INTERVIEW: Sit By The Fire • Music & Poetry
SIT BY THE FIRE ~ An evening of music & poetry
I had a fulfilling past few months composing and curating original music inspired by the words of St. Lawrence Co. authors Dale Hobson, Kiley Frank, Kim Bouchard, Jan Hutslar, Stephanie Coyne DeGhett, Neal Burdick, Max Coots, David Gonzalez & more. The evocative music and spoken passages reflected themes of life in the North Country, ranging from New York’s natural beauty, technological conundrums, to snuggling with little ones while reading bedtime stories.
Below, meet each author and enjoy a little behind-the-scenes to my musical process.
~Gretchen
SOUNDSCAPE ~ underscore ~ COMPOSition
LAKE PLACID, JANUARY / Kimberley A. Bouchard
I chose a poem from Kimberley A. Bouchard that was inspired by the Olympic oval in Lake Placid. She talks about the impact of seeing the dozens of national flags, flapping together in the bitter winter wind, as her thoughts turned to the bigger picture of current international/global relations.
As a musician, I thought about the variety of national anthems associated with each flag, and I decided to write a strong, proud anthem called, Flags of the Nations. With a few minor changes, the melody beautifully transforms into a sensitive aire that evokes themes of peace. This composition was quite a departure from my signature trad fiddle style.
My partner, pianist Daniel Kelly worked with Kim on the soundscape. Creating a mood, supporting her narrative, and subtly incorporating a few elements from my composition, Daniel improvised/underscored her recitation. At the performance, we followed this immediately with my composition. Enjoy an audio from our rehearsal.
Composing a “story” tune
Tomorrow is Waiting by Kiley Frank, illustrated by Aaron Meshon, Dial Books for Young Readers
TOMORROW IS WAITING /written by Kiley Frank, illustrated by Aaron Meshon
When I first read the children’s book Tomorrow is Waiting, I was overcome with emotion at the encouraging message of hope to our youth. For me, the jig I composed served as a soundscape to the actual story. I lifted each line from the book and notated it in the score so Daniel and I could emote an image as we played. At the performance, Kiley read the story to the audience, then the listeners imagined the story again as we performed the piece.
Kiley Frank reading, “Tomorrow is Waiting” (by Kiley Frank, illustrated by Aaron Meshon, Dial Books for Young Readers) before Gretchen Koehler & Daniel Kelly perform the jig of the same name.
THE AUTHORS
For the “Sit By The Fire” project, I composed musical responses to the works of Kimberley A. Bouchard, Kiley Frank, Dale Hobson and Jan Hutslar.
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Faculty emeriti, Kim Bouchard taught theatre arts at SUNY Potsdam for over 24 years. Her recent writing projects are spoken word pieces, intended for performance. She has performed her pieces in collaboration with musicians, spoken word artists, actors and dancers since 2005 in a variety of venues in the USA and internationally. She is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Daniel Kelly and her longtime friend Gretchen Koehler.
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LAKE PLACID, JANUARY
by Kimberley A. Bouchard
I walk under
The Flags of the Nations of the World.
Nations of People and their Aspirations, Hopes.
It is a bitter cold January morning in Lake Placid, New York.
Crushing cold
Nosebleed cold
Forehead aching cold
Flags flying, Straight out
Bold, Fluttering, Flapping
Singing:
We are here! Look at us!
Hear us!
We are together
On our planet
Together on this earth
Singing a song in the cold wind.
Hear us!
Under these flags, I cry.
Is it the cold stinging my eyes?
Is it the song penetrating my heart?
Is it the gasp of hope that fills my lungs?
Hope that someday, somehow
These flags together
Flapping, fluttering,
Will Shake down
Destroy
Demolish
The Barriers that
Separate and Divide Us.
In this bitter cold wind,
In this bitter winter cold,
The flags sing.
They send the song out on the wind.
Hear us!
I listen, staring at the collage of colors,
My eyes blurring in frozen wonder,
My heart engulfed by the sound:
Believe this.
Peace is possible.
Everywhere.
Believe this.
Hear Us.
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Kiley Frank is a former children's book editor. Her first book, Tomorrow is Waiting, illustrated by Aaron Meshon, was an Amazon Best Book of the Month pick. She is also the author of That Always Happens Sometimes, illustrated by K-Fai Steele, which will be available this summer. She reads daily with her children and hopes--among many things--that they grow up to adore books as much as she does. @hellokileyfrank on Instagram and KileyFrankEditorial.com
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Interview with Kiley Frank on North Country Public Radio about her book, including a reading by her children.
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Dale Hobson writes in and about the Adirondack North Country. He worked at NCPR from 2001-2020. Previous poetry publications include two full-length volumes: A Drop of Ink, with illustrations by Greg Lago, published by Foothills Publishing in 2011, and Light Year, illustrated by Suzanne Langelier-Lebeda, released in 2019 by Liberty Street Books. www.dalehobson.org
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When I read Dale's poem about the ubiquitous role our phones play in our lives, I found myself nodding at every every phrase! “The tape recorder and the answering machine, the typewriters which are no more. The radio, movie theaters and TVs, even the remote–the telegraph and post office have both fallen in.”
My composition offers a nostalgic look back at the 'good old days' in the form of a waltz, as the melody uncomfortably dissolves into one note to represent this dramatic change in our technology.
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A long time resident of the North Country, Jan Hutslar now serves as the Unitarian Universalist minister in Norwich, Vermont. Her writing is often inspired by the majesty of the trees, the immensity of thunderstorms, the mystery of the unknowns, and the spark of love at the core of all of us.
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I'm especially drawn to poems about everyday life. In Jan Hutslar's poem, Bread Dance, she writes about the simple act of making bread as her “hips and hands, heart and heaven connect in perfect rhythm.” I enjoyed composing a fiddle tune that captures the sweeping motions of kneading bread in my bow arm, as well as having the fiddle and piano experience the free flowing dance-like quality she describes.
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Bread Dance
Hands dusted with flour, plunged into
soft warm dough. Transforming sunlight dancing across the floury wooden surface.
The pink cosmos petals become translucent in their
blue glass jar.
The sky,
the clouds,
the new russet of
early autumn transported into the yeasty-smelling kitchen
on the wings of
sun goddesses.
An exquisite
ordinary moment.
My body expands to
fit it,
and I am
dancing a bread-song— kneading, swaying, punching,
sliding.
Just now,
rare gift-
hips and hands,
heart and
heaven
connected
in perfect
rhythm.
Jan Hutslar October 1, 2005
THE AUTHORS ~ CURATED music
In addition to new compositions, I paired compositions Daniel and I had previously composed with works by Neal Burdick, Max Coots, Stephanie Coyne DeGhett & David Gonzalez.
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Neal Burdick has retired three times: As publications writer and editor at St. Lawrence; as teacher of advanced journalism, also at St. Lawrence University; and as editor of Adirondac, the magazine of the Adirondack Mountain Club. After all that, he hired himself as a freelance writer, editor and proofreader; retirement #4 is nowhere in sight. He writes for numerous regional periodicals, from Adirondack Life to Blueline.
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Stephanie Coyne DeGhett is a writer whose short stories and essays and poems have appeared in a number of journals and lit magazines. She lives in a patch of woods at the outskirts of town and teaches in the BFA creative writing program at SUNY Potsdam.
Some of her most recent writings are in Streetlight Magazine, Story Magazine and the most recent edition of New Ohio Review. stephaniecoynedeghet@tumblr.com
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David Gonzales is a storyteller, playwright, and performer whose poetry has been featured at Lincoln Center. In addition to his latest book, Soundings, he has published two books for young readers, Tío José and the Singing Trees and Tito and the Bridge Brigade. www.davidgonzalez.com
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Max Coots’ writing was a result of a lifetime of small town and country living, reflecting on common things, experiences and people that became uncommon in retrospect. He served as Unitarian Universalist minister in Canton for 34 years. He is the author of two poetry books, Seasons of the Self, View From a Tree and a collection of sermons, Leaning Against the Wind.
PROLOGUE • Max Coots
When Love is felt or fear is known,
When holidays and holy days and such times come,
When anniversaries arrive by calendar or consciousness,
When Seasons come, as season do, old and known,
But somehow new,
When lives are born or people die,
When something sacred is sensed in soil or sky,
Mark the time.
Respond with thought or prayer or smile or grief.
Let nothing living slip between the fingers of the mind,
For all of these are holy things we will not,
Cannot find again.
THE MUSICIANS
Fiddler Gretchen Koehler and jazz pianist Daniel Kelly blend the raw energy of dance fiddling with the lyricism and improvisation of jazz. "Masterful," writes Fiddler Magazine of the duo's dynamic sound. Koehler, a Fiddlers' Hall of Fame inductee, is fluent in over a dozen distinct fiddle styles. Kelly, a U.S. State Department Jazz Ambassador, has brought his depth of knowledge of American jazz to audiences around the world. Their bold approach has caught the attention of the folk music establishment, and they were featured on NPR's "Thistle & Shamrock."
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Gretchen Koehler’s website
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Daniel Kelly's website
THE PERFORMANCE
“The blend of words and music were complex. The writings were rich and satisfying, the tunes were evocative, and your duo’s playing was masterful. I am in awe of the wonderful, creative minds we live among in our region.”
Gretchen Koehler & Daniel Kelly’s concert “Sit By the Fire,” Potsdam Public Library.
THANK YOU
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the NY State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the NY State Legislature, and administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.