of the orchestra piece I’ve been writing about. Stay tuned!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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 two months.
Dear friends,
Happy May! I hope warm weather and sunny skies are heading your way or have already arrived. Kansas City has finally gotten there, I think, and the colors of spring have been out in force.
[Violets in our front yard.] [White tree blossoms.] [Green and pink trees.]
It’s been a fairly quiet couple of months in the Muse Room, but I have two primary projects I’ve been working on.
Project #1: Since Chimera Contemporary’s performance of my piece TheSpaceBetween in mid-March, I’ve decided that I want to rewrite it — partly to make it a stronger piece with a clearer form and partly to recast it for a more common instrumental ensemble. It’s taking a better shape now, and the instrumentation is now flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano.
Here’s a clip from the beginning, with each instrument taking a turn with a solo line and the first duet: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/tsbclip.mp3.
Stay tuned to my Instagram and Facebook pages for more updates on the rewrite as it progresses!
[The opening of the score to TheSpaceBetween.]
Project #2: I decided I wanted to compose a little less than usual in 2022 in order to devote some more time to studying. And the other thing I’ve been up to is studying (considering the season, appropriately enough) Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (better known in English as The Rite of Spring).
[Stravinsky’s manuscript of the first page of The Rite of Spring.]
Stravinsky’s manuscript of the first page of Le Sacre du Printemps. Gorgeous, is it not? I wish my musical handwriting looked like this….
I’ve been looking primarily at melodies and harmonies so far, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot. I’m seeing how he doesn’t develop the melodies very much*, and tends to just layer a bunch on top of each other near the end of a movement. I’m seeing how he often uses chromatic lines to activate a dissonant texture. I’m seeing how he builds up dissonant chords by juxtaposing a consonant chord in one orchestral section with a different consonant chord in another section.**
* And a lot of the melodies are really just short motives rather than fully formed melodies.
* A great example of this is the beginning of the Introduction to Part 2; the flutes are alternating between D-sharp minor and C-sharp minor chords, and the horns are holding a D (natural) minor chord. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwFOcaBwCWc.
I haven’t done a detailed deep dive like this into too many pieces before, and it’s proving inspiring as I gain insight into how the piece works and get ideas for techniques I could use in my own music. (Which, of course, is the whole point!)
[Marked-up score of the introduction to The Rite of Spring. Fruitful studying!]
I could never miss a chance to recommend that you listen to The Rite of Spring, so, check it out! Here’s a video recording with the London Symphony Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkwqPJZe8ms.
And here’s the Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic audio recording, where the video follows the score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP42C-4zL3w
And, while we’re on the subject, I can’t miss the chance to also recommend this version I found last year — the entire score, as written by Stravinsky, played on electric guitar:
https://twitter.com/ajharbison/status/1365026759243137031.
—-
While I’m certainly being inspired through what I’m discovering in The Rite of Spring, a different piece of music also inspired me this past month. It’s called Chinese Ancient Dances, and it was composed by one of my composition teachers from my master’s program, Chen Yi.
[Chen Yi.]
The piece is for clarinet (or saxophone) and piano. It’s in two movements, “Ox Tail Dance” and “Hu Xuan Dance,” both of which are based on literary descriptions of (you guessed it) ancient dances from China.
[Score cover for Chinese Ancient Dances.]
What fascinates me about this piece, and much of Chen Yi’s other music, is how she juxtaposes traditional Chinese music (often using five-note pentatonic scales) and spiky contemporary music (often using twelve-note chromatic scales). In the opening of Chinese Ancient Dances, the clarinet or saxophone plays a traditional-sounding melody with folk-like ornamentation — not pentatonic in this case but easy to listen to. When the piano enters, it plays a thundering bass line that uses all twelve notes of the chromatic scale in succession.
Throughout both movements the instruments mostly maintain these characteristics, and the result is a piece that’s strikingly contemporary yet also accessible. Give it a listen!
[Performance of Chinese Ancient Dances by Zach Shemon and Jiyoun Chung.]
This performance took place at the UMKC Conservatory, where Chen Yi teaches. I was actually in attendance at this performance!
I hope your next two months are filled with warmth, color, and spiky yet accessible art. :)
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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,
I have a lot to share with you in this newsletter, so let’s jump right in!
[A dog jumping right in… to a pool.]
I have four (four!) pieces of news, as well as three pieces of inspiration.
News #1 (kinda boring so we’ll get it out of the way first). You may have noticed that things look a little (or a lot) different this time around. I’ve switched my email app from Mailchimp to MailerLite, so that’s why. I’m enjoying it so far and I hope it helps my emails be easier and more enjoyable to read.
[MailerLite logo.]
News #2. I have a live performance of one of my recent compositions coming up! If you live in the Kansas City area, and you’re free the evening of Monday, March 14, please come on out for a performance of TheSpaceBetween! A new new-music ensemble called Chimera Contemporary will be performing a version I arranged especially for them. Here’s the Facebook event for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/933895573984074. I hope to see you there!
[Chimera Contemporary logo.]
News #3. Just real quick, I wanted to let you know that Rainlight, my orchestra piece from 2020, received an Honorable Mention from the 2022 Missouri Composers Project competition. Yay!
News #4. I also wanted to share an update on the new orchestra piece I’m working on. I still can’t share all the information on it just yet (though I wish I could because I’m very excited!). But I can say that the idea of the piece is showing how an orchestra can make a melody a chameleon — changing its color based on its surroundings. Each melody in the piece is introduced and then has two different settings.
How does it work, you ask? I’m so glad you asked, let me show you. :) Here’s one of the melodies.
Here’s the intro (just violins and pizzicato cellos): https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/melodyAintro.mp3
Here’s the melody in light orchestration: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/melodyAlight.mp3
And then here’s the melody in heavy orchestration: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/melodyAheavy.mp3
Enjoy!
––––
There are three things that inspired me this past month, one nonmusical and two musical.
Inspiration #1. I LOVE the Olympics. I mean, I know lots of people do but I REALLY LOVE the Olympics. Like, watch-every-day-and-don’t-get-any-work-done-for-three-weeks really love.
[A Facebook post from four years ago.]
I got to watch this world-record-setting snowboarding run live and it was incredible. (24 feet 4 inches out of the halfpipe; 44 feet 4 inches off the ground. I mean, just look at this!!)
[World record for height in a snowboard halfpipe event. Truly amazing.]
I’ve written before about how I love watching football because it tells great, exciting and unexpected stories. The Olympics are the same way, and in a sense they’re more special because I only get to watch them once every two years. It’s not even necessarily the stories of the athletes, which I confess I don’t always find very interesting. But the stories of the events — a dominant win, or a come-from-behind victory, or a comeback four years in the making, or a record-breaking feat — are just as compelling to me as a great book or movie.
[Chloe Kim celebrating after a great run.]
Inspiration #2. Both my musical inspirations consisted of reconnecting with an old friend. The first old friend was Olivier Messiaen, a French composer who lived from 1908 to 1992. I enjoy a lot of his music, but over the past couple of weeks I re-listened to his piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (Twenty Visions of the Infant Jesus). It’s a massive work with 20 movements that takes about 2 hours to perform in its entirety.
[The first system of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards.]
It’s a magical piece that runs the gamut from quiet and intimate to loud and thundering and everything in between. The passage above, from the very beginning of the piece, comes back throughout the piece in many forms and serves as one of several unifying themes.
I’ve never heard it performed live but if I ever have the chance I won’t hesitate to take it. If you’d like a challenging but very rewarding listen, give it a try.
Inspiration #3. The second old friend was not quite as old as Messiaen. Last week I was reading something I’d written in college, and college-me quoted a song lyric that current-me couldn’t quite place. I googled it, and was reminded about this album:
[Album cover for Janis Ian’s Between The Lines.]
Janis Ian is an American singer/songwriter. This album was released in 1975, and was one of my mom’s favorite albums when she was a teenager. I re-listened to this as well and was reminded how good it is.
Ian’s lyrics are meticulously crafted, and passionately and crisply delivered. The mostly understated music is led by melancholy guitars and piano, and in addition to the usual accoutrements of bass and drums there is an unusually large complement of orchestral instruments, including flute, clarinet, some brass instruments and lots of strings. “Water Colors” even features an extended unaccompanied cello solo at the end.
You should really listen to the whole album, but here are some highlights for me:
“From Me To You” (the lyric I quoted was from this song), probably my favorite track on the album with its sparkling fingerpicking guitars
The jazzy inflections and clarinet solo in “Bright Lights and Promises”
“In the Winter,” which switches between a minor key for the verses and the parallel major for the choruses, and ends on a deliciously unresolved chord (a I 6/4, for theory nerds [like me] keeping score at home)
The title track, “Between the Lines,” which features an exquisitely executed accelerando (gradually speeding up) that simultaneously engages in some sophisticated rhythmic trickery — the pattern drops a half beat in every second measure, and adds an extra half beat in every fourth measure, while getting faster and faster
“Tea and Sympathy,” which is both gorgeous and devastating
It’s an extremely well created and executed work of art and I encourage you to give it a listen as well. (Though it’s very different from the Messiaen!)
[Back cover for Janis Ian’s Between The Lines with a tracklist.]
Thanks for reading this far (I know this was a long one!). I really appreciate it. If you do get a chance to listen to one or both of these musical friends of mine, write me back and let me know what you think!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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,
Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season and some time to relax and refresh.
[My family’s Christmas tree.]
One of my favorite traditions in the week between Christmas and New Year’s is planning goals for the coming year. It always gets me excited as I look ahead to what I want to accomplish, and the new year brings new energy and motivation. (More on this below!)
[Moleskine planners old and new.]
It’s been a month since the release of A Long Weight of Silence, my video collaboration with Kansas City Symphony Principal Flute Michael Gordon. If you missed it, you can find it on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AJHarbisonMusic/posts/10161206001214008) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSgIUjob6sE). I’d love to hear what you think!
[A Long Weight of Silence video, starring Mike G.]
I’m continuing to work on my new orchestra piece; one of my goals is to finish it by the end of February. More next time, but for now, here’s a brief clip of a heroic march section featuring a snare drum and four majestic horns: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/rainlightmarch.mp3.
––––
As I mentioned, the process of planning out goals is itself inspiring for me. Thinking about what I want to do differently and/or better in the new year inspires me, usually, to be way too ambitious.
[I love demotivational posters.]
[The original version of this quote isn’t bad, but I like this take on it.]
But I do look forward to pursuing these goals — working toward becoming a better person (goals relating to reading, fitness, learning French) and a better composer (some pieces I want to write, some studying I want to do, some pieces I want to listen to).
I look forward to sharing some of the fruits of my musical goals in future Letters. Watch for clips and info on a new piano cycle, and maybe some symphonic listening inspirations!
I also have a goal for becoming a better social media post-er — if you want to stay up to date in between Letters, you can follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AJHarbisonMusic), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ajharbison) and Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/ajharbison).
What are some of your resolutions or goals for 2022? I’d love to hear from you. Hit reply and let me know!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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Dear friends,
I am thrilled to announce that the video of my new piece A Long Weight of Silence, composed for Kansas City Symphony Principal Flute Michael Gordon, will premiere THIS FRIDAY, December 3 at 5 p.m. Central time!
As I’ve written about in previous Letters from the Muse Room, A Long Weight of Silence is a meditation on the pandemic through the lens of the six stages of grief, written for one flute in isolation (i.e. one person playing both parts in a video, as it will be for this premiere) or two flutes together.
Mike gives a fantastic performance, and has made a video that takes the meaning and impact of the piece to a whole new level. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Watch for it at 5 p.m. on Friday on my Facebook page and YouTube!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full email (with links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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,
Happy fall! Unlike (perhaps) last time, we are now fully into autumn, as dropping temperatures (I had to defrost my windshield a few mornings ago) and changing tree colors attest:
[A colorful tree in my neighborhood.]
[Two-toned tree in my neighborhood.]
I love two-toned trees like this.
[Looking out from a window of Shirley Bush Helzberg Symphony House, where I work.]
[Beautiful trees with a beautiful building in the background.]
Can you tell that I really like colorful leaves?
It’s been a bit of a slow month or two in the Muse Room. I am beginning work on an orchestra piece for a friend of mine; I can’t share any details yet but it will be unorthodox and fun. More to come.
Speaking of fun: While cleaning up my hard drive recently and deleting some old files, I was reminded of #illomusicfriday. What is #illomusicfriday, you ask? Well, Illustration Friday was a website (sadly now defunct, it seems) that used to post a single word as a prompt every Friday, and illustrators would create an illustration for that word. It was a fun challenge that was an easy way to practice creating art around a particular idea.
In 2015 and 2016, my wife (who is a visual artist) and I decided we’d take on this challenge together: she would create an illustration based on the Illustration Friday word, and I would compose some music based on the word, and we’d put them together into a video. Sometimes we would coordinate — one of us would do our part first, and the other would base their part off that — and sometimes we worked independently.
[#illomusicfriday 1/29/16: “Orbit”]
This was one of my favorite ones.
So if you’re looking for some fun music and artwork to kick off your weekend, might I recommend for you: #illomusicfriday on Youtube.
[#illomusicfriday on YouTube.]
––––
I wish you could have experienced what inspired me this past month; it was so inspiring because it was an in-person experience. I attended the Kansas City Symphony’s first full-orchestra in-person concert since March 2020, and it kind of blew me away.
[The Kansas City Symphony.]
The major work on the program was Mahler’s First Symphony. While I enjoy Mahler, hearing the piece live, after not hearing a live orchestra for almost two years, was breathtaking and electrifying. That jump up to D major in the last movement — it gave me chills.
If you’re interested in the piece, the San Francisco Symphony made a terrific documentary about it in their “Keeping Score” series, which is free to watch on YouTube (and includes a full performance of the piece after the documentary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5DfYcT5icY&ab_channel=SanFranciscoSymphony.
[Good looking guy?]
But more than that, I encourage you, if you’re comfortable, to go see some live music in person this month. Performing arts organizations, ensembles, bands, all need your support and also are so excited to be playing for live audiences again. And after such a long hiatus, I can tell you: Live music is good for the soul.
Be well.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of every other 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,
I hope you are all safe and well, as we enter the autumn season. (Or not; my wife insists that September is the hottest month, and only tricks you into thinking that fall is beginning.)
On the news front: As you may remember, there are two performances of my music coming up!
First, Mike Gordon, Principal Flute of the Kansas City Symphony, is in the process of recording the duet I wrote for him, A Long Weight of Silence, for “one flute in isolation or two flutes together.” I will keep you posted on when that recording will premiere.
[The cover of A Long Weight of Silence.]
And second, coming up in exactly 29 days, Ensemble Mother Russia Industries will be performing my new, hot-off-the-digital-presses piece TheSpaceBetween at the new headquarters of the Charlotte Street Foundation.
[Charlotte Street Foundation building.]
I hope you’ll come and see the concert on October 2; it should be a lot of fun. In addition to my piece about social distancing, there will be avant-garde theatre, a piece focused on breath, an improvisatory piece in which the performers check the weather in Montenegro, and more. I’ll remind you as it gets closer — but mark your calendar!
To give you a taste of TheSpaceBetween, here’s a MIDI clip from the middle of the piece, as the instruments start to connect more and more and reach a high point all playing together: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/TheSpaceBetweenMIDIexcerpt.mp3.
––––
A few weeks ago, my parents came to town for a visit, and while they were here, my wife and I seized the chance to take a quick vacation for just the two of us. We drove a few hours south of Kansas City to Bentonville, Arkansas, to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its satellite campus The Momentary.
[The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Pretty, ain’t it?]
Crystal Bridges is a museum in a forest, on a river. It’s all right, y’know?
It was a lot of fun (despite being insanely hot and humid) and definitely a time of “filling the well.”
[Not visible: 90 degree heat with 80% humidity.]
[The Crystal Bridges gift shop.]
Even the gift shop is awesome — it’s designed to look like the underside of a mushroom.
[Dale Chihuly glass marbles floating in the water.]
I got to see a painting by one of my favorite abstract expressionists, Morris Louis:
[Airborn, by Morris Louis.]
And we got to see an “infinity room” by Yayoi Kusama:
[Yes, it was trippy. And awesome.]
Whether or not you can take a trip to a museum in a forest on a river any time soon, I hope you can participate in some activities that nourish your soul and fill your well, as this did ours.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published (new for 2021) the first Friday of every other 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,
Happy summer and Fourth of July weekend to you! I hope you are enjoying warmer weather and brighter days. As we start to emerge from the pandemic, I am back working in my office and starting to spend more time with, y’know, real live human beings. It’s pretty awesome.
And, speaking of awesome, I have some exciting news! In fact, two exciting news…es!
Exciting News #1: I’ve recently finished composing a piece for my friend Mike Gordon, Principal Flute of the Kansas City Symphony. It’s a flute duet titled A Long Weight of Silence, and as I wrote about a few months ago it’s a reflection on the pandemic through the lens of the six stages of grief. It’s written for “one flute in isolation or two flutes together,” so while eventually it will be performed as a duet, for its premiere it will be performed by Mike in video form.
[Mike G performing a duet… BY HIMSELF] Mike was the creator of the hashtag #KCSisStillMakingMusic, and he recorded a huge number of videos at the beginning of the pandemic — including this one, which was another “duet” that he played by himself.I am super excited about this and I will be sure to let you know, via an email in between Letters, when it will premiere — hopefully later this summer!
In the meantime, here’s an audio clip of a MIDI performance — the first three minutes of the piece: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/A Long Weight of Silence beginning.mp3.
Exciting News #2: A proposal of mine was recently selected in a composition competition held by the Charlotte Street Foundation and Ensemble Mother Russia Industries, and I’ll be writing a piece for the ensemble that will be performed on October 2! I just had my first meeting with the ensemble and the other selected composers last week, and it will be a wild and extremely diverse concert with some really fascinating music.
[Ensemble Mother Russia Industries.]This piece will be based on the idea of social distancing. The performers will be spread throughout the venue (a black box theater), and will pass melodies to each other around the room. The musical lines will start to intersect at more and more points until a web of sound fills the whole space. It will then go in reverse, with fewer and fewer connections, until only one instrument is left. But instead of fading out to silence, that instrument will be joined by another instrument in harmony for the last few moments, providing another connection and ending in hope instead of silence.
It’s another pandemic-related piece, but I’m excited for the chance to work with this ensemble and I can’t wait for the performance. Someone at the meeting suggested that the piece could be played with all the lights turned out in the theater; it’s a very intriguing idea.
[Something like this.] It might look something like this.The performance will be at the Charlotte Street Foundation’s new headquarters at 3333 Wyoming Street in Kansas City. If you’re in town on October 2 I hope you’ll check it out!
—-
Three inspirations this month: one in music, one in a book, and one in life.
Music: I’ve written before about Dessa; I love her album Chime. Over the last six months, she’s been releasing a single on the 15th of each month, calling the series Ides.
[The first single in the Ides series, “Rome”.]The first single was (appropriately enough) “Rome,” which I loved; I really enjoyed “Terry Gross” and “I Already Like You” too. (Also a special shout-out for “Talking Business,” a noir story told without using any verbs.)
[“I Already Like You” cover image.]Her lyrics are smart, biting, witty and funny (the interludes in “Terry Gross” made me laugh out loud when I first listened to it). The songs include some profanity and mature themes. But if you’re a fan of good words and music, you should check it out.
Book: If you’re a fan of books, and/or children’s books, and/or books about children’s books, this one’s for you.
[Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult]I recently started reading Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely so far. I am a fan of books and children’s books and books about children’s books, and I’m a fan of this book. He has excellent insights and anecdotes, and it’s very engaging and very funny. Reading the book is like having a conversation with a friend who is brilliant and also makes you laugh out loud. Very highly recommended.
Life: As I mentioned, I have spent more time out in the real world with real live people lately, and that has been inspiring. At the Symphony we had our first in-person committee meeting since March 2020. A few nights ago I went out with a friend for drinks. Things are looking brighter. I hope they are for you, too.
Be well.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
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The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published (new for 2021) the first Friday of every other 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,
Spring has sprung! After a cold Kansas City winter, sights like trees in the neighborhood (above) and beauty around our new house (below) are incredibly welcome.
Now that my family and I are a little more settled in at our new place, I’ve had some more time to compose. I’m working on a “pandemic piece” for a friend of mine who plays the flute. It’s for “one flute in isolation [i.e. one person playing both parts in a video] or two flutes together.”
I’ll share an audio clip next time, but for this month I thought I’d share the program notes that describe the piece. (I usually don’t write program notes until I’m finished with a composition, but for some reason I’m working on them early this time!)
I vividly remember March 12, 2020, when a Kansas City Symphony staff member interrupted a meeting I was in to announce that the mayor had declared a state of emergency. That was the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic for me. It quickly led to the postponement, then cancellation, of a few Symphony concerts, then a month of concerts, then the entire remainder of the 2019-20 season. Thus began a long period of silence that many artists and patrons of the arts felt as a heavy weight: the “great pause” of live music, dance, and theatre.
Early in the pandemic I read an article by David Kessler, co-author of On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Loss. He wrote that what everyone was feeling was a collective sense of grief. We could feel denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, sometimes within the span of a week, or a day, or even all at the same time. He encouraged his readers to let themselves feel their grief and then move through it to acceptance, where we find power to act. He also talked about the sixth stage of grief: meaning, which can bring light out of the darkness.
This piece is a reflection and meditation on the pandemic through the lens of the six stages of grief. It is written in eight movements.
i. intro: A premonition of what is to come. The flutes introduce the primary themes of the piece through a combination of traditional playing and extended techniques, like blowing air through the flute, timbral trills (using two different fingerings for the same note), and Aeolian sounds (a mix of traditional tone and air noise). Tension grows quickly, introducing quotes from Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and Stravinsky’s ballet Pétrouchka — two pieces the Kansas City Symphony had programmed that were canceled by the pandemic. The movement ends with a frenzied run upward that is suddenly cut off.
ii. silence: This movement symbolizes the silence of canceled performances using literal silence and suggestions of it through extended techniques.
iii. denial: The performers face each other. The music tries to remain upbeat despite a growing sense of unease. Even as the performers continue facing each other, they take cautious steps backward.
iv. anger: The performers turn away from each other. The music conveys anger through tongue pizzicato, sharp trills and fluttertonguing, as well as a quotation from Brahms’ First Symphony (another canceled piece).
v. bargaining: The two flute parts try to bargain with each other, offering musical material that is quickly rejected by the other part.
vi. depression: The performers sit and revisit the lament from the first movement.
vii. acceptance: The performers stand; the lament theme is transformed into a glimmer of hope.
viii. meaning: The performers face each other again and play a repeated melodic line. The two parts are separated at first by four beats, but come progressively closer together. The performers begin to take steps toward each other. In the final measures, the two parts finally line up in unison as the piece, and the lights, fade.
[The beginning of the first movement.]I’m excited about the piece, and even more excited that there’s already a performance planned. More to come!
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Two pieces of inspiration for you this time around. I haven’t watched too many online performances over the last year, but I did spring for a ticket to Brooke Annibale’s ten-year anniversary performance of her album Silence Worth Breaking.
[Silence Worth Breaking album.]Ms. Annibale is one of my favorite singer/songwriters, and Silence Worth Breaking and its follow-up EP Words In Your Eyes are my favorite albums of hers. I bought a ticket to hear solo acoustic versions of all the songs on the album, as well as to support her as an artist unable to make income from touring right now.
[Brooke Annibale performing.] Brooke Annibale performing in pre-pandemic days.I enjoyed the show immensely. I loved hearing all the songs with just guitar and voice, and hearing her talk about the stories behind the songs. As a fellow guitarist I enjoyed seeing how she played the songs, and I took notes on some chord shapes I wanted to try out. And it made me want to get back to writing songs myself.
I’ve been focusing on concert music for almost 10 years now (before, during and after grad school), and while I want to continue working in that arena, I might also have to pick up the ol’ guitar and see about writing some new singer/songwriter songs. Stay tuned!
The second thing that inspired me was another “pandemic piece,” this time by another composer, that I listened to — from the 1550s.
[John Sheppard’s Media Vita.]The New York Times published a story at the very end of 2020 titled “From a 1550s Pandemic, a Choral Work Still Casts Its Spell” (and, me being me, I just got around to reading it this last month). It’s a fascinating article about what the author considers a “pandemic piece par excellence.”
But whether you read the article or not, I encourage you to listen to the music. It’s a piece called Media Vita (In the Midst of Life), by the composer John Sheppard. I listened to it while I was taking a walk around the neighborhood, and the pure, fresh-sounding Renaissance music was transcendent.
[The Tallis Scholars released the first commercial recording of the piece.]Try to find a recording by The Tallis Scholars; Renaissance choral music doesn’t get much better than that.
Have an inspiring and transcendent week. Be well.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of odd-numbered months, 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,
Welcome to the second Letter of 2021! I hope you didn’t miss receiving a letter last month too much. The past two months have brought some crazy weather to Kansas City — sub-freezing temperatures for what felt like weeks on end (leading to frost on the inside of a window in the Muse Room, above) and then temperatures in the 70s this week. Spring is close!
When I was attending grad school at UMKC, this was one of my favorite sights every spring.
Did you see any of my social media posts over the last two months? I shared a couple of quotes, a brilliant poem, and some music I listened to (more on that last one below). (Oh, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring — the whole thing — played on electric guitars.)
[Rite of Spring On Guitars.]If you think about it, Rite of Spring really was metal, in its time.
You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And in the coming months I’ll have more of my own music to share.
The reason I didn’t have much of my own music to share, over the last two months and also in this email, is that something unexpected happened — my family moved! We had been planning to move in the summer, but things fell into place quickly and surprisingly, and here we are, as of last week, in a new house.
So we’ve been busy packing, moving, unpacking, organizing, reorganizing things that our two-year-old just unorganized, etc. for the last couple of weeks. But I promise I will have more to share on May 7! And watch the socials in the meantime.
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While our moving process sped up, I also found some time to slow down. I received a box of CDs from a friend last year, and I made it one of my goals for 2021 to listen through all of them.
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that I am a football fan. (Let’s not talk about this past Super Bowl.) Readers of the newsletter from the first issue will also know that I have two kids. Watching football and taking care of kids don’t always mix, so my typical time for uninterrupted watching is Sunday Night Football, after the kids go to bed.
[SNF on NBC.]With Sunday Night Football done for the season, but my Sunday nights still free, I decided I’d use them to listen to these CDs. So the last few Sunday nights I’ve sat on my couch, enjoyed a nice glass of wine or bourbon, and listened to music.
[38 CDs in all!](One of the CDs I listened to was highlights from Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook, which inspired this post.)
I’ve really enjoyed it. Having the box of CDs makes me listen to music I might not otherwise seek out, and taking the time to just sit and listen has proven to be an oasis of peace and calm and joy in my week that is otherwise too easy to miss.
I hope you can make time for beauty in your own life, and I hope it provides peace and joy for you too.
Be well.
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)
The “Muse Room” is the room in my house where I make music and my wife makes visual art. Published the first Friday of odd-numbered months, 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,
Welcome to 2021! What a year it’s been already…. But I hope I can provide a bit of enjoyment and light to the start of your weekend.
I was able to spend time with family over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and I’m very grateful for that, in addition to being grateful for continuing health and safety for my family.
One thing that time with family was able to provide for my wife Eleanor and me was an afternoon break for the two of us apart from our kids (7 and 2 years old). Eleanor and I always like to spend an afternoon at the end of the year at a coffee shop making plans and setting goals for the year. But since we couldn’t go to a coffee shop this year… we made our own!
For news ‘n’ updates this month, I want to share just a few of my plans and goals with you:
1. Letters from the Muse Room is slowing down. In order to try to provide the best content and most enjoyable email experience for you, I’m decreasing the frequency of this newsletter from once a month to once every two months. My goal is to improve the quality of the cool things (audio clips, news, videos, etc.) I want to share with you. But if anything exciting happens between newsletters, I’ll send a quick update to let you know.
2. Social media is ramping up! On the other hand, something I want to do more of this year is social media posting. Look for weekly(ish) posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
3. I’m (tentatively) planning to compose three pieces in 2021: a piano solo in six movements, a short/fast/fun orchestral piece, and something else yet to be decided. But there are a couple of additional opportunities pending as well, so I’m holding my plans loosely. Look for more on the piano piece in the March 5 letter!
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I have some music for you on the inspiration front this month.
At the request of a friend, I’ve recently joined the artistic committee of a new-music ensemble in Kansas City. The committee helps choose the repertoire that the ensemble will perform in its upcoming season.
I hope I can be a valuable contributor to the committee, but thus far I feel like I’ve gotten more out of it than I’ve been able to give to it. I received a potential repertoire list that was seven pages long, and in listening through a bunch of the pieces, I found some I really liked that I wanted to share with you.
This piece by Christopher Cerrone, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (including flower pots!), explores some really cool sounds and resonances between the instruments: https://christophercerrone.com/music/why-was-i-born-between-mirrors.
That piece, while not having a whole lot of crunchy dissonances, is still very contemporary-sounding and might be a bit too “out there” for some. But this string quartet, by Jessie Montgomery, is rhythmic, groovy and fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfvGs-8gG4.
And finally, one of my contributions to the list was a piece for violin and piano by Alice Hong. (The pianist in this recording is Perry Mears, who has performed my piece Five Scenes several times.) It’s lyrical, flowing and very pretty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvlPPi2qyaQ.
Enjoy these pieces; I hope they bring you some joy, fun and light as we embark on a new year.
Be well. I’ll see you in March!
Peace,
AJ Harbison
View full newsletter (with pictures and links)