"Into the Darker Circles of Return"
Waldone!
I spent 6 weeks this summer working very hard at a very special place: The Walden School Young Musicians Program, a summer camp for young people interested in composing music.
The title for this post comes from a poem we share at the end of camp:
"And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return."
I hear this poem on the last night of camp every year, but this year, that verse really resonated with me. We, the adults, put so much work into making camp a supportive, safe place where students can be themselves and take creative risks…it’s amazing, and unfortunately it can’t last forever!
When it's over, we go home to the significantly less nurturing arms of the real world ("into the darker circles of return"). But, hopefully, we bring some of the caring and support with us: both the support we received and what we were able to give to others.
One of my favorite things about teaching at the Young Musician’s Program is how much I'm forced to learn and grow.
An unspoken quirk of getting older is that it gets a lot easier to limit yourself to doing the things you're good at: you're recognized for being good at doing those things, you're asked to do those things, and maybe you get paid to do them. It’s good to be good at things, but it can get easy to stay in your lane (and when does a lane become a rut?).
The Walden Young Musician’s Program always provides great chance to challenge myself and grow.
Ways I challenged myself this summer:
Composed a piece for baritone horn, 2 violins, and viola, performed by members of The Friction Quartet
Performed it with them! The Friction Quartet’s players were amazing (I was hanging on for dear life, but I got through it!)
Finished my 2nd year on the Leadership Team (making plans, solving problems, keeping everything running smoothy)
Taught and conducted a new barbershop piece with some awesome, tricky harmonies
Taught my youngest composition students ever (and helped them debut their amazing compositions!)
Learned and taught new theory concepts from Walden's unique curriculum (the cycle of thirds and a new way of thinking about octatonic scales)
I came home feeling very inspired (and tired!) and I got to work writing a new track for Halloween, which will debut this Friday! Check out "Dracula's Spatula"... If you dare!
Current noise-making:
Resting a mic on top of a box fan and using its wobbling vibrations as percussion (inspired by Disquiet Junto 0661: Consumer Drone Product)
Current woodshedding:
Horace Silver’s solo on Miles Davis' recording of "Solar"
Current listening:
Aphex Twin’s #2 from Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition)