Wallitner Weekly 36
Hello everyone!
A lot of productive things happened recently
Sorry for my absence, I had an incredibly busy month with conferences and theater work at the capitol. Now that the season is ending I can start looking for jobs on the west side in preparation for our move. The WMEA conference happened the week before last and I reconnected with all of my now-teacher friends from college. I also got to hangout with my former teachers which was super nice, since I haven’t seen any of them in person since I graduated three years ago. This lead to a lot of composition related opportunities that I am very excited about!
I’ve got lots of plans for next week too!
Now that I am not working so much at the Capitol I have lots of time to write. I wrote three different poems for my friend to set to music. I look forward to collaborating more with him now that I have some more free time. I also am going down my list of side projects and am trying to complete them before we move and chaos ensues again.
I am looking forward to like three months from now when all of these big plans have happened. Like the wedding and the move. Im ready to be done with all the planning.
Meeting someone through their loved ones..
One of the cool things about the arts is you can meet so many amazing people. Some of those people I have never met in person, but I feel like I know them. This conference led to me meeting a lot of my mentors teachers and it was so crazy to finally put a face to the people I knew so much about. There were also a lot of people that met me for the first time even though I had made several concerts with of virtual ensemble videos for them.
I had not been thinking about it too much until the choir concert on the last day of the conference. One of the choirs sang a piece called “For you I sing alleluja”. It was a piece written five years ago for a high school student who died in a car accident. The members of the all-state choir got to meet the parents of the student who passed and they told such moving stories. I was particularly amazed by the text of the piece.
"Heart of gold, voice so sweet, diligent servant, mild and meek, Lover of life, music, and me, was the angel that filled this space. A mother's dream, a father's joy, a sister to all, every girl and boy, what I hope to be, who I long to see; the angel that filled this space. This space; now filled with echoes of the sound of laughter and song was once filled with your presence, for which I now long. His Grace carried your burdens, now it carries your spirit, for you, I sing Alleluia, I hope you can hear it. Giver of life, Redeemer of sin, Maker of Earth, Saviour of men, You have taken your angel, an exceptional choice, and with my voice I shall rejoice. Alleluia!”
Text by Devondra F. Banks
Music by Christopher H. Harris
Here is a link so that you can listen to it https://youtu.be/ZrA1fq6CLs8
Before the choir performed the director had mentioned how wonderful it is to meet someone through their loved ones. I think that is a beautiful thought.
