I precariously snapped this pic out the passenger window of my car while I was at a slow crawl across the bridge. The contrast between the railing and the water of Lake Huron is incredible.
On my way back I got a call from Abbie Betinis asking whether or not I would drive up to Moorhead, Minnesota with her the next day. She was commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association of MN and the MN Music Educators Association to write something for the All-State Men's Chorus and wanted someone to share the 4-hour drive with her. She's awesome (obviously) and I was happy to oblige. As I've just been commissioned to write something for the Mixed Choir next summer it served as a great opportunity to get the sound of these amazing young people in my ears so I can write something that'll make them look as good as they are.
The All-State choirs have 2-year residencies at different colleges around the state (Saint John's University and Winona State University to name a few) and, this year, were at one of the nation's choral Meccas, Concordia College. As a graduate of one of their sister institutions, I'm always glad to walk around their incredible campus (the landscape is amazing). It reminds me of my undergrad years...
...except for their mascot, Kernel the Cobber. Boy, is that thing intimidating or what? He looks like he could kick some serious ass 'round the Food Pyramid, no?
I've got plenty of friends who are Cobbers from various years and the one thing they all talk about is this local pizzeria called Pizza Patrol. I stumbled on it during an afternoon drive around Moorhead and decided to try it. I got the pan crust (apparently it's the best) cheese pizza.
It was good. Like, really good. The crust had that crispy edge of burnt cheese around it and was really chewy. I may have eaten one or two more pieces than I intended to at the outset of my meal but, holy shit, was it totally worth it. I mean, just look at this stuff.
Abbie wrote a great piece on a Vachel Lindsay text for the Men's Chorus called Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight and watching their director, Dr. David Mennicke, work through her music with the boys was one of the most inspirational things I've seen in a while. The Minnesota All-State choirs are known across the nation for being awesome but it really hits home when you're sitting in the room watching them work. I'm incredibly grateful that I'll get to come back and work with these young people. As an added bonus, next year's All-State camps will be at Saint Olaf College in my adopted hometown of Northfield.
Plus it was just nice to hang with Abbie for the first time in a long while. We talked about how the interpersonal aspect of choral music is one of the most rewarding things about being a "choral composer." It's literally the best job in the world. And we even made it over to Dent, Minnesota to hang out with some friends of ours at their cabin on the lake.
All that being said, it was a great way to end my two months away from home. Interlochen is amazing right down to the trees surrounding everything (go ahead and look it up on Google Maps...almost the entire campus is invisible because the area is so wooded) and I got just the right amount of work done on the opera. In a few years I'll hopefully be able to get some perspective on how my writing sessions on gorgeous, new grand pianos in these little "practice huts" all influenced my writing because there is no way that it didn't.
And since I'm no poet (just in case you didn't know it), I'll let Ralph Waldo Emerson speak for me:
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
And that's that. The end of my summer.
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