A week or two ago I completed work on "Pencil Songs" for baritone voice and piano. I would like to share the journey from inspiration to conception to completion.
Last fall my colleague, Sergio Espinosa, stopped by my office with a book in hand and said, "George, you have to read this book!" I leafed through a few pages of David Rees' "How to Sharpen Pencils" and chuckled a few times. I asked Sergio if I could hang on to the book for a little while, and he graciously granted my request.
A bit later that day, one of my Counterpoint students complained of a broken pencil tip. I said, "wait!" and ran next door to my office and returned with the book, and shared a line from it. The students were amused. I said, "I should set some of this book to music!" The students enthusiastically endorsed this idea, and the germ of the idea for Pencil Songs was born.
Of course, one must get permission from the copyright holder to set someone else's words to music. More on that story in part 2.....
Last fall my colleague, Sergio Espinosa, stopped by my office with a book in hand and said, "George, you have to read this book!" I leafed through a few pages of David Rees' "How to Sharpen Pencils" and chuckled a few times. I asked Sergio if I could hang on to the book for a little while, and he graciously granted my request.
A bit later that day, one of my Counterpoint students complained of a broken pencil tip. I said, "wait!" and ran next door to my office and returned with the book, and shared a line from it. The students were amused. I said, "I should set some of this book to music!" The students enthusiastically endorsed this idea, and the germ of the idea for Pencil Songs was born.
Of course, one must get permission from the copyright holder to set someone else's words to music. More on that story in part 2.....