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Why Choose Joy?

Commissions can take many forms. I have written pieces that celebrate special occasions, I have written works that tackle serious issues, I have created commissioned pieces that commemorate historical events, and I have written commissions that encouraged me to just play around in my imagination.

I have also written too many that are memorial works. Each piece of this type is a reminder to me (and, I hope, to the audience and performers) that time is our greatest gift and most valuable asset, and we are always spending it, whether we intend to or not. When we ask someone for their hand in marriage, we are asking for and offering our most treasured possession. Our time. Our lives. When we choose a profession, we are agreeing to dedicate our time to this. When we lose someone, we are simultaneously grateful for the time we have had with them and grieving for that time being depleted.

We never get time back. Ever.

In May 2021, I was approached by Joe Glass of Salyards Middle School about a commission. Joe and I have collaborated on a work before (Siege), in which I spent a week with him, his staff, and his students to create a work. We created a fun piece of music, but more importantly we created a friendship that has continued ever since. It was time well spent.
Joe asked if I would be interested in a new commission, but that the circumstances were somewhat unusual. It is with his permission and the permission of the family involved that I am sharing these details. He told me about Nicole Crandall, a recent graduate from the high school that Joe's program feeds and his former student. Nicole had been battling Level 4 Glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain cancer. She was then 20 years old and had been moved into hospice care. To celebrate her, they have asked that I create a work in her honor. Illness is the thief of time.

In spite of this, Nicole and her family had created a motto that they used to navigate this difficult time. “Choose Joy”. I was very moved by this, as I feel too many people waste their time (and their lives) choosing hate, choosing anger, choosing misery. Do those emotions legitimately exist? Absolutely, but I can safely say for myself that there have been moments where I gave energy to them and fed them, instead of shutting them down.

Choose Joy. I like that.

For those of you that may have been touched by cancer (either yourself or a loved one), I am sure you can agree that we never know how much time we are given on this Earth, but life events such as these can put a lot of things in perspective.

To Joe, thank you for trusting me with this project.

To Nicole and her family, thank you for reminding us that happiness can be a choice, even in the face of incredible adversity.

It is raining as I finish writing this, and I looked out my window just now. Instead of thunderheads, there is a rainbow shining in the heavens.

Even in the darkest clouds, there can be beauty and light.

Peace, Love, and Music

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