The days leading up to the first performance of a new work are some of the most exciting but nerve-inducing days one can experience as a composer. These feelings are only amplified with how long one has been preparing. I am in that state right now. In just a few short days, my piece Home will receive its first public performance. Home began as a piano solo that I composed in June of 2020. The world, as I knew it, was over. The United States was more divided than I had ever seen it, people everywhere were getting sick and never getting better, and a spotlight was pointed on police brutality after the death of George Floyd. I, a kid in high school, had no idea how to process all of the emotions that I was feeling…except through music. One night, I sat down at my little 52 key keyboard and let my fingers fly. What resulted was the main piano part for Home. I would later get to perform Remembering at a talent show, but I knew that this would not be the end for this piece. There was still so much that it had left to give.
As I started college, I was greeted with many new faces. I made new friends, let some old ones go, and found mentors that helped guide me through a period of monumental changes. As I was closing out my first year, a Music Theory assignment popped up. Our final project was to compose a piece, 2-4 minutes in length, with SATB voicing. That was the entire project. As I began to think about what I was going to write, Remembering entered my mind. I had recalled that I wanted to do something more with it, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. That’s when it hit me: I needed to write for a choir with Remembering as the accompaniment! At that point, the voices came to my head. My fingers flew on my laptop, writing everything that my mind’s ear was hearing.
Lyrics were the most difficult part. I knew what I wanted to say, but didn’t know how to say it. I wanted this to be a love song in some way. However, this wasn’t going to be your classic love song. This was going to be almost like an ode, an ode to all of the people and things that had helped me get to where I was today. That’s when the concept of home as not a physical place, but as people, things, and ideas really started to make sense. I thought about all of the wonderful people that college had brought to me, and how they had changed the course of my life. There are some hints of Biblical passages in the lyrics, but that is to be expected from someone with a religious background like myself.
Home has been a home for me, no pun intended. Being able to share this with more than just myself has been such a blessing. It’s one thing to be able to tell people how much they mean to me, but being able to show them in music is an other-worldly experience. I am so grateful that I am going to be able to share a part of me with an audience, both in person and online, on March 27th at 7:00 PM CST.