I wrote this piece for the end of my master’s program, which will also be the end of my schooling for the foreseeable future.  While facing the mild existential crisis of “what do I do once I’m out of school?” I found myself pondering the nuances of the relationships I had with my formative musical institutions, including the American Boychoir, the Walden School, Princeton University (and by extension its choirs and the Katzenjammers acappella group), the University of Southern California, and the vocal octet Exilio.  Similarly, I also found myself thinking about the nuances of the intersections of composing, singing, and conducting (my three musical disciplines), and the nature of collaboration and peer leadership.

Movements 1 and 2 set literary quotations that felt topical to my thoughts at the time of writing.  Movements 3 and 4 focus much more on the filigree of the rehearsal and collaborative process; movement 5 is the emotional core of the cycle, using quotations of music that I sang at various important institutions to make a collage inspired by the plunderphonics of artists like The Avalanches and J Dilla.  Movements 6 and 7 depart from the retrospection of the earlier movements to celebrate the present and to accept not having answers for all artistic quandaries.

Open Rehearsal is inspired by all of my teachers and mentors who have helped me be who I am today, but I owe the piece especially to Gabriel Crouch (the choir director at Princeton) and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek (my former voice teacher at Princeton) for being role models of interdisciplinary artistry and leadership.

Text:

1. Invocation

“Sing to me o Muse” - paraphrased from the Odyssey, 1.1

2. Nel Mezzo del Cammin’ (Logical Extremes of Collaboration)

“Io non so ben ridir com’i’ v’intrai,
tant’ era pien di sonno a quel pinot
Che la verace via abbandonai.
…
là dove terminava quella valle
…
vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta
…
Allor fu la paura un poco queta,
che nel lago del cor m’era durata
la notte chi passai con tanta pieta.”

“How I came there I cannot really tell.
I was so full of sleep
when I forsook the one true way.
…
there where the valley ended
…
Arrayed in the first light of the planet
…
Then the fear that had endured
in the lake of my heart, all the night
I spent in such distress, was calmed.”

-Dante’s Inferno, 1.10-21. Translation courtesy of Robert Hollander, Princeton Dante Project.

There are also musical quotations from the chanson “Mille Regretz,” which is often credited to Josquin de Prez.

“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,” - Paradise Lost Book I, spoken by Satan

“It is impossible that things should be other than they are, for everything is right…” - Candide Chapter V,, spoken by Pangloss

“Then wilt thou not be loth
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.” - Paradise Lost Book XII, spoken by Gabriel

“Let us work… without disputing; it is the only way to render life tolerable.” - Candide Chapter XXX,, spoken by Martin

“Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you… I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” - Wuthering Heights, Chapter XVI, spoken by Heathcliff

3. Call Mi Ishmael

Text taken from solfege syllables and rehearsal cues; the title refers to the opening line of Moby Dick.

4. The Great Twitch

“Meaning is not in the event, but in the motion through events”

“You have got to lead a duck, son” - paraphrased from All the King’s Men, Chapter 7

5. Collage

Musical quotations and paraphrases from:

“Brothers Sing On” by Edvard Grieg, sung at American Boychoir graduation ceremonies
“Sanctus” by Clemens non Papa, sung at Walden every summer dating back decades
“Going back to Nassau Hall,” a Princeton football song
“Stoned Soul Picnic” by Laura Nyro, the founding arrangement for the Princeton Katzenjammers
Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot, which I sang both at Princeton and in Los Angeles
“...and the swallow” by Caroline Shaw, which I sang at both Princeton and USC
“Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk, my favorite Katzenjammers arrangement
“Swept Away” by Sarah Quartel, which I sang both at Walden and with Exilio
Figure Humaine by Francis Poulenc, my favorite piece I’ve ever performed

Ending chant: “soon now we shall go out of the house, and into the convulsion of the world” - from All the King’s Men, Chapter 9

6. Useless Title

“Tell me about the title of the piece”

“Is this intentional?” - two of the most awkward yet inevitable things than can be said to composers

Movement 7 mostly eschews text in favor of acappella syllables.