{"id":461,"date":"2016-11-30T11:03:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T16:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/?p=461"},"modified":"2025-10-16T17:42:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:42:23","slug":"composing-songs-quaker-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/composing-songs-quaker-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Composing “Songs from a Quaker Heart”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What fun to hear the rehearsal of \u201cSongs from a Quaker Heart\u201d last night. This new music SATB chorus and piano is getting its premiere by the Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus, who commissioned it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems are by Marian Kaplun Shapiro, a fellow resident of Lexington, MA. So many of Marian\u2019s poems are direct observation of the little things happening all around us. She juxtaposes these little things in startling ways, and I feel enlightened, just a little, by the interesting and emotionally laden comparisons.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges of one poem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For example, consider her poem “Spring Sunlight”. The downward\/upward motion of each comparison intrigues me. She\u2019s encapsulated the idea of positive\/negative and growth\/decay in just a few words.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Spring Sunlight
<\/b><\/span><\/em>by Marian Kaplun Shapiro<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green leaves growing
Photograph fading<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hair greying
Forsythia yellowing<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turtles mating
Candlestick tarnishing<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sparrow waking
me. You sleeping.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But each line is so short!, and the contrasts need to confront each other. It took me a while to find a musical treatment lasting longer than 30 seconds. My setting dwells on each pair of contrasts, developing a mood and texture for each pair. Then there\u2019s a shape-shifting in the last two lines as the rhythm changes and the action spills into the last line, which I highlight with a surprise chord change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five poems for five choral settings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The five movements of \u201cSongs from a Quaker Heart\u201d (with quotes from the poems) are:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Quaker Meeting – \u201cQuiet. Door open. Bird sings\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Life, In Conjunction – \u201cand but why \u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Leaves – \u201cparachuting through the cross-winds of autumn\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Spring Sunlight – “Green leaves growing…”<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. House Oratorio – \u201c\u2026It\u2019s our time at last, sings Refrigerator\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Emotional ups and downs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In November, I was deeply into memories of my father when Triad performed Deepest Shade, my reaction to his increasing dementia back in 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For December, I\u2019m offering music from a delightfully brighter place, still rich with a range of life experiences. But much happier!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The concert is Sunday December 4, 2016 at 3:30pm at Payson Park Church, 365 Belmont St, Belmont, MA 02478. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus<\/a> is directed by Barry Singer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Catbird
    Catbird singing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What fun to hear the rehearsal of \u201cSongs from a Quaker Heart\u201d last night. This new music SATB chorus and piano is getting its premiere by the Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus, who commissioned it. The poems are by Marian Kaplun Shapiro, a fellow resident of Lexington, MA. So many of Marian\u2019s poems are direct observation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,124],"tags":[13,14,108],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-composing","tag-composing","tag-concert","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":859,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spindrift.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}