These were definitely some of the most joyous, satisfying and excting times in my life. Culminating in these glorious shows with these fantastic singers! Here you see our bows :) I am smiling ear to ear! There will be videos of these performances, so make sure to check my YouTube Channel from time to time - or even better, subscribe! I am active there and happily so, it is not as soul crushing as social media is for me.
The lyrics will be available there but here are the program notes for you to read!
xx
Alev
Program notes
"The words and music for The Gift of Silence, Foundations of A Lighthouse and Crab Grief did not even exist in concept before I spoke with the first groups of singers at Brooklyn Youth Chorus. I wanted to start without planning or controlling or any preconceptions and be fully guided by the young singer and what would materialise in the room. And so, every note and every word was a gift received in the many weeks during my residency at BYC by the mystical magic we called into the room. Sharing everything from single words to long thoughts, from favourite songs and preferred styles to desired tempos (I did even get a “Dolly-Parton-fast” request!) and expressions of emotions and bright and bold personalities, the young singers of the training divisions of BYC helped call into life theses pieces.
This time has been one of the greatest gifts and honours of my life: to be invited to listen to the talented and outspoken choristers and to have been listened to and to now be able to present our collection of sound, words and movements to an audience.
To Listen, we need silence, give The Gift of Silence - which is not only a title but also something I have received myself from the Pre-Teens. An understanding that they not only literally would like breaks within a musical piece with no singing, but to fully tune into what someone else has to say - and offer and give them time and space for that. And as I was listening, I received the gift of making the piece more inclusive. The Pre-teens asked for silence, their emotions painted brightly and for the inclusion of another language and more so, for inclusivity itself. All this sent me on a journey which, serendipitously, led me to contemplations about deafness and performance of music via the touching exhibition In What Way Wham? by Jospeh Grigley at MassMoca in December 2023. These enriching and deeply satisfying experiences are now hopefully reflected in the piece which also includes ASL as an integral part, as obligatory as the piano. The birds symbolise a time when New York City was quiet. And native birds could be heard loudly.
Foundation of a Lighthouse was the first song that made itself known, as alive and quickly as the singers in Preparatory Age group did. Ideas of identity and locality were soon present in all conversations and like my son, who fit in the Preparatory Age group during my residency and joined every conversation and rehearsal and heard the music as it was being created at home, does every day, the choristers in this training division reminded me, that they do need our assumptions of their identities, but our nourishment to grow into who they are. As themselves they are the foundation of our collective futures and they are building this foundation on the soil we provide.They deserve our very best efforts to offer them fertile and healthy grounds. As they call this in, with their existence, their life force, their beings, their names and this song, I hope we will all hear them and meet them. It was an honour to be guided by the children through times when the world was extremely hard to make sense of and heavy on our hearts. This is my own reminder not to box, limit or prune new growth but to watch, learn and facilitate.
The Junior ensemble, as the oldest age group I worked with, was iridescently alternating between heart to head, and back. It was an incredible experience to be able to work with three different age groups and, in own personal retrospect, see how with age we seem to move from heart to head. Hopefully we can always keep the connection between the two in tact and while we swirl in fantasies and concepts also dive into feeling, longing and mourning. Crab Grief calls in big questions about grief and the exploitation of the natural world to satisfy our needs: and also some musical explorations like ‘Hocketing’ - a technique I learned while writing this piece in the December of 2023 from Meredith Monk, on this serendipitous journey of continuously learning together.
I can not express enough the gratitude to the young people and the whole team at BYC who made this experience and these pieces possible. I for sure will hold this in my heart forever."
