The Sandy Hook kids should be teenagers today
April 16, 2020
Rick Robinson writes:
Dear Friends,
What a mess, huh? I hope you and yours are all safe and sound
during the worldwide COVID-19 emergency, and making surprising
discoveries of music online if you're safe, but stuck waiting at home
too.
Like everyone else who brings people close together, the
performance half of CutTime® is suddenly on hold. However, the creative
engine of CutTime has been very busy digging through some of my earliest
arrangements and recordings, chilling the Urban Requiem Project,
plus arranging old classics and composing fresh ones for that day we
can eventually gather safely again and caress your eardrums with velvet
sounds. (Schubert's 8th Symphony, for example.)
Second, let me express gratitude to the universe that let me complete the sale of my house
in early-Feb. and move in with my sister to help each other in the near
term. I've lowered my expenses considerably and we make a pretty good
team to get thru this, right at the SE corner of Palmer Park in uptown
Detroit. I've been riding my bike in the park quite a bit and observing
people. Often in contrast to the sunny weather (when available) and the
severe financial stress, most in the park seem to be feeling pretty
good. I like to point out how this horror has placed half the world's
population near the same boat (so many are IN the water). Let's
hope it also leads to great things. Wouldn't it be great if I could
write some music in this time that could reflect or even help make the
latter a reality?
These are the things I think about and attempt to put into action leading a charitable artistic enterprise. How can we be of practical benefit to the world: a tikkun olam. I had a breakthrough the other week. I returned to a very unusual and powerful composition I'd started in reaction to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
just before Christmas 2012. This music formed in my mind after this
young man, who was known to the school because his mother worked there,
coldly shot everyone in sight with an assault weapon, including twenty
little kids. In the music I captured the joy of children exploring their
world, starting with one set of parents. They sing a lullaby to their
unborn child, who in turn learns to sing more and more acrobatically
with the other kids at school, until the unthinkable moment. Bring a
hanky! Let The Children Play might just be music that can
support victims' parents in their lawsuit against gun maker Remington
for marketing a killing machine like a G.I. Joe. The 7-minute work has a
determined, Brahmsian ending.
You can hear a synthesized prototype here on SoundCloud.
I hope to hire musicians to record a quartet version of the work
remotely. We only need to raise the funding ($1,200) to record this new
work for posting on social media and then link to you. I hope you can
pitch in with a donation at Fractured Atlas... but ONLY if it's comfortable for you.
For
contrast, another creative work is a set of hot jazz variations on a
very popular American tune! I'm so excited to add this delightful fun
into the next rehearsed CutTime Simfonica shows. Speaking of which, we
are contracted to play Birmingham Temple again this Nov. 7 (Sa)
evening. (Fingers crossed!) I hope you'll mark your calendars as I'll
introduce the audience to a stellar new talent I've discovered on oboe
and English horn. We will play both my sunny Gigue Rondo and the autumnal Idyll on a theme from Mahler's Ninth Symphony. We'll probably work something else in too to show her off.
Of
course, every arts organization is digging up their video archives in
lieu of live performances. CutTime would be no exception... except that
we could rarely afford high-quality video recording for our YouTube
channel. Our audio tracks at SoundCloud,
however, already offer a HUGE variety of live concerts with quality
sound, and I invite you to let them run in sequence at home. You can
even email me questions about them to rick@cuttime.com .
Another beneficial track of ours is the musical meditation I called Breathe, Out.
I've added an introduction to help people strengthen lungs, destress
AND learn how classical music works. Then I direct everyone to start
breathing deeply with the music. This could open a whole new way of life
for some; with reflection, gratitude, patience and awareness. Who doesn't need that skill right now?
Another recording I may be releasing in a series over 16 weeks is the 2015 premiere of Art As A Weapon: Five Scenes of Frida and Diego in Detroit,
a stageplay by Louis Aguilar, recorded for ArtX Detroit. This recording
from the Detroit Film Theater pit features only the music, where I hit
19 different styles in 23-minutes of music. I could draw a symphony or a
dance party from this music! It has some of my biggest earworms, esp. Track #7!
My
final thoughts today... if classical music has ever seen a time to
adapt, this is it. I hope you'll increase your attention and donations
to the Detroit Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Detroit and other essential, local classical music presenters. And if you're curious to see the NEW CLASSICAL
CutTime is making today and when we come out again, support us via
Fractured Atlas (for a tax-deduction), by direct gift, hire us for a
house concert later, or suggest your local presenters hire CutTime as
replacements for cancelled artists. I promise world-class playing, deep
drama, rich rewards and catharsis in the wake of this crisis.
- Rick Robinson
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