At Last, Jen Arrived in Montana

I picked Jen up from the airport and we couldn’t wait to get started on our new pieces.  We started right away by talking about the music in the car and making practice plans.

Once we were at my house, Jen unpacked and we got right to work.  Since we had practiced on our own and then worked on our ensemble through the recordings, we were able to work on phrasing and expression right away:  we talked over the texts and worked out what we wanted to express with each piece and cycle, we experimented with timing, dynamics, and we also talked a lot about the interaction between our parts.  

The next step was to meet with Lynn Petersen, the composer from Helena Montana, and play her songs for her to be sure we were expressing her intentions.  We were able to meet her at our first performance venue, St.Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral.   Jen and I got to the church early to hear how our duo would sound in the space and experiment with how we would set up. Then Lynn arrived and we performed each of her pieces and discussed them with her.  She offered suggestions about articulations and commented on the musical decisions we had made.  I think that one of the most exciting things about this new project is the collaboration we will have with living composers.  We are so glad that we had the opportunity to work with such an encouraging, enthusiastic, and talented musician.

-Heather