Dear friends,

Happy September! It’s been a long ten months since the last Letter from the Muse Room. But it’s not because the Muse Room has been silent! I’m writing today because I have two new projects to share with you.

First, most of my year thus far has been taken up with writing a new piece for full orchestra. It was commissioned by Kirt Mosier, the music director of the Lee’s Summit Symphony. Kirt commissioned three other composers, as well as himself, to each write a piece for the Lee’s Summit Symphony titled The Haunted Pavilion. (The Symphony plays at the Pavilion at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit, and the concert’s in October, so… you get the idea.)

[The Pavilion at John Knox Village.]

I had a blast writing my version of The Haunted Pavilion; it’s a spooky and fun piece that features ominous glissandi (slides) and a sinuous waltz melody that unwinds over a slow version of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice melody in the bass. Listen to a MIDI clip of the first two minutes of the piece here: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/thehauntedpavilionopening.mp3.

But MIDI can never do the real thing justice — so if you’re in the Kansas City area at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, come to the Pavilion and hear my piece (and three other pieces with the same title)! Just click this button for tickets:

I hope to see you there!

[The first page of The Haunted Pavilion score.]

The second project I’ve been working on (after finishing The Haunted Pavilion) is a reworking of an old project. Nine years ago, my brother, my sister-in-law at the time and I wrote a musical.

[Two brothers excitedly gesturing to a sign advertising the musical they wrote.]

If we were to take another picture today like this one, I would probably be wearing a hat and he probably would not be.

My brother wrote the script, my sister-in-law wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music. It was an enormous project and I had a short time in which to write a whole lotta music — 28 songs, plus underscore and orchestration. I recorded rough vocal demos of all the songs, but because I was pressed for time, they were very rough vocal demos.

I recently was listening back through those vocal demos, and remembering how much I’d liked the music I’d written, and thinking that the one run of performances the show had nine years ago wasn’t enough for how good the material was (the script is REALLY good and the concept is brilliant — ask me about it sometime).

So, I have decided to go back and arrange some of the songs for piano, and lower them (because the role of Saul/Paul is for a tenor, and I am not a tenor), and record them, so I have good recordings and not just very rough vocal demos.

[The opening line of music for the song “The Law and the Prophets.”]

My goal is to finish the composing/arranging by the end of September, and finish the recording by the end of October (and then do a little mixing and mastering after that). So hopefully in two months or so I will have some good recordings of these songs to share with you!

—-

A book that has inspired me over the past several months was one I wasn’t necessarily expecting to agree with, due to its provocative title — Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music by Martha Bayles.

[The cover of Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music by Martha Bayles.]

But I was pleasantly surprised by the book’s incredibly astute evaluation of the popular music of the 20th century. Martha Bayles is extremely insightful and incisive in her observations and analyses, and also has some very funny wry commentary. It’s a long book, and some of the subject matter (dealing as it does with “perverse modernism” in art) is not for the faint of heart, but it’s well worth the read.

Thanks for reading through this newsletter! I hope to see some of you at the concert on October 12, and I hope to have some new music to share with all of you in November!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

My news and inspiration for this month were one and the same: playing my first pop music show in a very long time at PorchFest on October 14!

[My PorchFest setlist!]

A friend with high-quality cameras showed up and took some great pictures:

[Me singing at PorchFest.]

[Me singing at PorchFest, with the back of my daughter’s head in the foreground.]

[Me singing at PorchFest, with my Fender Acoustasonic amp in the foreground.]

My other piece of news is that I plan to record and release an EP, hopefully next year, featuring the five new songs. The EP will be called After The Flash, and this will be the tracklist:

Who I Am Part 2
Earthquake
Paradise Lost
Love After The Flash
Ocean Eyes

I look forward to sharing more about the EP in the months to come. In the meantime, though, my friend also recorded a few video clips, including clips of two of the new songs. Check them out at the YouTube links below!

“Too Far” clip (from Songs From My Shelf): https://youtu.be/VGksE3LeMhc

“Paradise Lost” clip: https://youtu.be/-Dq9zrqi2TU

“Ocean Eyes” clip: https://youtu.be/1jEpoGoeTkQ

(These links are unlisted for now, to give you all the first sneak peek, but if you’d like to share them with a friend please feel free!)

[Me singing passionately at PorchFest.]

—-

If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook over the past two months, you know that I’ve also been inspired by the Indigo Girls:

[The Indigo Girls album Retrospective.]

And this book by composer Dale Trumbore:

[The cover of Staying Composed by Dale Trumbore.]

And this quote by composer Ben Johnston:

[Quote from composer Ben Johnston.]

And this lovely view of Shirley Bush Helzberg Symphony House (where I work) at sunset!

[Shirley Bush Helzberg Symphony House, the headquarters of the Kansas City Symphony.]

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful holiday season, and I will see you in the New Year!

Peace,

AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

Welcome to fall! (I know it doesn’t officially start until September 23, but, kids are back in school, PSLs are back at Starbucks, leaves are starting to blow off the trees… c’mon, it’s basically fall.)

I have two announcements in this Letter, one about concert music and one about pop music.

In the concert-music realm, I’ve recently joined Scorefolio, an online service that creates score videos, and I’ve done two so far. The first was a short piano prelude called “To The Nines” (because it’s based around ninth chords). The second one is my flute duet A Long Weight of Silence, a reflection and meditation on the pandemic through the lens of the six stages of grief. If you’re interested, you can watch the score videos on Scorefolio here or on YouTube here.

[A screenshot of score videos on YouTube.]

In the pop-music realm, I wrote last time about how seeing Matchbox 20 in concert had inspired me to do some pop music songwriting again. I’m happy to report that I’ve done just that. I’m planning a five-song EP, and I have four of the five songs written (and have started on the fifth). One of the songs I performed once (MAYBE twice), in California, 10 or more years ago; the other four songs are brand new and never-before-heard. I’m excited to share more with you soon.

The first song is called “Who I Am Part 2.”

But in the meantime, I’m very excited to announce something I haven’t been able to announce in years: If you’re in Kansas City in October, YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO COME AND HEAR ME PLAY MY POP MUSIC LIVE, FOR FREE. That’s right, I’ll be performing at PorchFestKC this year.

This is an awesome local festival that takes place in the Valentine/Roanoke midtown area; homeowners volunteer to host musicians on their porches, and people can come to see a particular artist or just stroll down the street and stop at whatever porch sounds like their kind of jam. I did this back in 2016 (wow, that was a long time ago) and it was super fun.

A cute blonde came and crashed the party. :)

The festival is Saturday, October 14, and I’ll be performing on a porch near 39th and Broadway at noon. I’ll be debuting the new songs as well as playing others from Songs From My Shelf and maybe a cover or two. I’ll send more information and reminders as we get closer. I would love to see you there!

[The official graphic for PorchFestKC 2023.]

—-

I’ve recently been inspired by a book with a provocative title: Real Artists Don’t Starve, by Jeff Goins.

[The cover of Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins.]

As often happens with me, I bought this book a while ago but never got around to reading it until now. And it’s had a lot of really good things to say. Its goal is to expose the “starving artist” archetype as a myth and show creatives how they can instead be “thriving artists” who make money from their art, connect with their audience and have a real impact.

If you’re an artist, a creative of any stripe or even an entrepreneur, I’d highly recommend it. Jeff Goins also has a Substack you can subscribe to where he writes about writing, life, creativity and the lessons he’s learned from them all.

Thanks for reading. If you’ve made it this far, I want to let you know that I really appreciate it, and I truly hope that these newsletters bring a little spark of joy and inspiration to you. Until next time, I hope you find some small (or some big) ways to thrive.

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

I hope you are all enjoying your summer! It’s hard to believe July is almost over.

Speaking of which, this Letter is late — this isn’t the first Friday of the month. That’s because we took a family road trip to Chicago the first week of July; read more (and see some pictures of really tall buildings) below.

[The Harbison family in Chicago with skyscrapers in the background.]

I don’t have much music news to share this time; with the vacation and being between projects at the moment, I’ve mostly been doing some composition study and some melody and harmony exercises (as I mentioned in my radio interview on Classical KC). But I do have something to share with you!

I wrote last year about the Olympus Choirs Elements sound library, and how I wanted to share a before-and-after comparison of how it sounded for my piece Seal Lullaby. But I had deleted the before version in my excitement about the after. Well, a little while ago I redid another of my choral compositions, Adventus, with the Olympus library, and I did save the before version of that. So you can hear some before-and-after comparisons at this link!

[The opening system of the Adventus score.]

‑‑‑‑

I was certainly inspired by our trip to Chicago. There’s something about having to crane your neck all the way back to see up to the top of something that inspires a sense of grandeur and even awe.

[Looking up the steep side of a skyscraper in Chicago.]

We took the architecture boat tour and it was filled with beautiful buildings and fascinating history. Everything from older, ornate buildings:

[An older, ornate skyscraper in Chicago.]

to futuristic buildings (the way the future was envisioned in the 1960s):

[The Marina City Towers in Chicago.]

to a building designed to look like a bottle of champagne, built at the height of Prohibition:

[The Carbide and Carbon Building in Chicago.]

to the world’s tallest building designed by a woman architect:

[The St. Regis in Chicago.]

We also went to the Skydeck at Willis Tower, and spent two minutes in a glass box sticking out from the side of the building 1,353 feet above the ground.

[The Harbison family seemingly suspended in midair.]

On the way back we stopped at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, where we took in the beauty of natural creation after a week of the beauty of human creation.

[Wildcat Canyon in Starved Rock State Park.]

This canyon is 125 feet deep, and it was very quiet at the bottom. It was a magical spot.

These two places didn’t inspire anything directly, though they certainly “filled the well.” My other inspiration did, however.

[Matchbox Twenty performing at the Starlight Theater.]

Two weeks before our trip, I saw Matchbox Twenty perform live at Starlight Theater in Kansas City.

[Rob Thomas on a video board at the concert looking half crazed.]

I’ve loved Matchbox Twenty for more than 20 years now, but it was my first time getting to see them live. It was a fantastic show and I had so much fun.

But it also inspired me to do some pop music songwriting and recording again. If you’re interested in my pop music and you want to hear some new stuff — stay tuned.

[Matchbox Twenty performing.]

I hope you find inspiration in creations this summer — human, natural, musical, and otherwise. I’ll see you in September!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

I have one word that characterizes my Letter this month: gratitude.

It’s been a thrill and a privilege and I am fantastically grateful to have had two fantastic performances in the past two months.

Performance No. 1: The Kansas City Symphony performed Chameleons on their March 12 Family Series concert in partnership with the Kansas City Zoo.

Ever since deciding I wanted to be a composer, I’ve dreamed of having an orchestra perform a piece that I wrote, and thanks to the KC Symphony I realized that dream.

I got to introduce the piece at the concert and the orchestra of course performed wonderfully. Very grateful!

Performance No. 2: This was a different performance than I was expecting. newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble was slated to perform the live, in-person, two-flute premiere of A Long Weight of Silence in their concerts last weekend, but their flutist got sick at the last minute.

Graciously, Sascha, newEar’s cellist, stepped in to play the world premiere of Shapeshifter, the piece I wrote for her that we were hoping to premiere sometime later this year.

I’m very grateful to newEar for programming my music in the first place, and very grateful to Sascha for learning a hard piece a month or two ago and performing it at these concerts with just a few days’ notice. She did a terrific job and it was wonderful to hear the piece come to life. And the rest of the music was great too!

—-

These two performances were certainly inspiring to me this month, and I hope if you were able to attend one that the music was inspiring to you too.

I do have one other piece of inspiration for you as well. I recently discovered the music of Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian guitar virtuoso. I’ve really enjoyed his music because it’s virtuosic without being showy, and most of his songs are genuinely, sincerely, infectiously happy.

My favorite song of his is “Halfway Home.” The opening lick never fails to get stuck in my mind, in the best way, and I end up whistling it for the rest of the day. The album version of the song is on YouTube too but here’s a live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkKcd51QCiE&ab_channel=TommyEmmanuel.

I hope you find joy and inspiration in music this month. Till next time!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

I have a short and sweet Letter for you this month. My big news is I have two exciting performances of my music coming up!

Performance No. 1: The Kansas City Symphony is helping me realize a dream I’ve had since I was a kid: having a piece I composed performed by a full orchestra!!

I wrote about this piece a year ago, and now it is finally being launched out into the world. It’s called Chameleons and it’s being performed on the Symphony’s Family concert on Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m. in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I’ll be talking about the piece a bit at the concert and it’ll be a lot of fun (the whole show is about animals and is being presented in partnership with the Kansas City Zoo). Here’s the ticket link: https://tickets.kcsymphony.org/wildadventure. I would love to see you there!

Performance No. 2: newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is going to be presenting the world premiere live performance of my flute duet A Long Weight of Silence!

I composed it for Kansas City Symphony Principal Flute Michael Gordon, and he created an amazing video that was the world premiere of the “one flute in isolation” version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSgIUjob6sE&ab_channel=MichaelGordon

newEar will be performing the world premiere of the “two flutes together” version in their concerts at the end of April. Two performances to choose from! Saturday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m. or Sunday, April 30 at 4:00 p.m. at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. I’ll be at both performances and I would love to see you there too! Here is the ticket link (you can choose your preferred date and time on this page): https://newear.ticketbud.com.

—-

Two musical videos were inspiring to me over the past two months. I wrote last time about the cello piece I’m working on, and in the research process for that piece I came across two really unique string performers.

The first video featured a double bassist, Florentin Ginot, demonstrating how to play harmonics* pizzicato** on the bass. And using nonstandard tunings for his bass strings he gets some really cool sounds. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2RHu3buSh4&ab_channel=EnsembleMusikfabrik.

* ethereal-sounding notes you can create using physics and math on a string
** plucking the strings instead of using a bow

(Unfortunately I found this doesn’t really work on the cello — it doesn’t have the same resonance as the bass and this technique sounds too clunky — so I won’t be using it in my piece. But if I ever write a solo double bass piece this is definitely going to be a feature.)

I discovered the second video while researching double- and triple-stops — playing two or three strings at a time instead of just one. And I found that there’s an incredible cellist named Frances-Marie Uitti who plays with not one bow but two — one above the strings (as usual) and one below the strings — so that she can actually bow all four strings at the same time. And if you thought the double bass harmonics were cool, just wait till you hear what this sounds like: https://vimeo.com/38649952%C2%A0 (she picks up the second bow around the 7:00 mark).

I have to say one more time that I would love to see you at one or both of the performances coming up if you’re in the Kansas City area. I’m really stoked about both of them. I hope to see you there!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful and refreshing holiday season and you’re excited to jump into 2023. After a week with family between Christmas and New Year’s, I am taking this week to set my goals for the year — and set up my new Moleskine planner.

[An old Moleskine planner and a new Moleskine planner.]

Out with the old, in with the new!

I wrote last year about how goal-setting is always inspiring to me, so I won’t write about that again, but I will say that I have a goal to make 52 pitches of my music to performers and organizations in 2023. If you are a performer and you’d like to help me meet this goal by receiving a pitch, just let me know! :)

[A meme about pitches. Using baseball. Very clever.]

As I wrote about last time, my next project is a solo cello piece called Shapeshifter. I’m writing this for a new friend and I hope to be able to share a recording of it with you in the March 3 Letter.

[The opening of Shapeshifter.]

Guess I need to change that composition date to 2023…

I didn’t finish the piece by December 31, but I am currently working on revising it and then I’ll finish it up with input from the cellist.

The piece is a theme and variations, of a sort.

On a recent playthrough of Super Mario World on my Super Nintendo Classic, I was struck by the fact that the music for each of the different kinds of levels was basically the same music, in a different disguise.

You can hear all the music from the game in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgUmFPnkoHU&ab_channel=MusicGamesOnly (the theme listed as “Overworld” is the one that’s reused over and over).

[The original box art for Super Mario World.]

So the idea of Shapeshifter is to present an original theme in different disguises, with added twists of sudden shifts in pitch, rhythm, playing technique, etc.

Here’s a MIDI version of the intro (shown above in the score clip) and the theme: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/shapeshifteropening.mp3.

More next time!

—-

There were three things that inspired me over the last two months. The first thing was losing myself in choral music. I ride the bus to work every day, and amid the stress of December and the noise of a bus in the city, I would turn on the noise cancelation on my headphones and play some ethereal choral Christmas music. It was a nice way to relax for a few moments and be transported to a very different place than where I was.

[Chanticleer’s Sing We Christmas album.]

One of the ethereal choral Christmas albums I listened to.

The second thing was an article in the New York Times about humpback whale songs and how they’re constructed and how they’re passed literally around the world. A glimpse into the musical culture of humpback whales. Really really fascinating. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/science/humpback-whale-songs-cultural-evolution.html

[A humpback whale breaching.]

And finally, I’ve written before about how I’m a big fan of Dessa. I recently listened to an interview with her that made me even more of a fan.

[Dessa sitting on a couch.]

What really struck me was a comment she made about time. I’ve always said that (in an oversimplified way) the visual arts exist in space but not in time, while music exists in time but not in space.

She says something similar but looks at it from a different angle. She talks about the difference between lyrics and poetry, and who, in each case, is controlling time. Really cool.

I think (since I’m a fan, you know) the whole interview is worth listening to, but the discussion about time starts at 3:06. Listen to it here: https://www.wypr.org/show/midday/2022-11-16/dessa-on-her-music-her-writing-and-her-unique-performance-art

[Screenshot of the audio interview with Dessa.]

I hope these things bring a little spark to the start of your 2023. See you next time.

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

One of my favorite things is checking items off a list. I’m one of those people who will write something I’ve already done onto a list, just to cross it off.

[A fully crossed-off list.]

This picture makes me happy.

I got to cross something off a big list last week — I finished my rewrite of TheSpaceBetween!

[The end of TheSpaceBetween.]

I am hopeful that I may get to hear a live performance of the piece soon, but in the meantime, I’ve put the full MIDI recording up on the piece’s page on my website, where you can also look at a perusal score, read the program notes and even buy it. Check it out here: https://www.ajharbison.com/music/concert/thespacebetween.

My next project is a solo cello piece that will hopefully see several performances in and around Kansas City early next year. My goal is to finish it by December 31, so I’ll have more to share on it in my next Letter on January 6. Till then!

[A file titled “Shapeshifter” on my computer.]

—-

There were several things that inspired me over the past two months. I could have written about how the Kansas City Current professional women’s soccer team went from joining the league in 2021 and finishing in last place to playing in the championship game this year…

[The Kansas City Current logo.]

…or how I finished a really, REALLY long book…

[The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky.]

…but instead, I’m going to write about these guys:

[The Dirty Loops.]

I was introduced by a friend of mine at the Symphony to the Dirty Loops, a band I can best describe as “maximalist jazz-pop fusion.” All three of them (lead vocals/keyboards, bass, drums) are truly amazing musicians, and their music manages to be both astonishingly sophisticated and incredibly fun.

[Henrik Linder, bass player for the Dirty Loops.]

The bass player’s bass has seven — count ’em, seven — strings. A typical bass has four. I’m telling you, they’re maximalist.

They first made a name for themselves for doing covers, and their covers tend to show up their sophistication. One of my favorites is their cover of Avicii’s song “Wake Me Up.” The original song — catchy and fun, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_KJAg8bHI&ab_channel=AviciiOfficialVEVO.

The Dirty Loops’ version? An elevation of the original, with way more complexity, crazy jazz changes and a brash key change (just for the outro) that’s one of my favorite harmonic changes in any kind of music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sYj4wxyk0&ab_channel=DirtyLoopsVEVO.

[From the Dirty Loops’ “Wake Me Up” video.]

Another great cover of theirs is of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” Just listen to the insane chord changes under the chorus (and, you know, the straight-up jazz piano solo in the middle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sYj4wxyk0&ab_channel=DirtyLoopsVEVO

[The Dirty Loops’ drummer.]

I know the musical style and the songs aren’t for everyone, but the talent and craftsmanship on display in all of their songs is awe-inspiring.

I hope the final two months of your 2022 are filled with joy, hope and light. See you in 2023.

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

I have a couple of new sounds to share with you this month!

My latest composition project has been rewriting TheSpaceBetween, which was premiered last year and had another performance this spring. I wasn’t really satisfied with either version of the piece, and I’ve been fully rewriting it, with mostly new music, for a different instrumentation.

[The opening of TheSpaceBetween.]

The piece is about the distance that the pandemic put between us, and the creative ways of connecting that came about as a result. Each instrument plays a solo line, in isolation; then there are two instruments that play together, then three, then four, and so on, with a piano interlude between each group.

I’m much happier with this version, and I’d like to share part of it with you. Here are a couple of minutes from the middle of the piece, including the quartets, the quintets and the sextet, with piano interludes in between: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/tsbclip.mp3.

[The sextet, or at least three instruments’ worth of it.]

The other new sounds I wanted to share with you are those of the Olympus Choirs Elements sound library. I recently purchased this library and I’ve been very happy with the way it has sounded.

[Olympus Elements, from SoundIron.]

I spent some time a few weeks ago figuring out how it worked and creating a new MIDI demo of my choral piece Seal Lullaby. It still doesn’t sound like a real choir, of course, but it’s way ahead of what I had before.

I was going to post a before-and-after clip, but in my excitement over how good the “after” sounded, it appears I deleted all the “before” versions. Whoops…. Alas. But! You can hear the “after” on the piece’s page on my website, here: https://ajharbison.com/music/concert/seal-lullaby/.

Finally, for any regular readers who are wondering if I’m able to share news about my orchestra piece, unfortunately the answer is not yet. The performance has gotten pushed back and is not officially confirmed. But I’ll keep you posted, hopefully soon!

—-

I have two things that inspired me this past month, both music-related. Both of them are a mashup of two seemingly unrelated things that I am a fan of, and thus I can’t help being a fan of the result.

I love good rocking metal songs as much as the next guy. But when the good rocking metal songs tell the story of Norse mythology and Ragnarök, the Armageddon-esque battle between the Norse gods and the forces of evil — what’s not to love??

[Album cover of Emblas Saga by Brothers of Metal.]

Brothers of Metal are a Swedish band and they lean into Norse mythology like it’s more real than the real world.

Their official website about page begins, “BROTHERS OF METAL consist of eight powerful Viking warriors that originate from the glorious kingdom of Falun, far up in the north. Falun is a mighty town that lies within the dark iron woods where only true metal warriors reside.”

I love it.

Their label describes them as “a thunderous, catchy mixture of power metal, irresistible melodies, heavy riffs and some folkish elements,” which I’d say is pretty accurate. Their most recent single is “The Other Son of Odin,” and in addition to all those things, it also sounds like all that was awesome in the music of the 80s. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGkutszRFA. And here’s their official YouTube channel, with all their songs: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrothersofMetalOfficial.

The other mashup that inspired me started with Mozart. I love Mozart symphonies as much as the next guy.

[The opening of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor.]

But when a Mozart symphony is performed by one of my favorite non-classical bands?

[Rodrigo y Gabriela.]

Magic.

Here’s the original version of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, first movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNZGarhNKbA.

And here’s the Rodrigo y Gabriela version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxV2T563b-Y

[Rod y Gab’s Mozart cover artwork.]

I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do. See you in November!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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Dear friends,

Forgive my tardiness on this month’s Letter. It’s hard to believe July is almost over! After a busy month of June at work, a fun cross-country vacation with my family and then a couple of busy weeks after getting back, I suddenly look up and wonder where summer has gone.

But I really enjoyed the vacation. It was our first big road trip with the kids (15 hours each way!) but they did great and we enjoyed seeing my parents in central Virginia.

[Deer in my parents’ front yard.] Four deer in my parents’ front yard.

[A double rainbow and cars in the rain.] Double rainbow!

(More on the vacation below, in the inspiration section.)

In the Muse Room the last couple of months, I’ve been studying aspects of contemporary melody and harmony in a deeper and more analytical dive than I’ve probably ever done. Not a whole lot to share there, though I do feel I’m becoming a better composer.

My other main Muse Room project since returning from our vacation has been working on some preludes. At the church where I’m the music director, a pianist (often me but sometimes others) starts off the service with a short prelude, around 3 minutes. I’ve been compiling and arranging some original preludes that I’m using for this purpose.

[Me playing a prelude at church, with my daughter making a cameo in the front row.]

I’m drawing a lot of the preludes from music I’ve written in the past. There’s one based on an early draft of the melody from Rainlight, one based on a piece I wrote back in 2005, and one based on a prelude that I improvised on a new melody I wrote for the hymn “Just As I Am.” The latest one is based on a string quartet I wrote in 2012. The string quartet never saw the light of day, but the music is getting new life as a piano prelude. You can listen to it here: https://www.ajharbison.com/wp-content/uploads/pianoprelude.mp3.

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I’ve written before about how goal-setting every year is inspiring for me. I get excited about new things I want to do to become better — a better person, a better composer. Setting goals is very energizing for me.

[A Moleskine notebook and stickers, for setting goals.]

But, as with all energizing things, after a while the energy wears off and my pursuit of my goals falls by the wayside.

But something my wife and I have wanted to do for a while is a goal re-evaluation retreat — taking some time in the middle of the year to revisit our goals, assess our progress, and make adjustments if needed. We got to do it on our vacation, out on my parents’ back porch.

[My parents’ back porch. It was hot and humid but still fun.]

It was a wonderful exercise for me. I didn’t make any huge adjustments. But I did think about some slight realignments, some new short-term goals that would help me get to my larger goals. And it re-energized me to the point where I was excited to jump back in to some things (like working out) that I’d fallen out of the habit of doing. If you’re a goal-setter, I highly recommend re-evaluating at least once a year. My wife and I are planning to do another re-evaluation in the fall.

I hope to have some exciting news to share next month — revealing the identity of the orchestra piece I’ve been writing about. Stay tuned!

Peace,
AJ Harbison

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