A Composer’s Journal, April 5-14, 2005

Journal entries by composer and pianist Laurie Conrad

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A Composer’s Journal, April 5-14, 2005

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A Composer’s Journal, April 5-14, 2005

Wednesday, April 5

Went to the store and bought a “mailbox” for Fairy Hollow, wooden, with a little door & latch. Wrote “Mailbox” over the little door in small wooden letters, glued on. Hung it from the old climbing rose. Answered the children’s notes, said the fairies were away for the winter & would return when the weather was warmer.

My next task is to cobble together some sort of soundtrack of the Quintet on CD to submit to grants. I might have to do this at the television studio. Al dropped off the audio to the open rehearsal transferred to CD, hung from the front door as usual. Unfortunately, I did not see it there & slammed the door shut on it. It seems to have survived.

Sad news from my illustrator & friend & interviewer Diana Souza, in the form of an e-postcard: “dear Bobbi left for the Heavenly Fields today about 2:30. The house is now catless. She was truly a wizard of sweetness and will be missed.” A photo of Bobbi wearing wire spectacles & a little cone-shaped hat, fringed at the very top - reading a book. (Bobbi was obviously on the Philosophic Path, a jnani.) I will ask Diana to include the photo with this posting. I must say that Diana has a remarkable way with words, & should probably be the one writing all these books.

Thursday, April 7

Still sick, haven’t written a note of music. Called Carolyn & E. said “You’ve been sick for so long, it would be a surprise to hear that you are well.” I haven’t seen them in many weeks, nor been to the television studio. My neighbor Millie said: “Stay indoors. You shouldn’t be working in the garden. The warm weather is a shock. When it gets cold again, it’s a shock.” A message from JF, she’ll come by again tomorrow, to work on the interviews. Listened to the CD of the open rehearsal - it’s actually very good, better than I remembered. It will make for a very interesting television show I think. I will own the copyright, & in a year we can sell it.

Both CDs, “Early Songs” & “Visions” are now being played on the web, on http://www.newyorkmusic.com.

Saturday, April 9

The results of my last Buzzle Poll question, “I am reading a Composer’s Journal backwards because”: 72% said they hadn’t typed my name in search & had to go backwards in order to find the next entry; 3% said they were too lazy to go all the way back & then read in chronological order; 25% said they prefer reading them backwards. I really laughed at the last answer ...


Worked a bit more in the gardens, clearing space for the new life. Many people walking through them, with obvious joy and wonder. Crocus, Siberian blues, rock garden iris and daffodils everywhere, in the beds & in the lawns, splashes & clumps of unexpected color. Often I look at the gardens & inwardly remind myself that I wish my music to be like the gardens, & the gardens to be like my music. A different sort of painting - but color, texture & form underlies the Beauty of each. I might have lost the big climbing rose, New Dawn, on the corner. I hope not.

Had dinner with Bob Spear. More stories about Stradivari & Amati. He continues his work on the geometry for his new instruments. He asked if I was working on the new cycle for choir & his almost finished string octet. I had to admit that I had not written down one additional note. But he knows by now that means little; when I next sit down to write, I will cover many pages of manuscript paper with small, scribbled notes & some frail stems.

Thursday April 14

Looked in the mailbox in the old climbing rose & found more messages. One with a brightly colored drawing on a torn slip of paper saying “Happy Spring”; another in a big white envelope, folded over, inviting the fairies to tea at 6 p.m. Another just said “Dear faires! Come back, it’s spring!” I set up the wooden table from last summer and made four new chairs out of small pieces of wood and bark from the kindling stack near the coal bin. Set the table with a tiny porcelain tea set I found at the dollar store, a sort of russet color. I hope there’s enough room for the foxglove ... If not, I can trim the leaves on that side ...

Still sick, & still not writing any music. Although JF & I have finished the interviews.

Carolyn, E. & Ian came last night; today M. & E. left for New York City, a four day trip alone together. Carolyn & Ian will stay over Saturday night, with me. Ian has a remarkable vocabulary for someone not quite three years old. I bought him a cowboy hat, guns & holster for Christmas - last night he insisted that I buy him more guns, although we could not decipher exactly what sort he wanted. Today I bought him an arsenal at the dollar store - I think he wants guns because of Star Wars ... So I tried to find some that look like blasters. I must say the woman at the dollar store gave me a weird look. Carolyn said he wears the pirate sword I got him constantly, tied to him by a scarf, wrapped like a sash around his waist. I wonder how Louise would feel about all this ...

I must write that grant application & edit the recording of the concert for the television show. Checked the Buzzle site: 33% now say they prefer reading A Composer’s Journal backwards.
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