I had a lot of inquiries into Blessings, Peter de Metss beautiful setting of my poem, written for our dear friend, James McCullough. All choral singers whith whom I have done the work have loved it. The story of the work starts with meeting composer James McCullough at the 2009 ACDA National Convention. For some fortunate reason, this seasoned musician decided to spend the conference with us, telling stories of his days at Harvard, studying with Dan Pinkham, AND his early interactions with Undine Smith Moore, a pillar in the spiritual genre. When it was time to leave, James said to us, My papa always said Look for blessings every day. Today, you are my blessings. It was an emotional goodbye. Later, Peter would say to me, I want to do something special for James but I dont want you to steal my idea. I know what you want to do. You want to write him a piece. Let me write a poem for him and you can set it. I said. And so - somewhere over mid-America, I wrote Blessings. Peter would set it with tremendous sensitivity. Heres the text and a link to a performance. My papa said Look On the streets In the churches In the synagogues In the mosques In the heart of humankind My papa said Look for blessings In the valleys On the mountaintops In the profane In the divine In the hearts of young and old My papa said Look for blessings every day. In your rising In you living In your breathing In your going down In your heart of soul and flesh My papa said Look for blessings every day. You, in this brief moment A shared sigh Laughter Worldly tears And sacred joy You are my blessings. Contact me or Peter de Mets if you are interested in the piece.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:10:48 +0000
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