I hope you are feeling well and finding ways to savor the natural world as an antidote to all of the human-created drama which continues to unfold here on planet earth.
As I mentioned in my previous Throwback Thursday post, I am revisiting my earliest blog posts — from almost 12 years ago — and updating them a little bit.
When I was deleting files from my laptop computer earlier this month, I found a bunch of photos from when I visited friends living in Shanghai.
With my friends’ permission I have added a few of them to my second blog post, which was inspired by an interesting thing which unfolded at the bilingual school where one of my friends was teaching.
I like the idea of a day to celebrate and honor love.
This blog post features two songs written by Steve Sweeting — a jazz pianist, songwriter, teacher, and composer who currently lives in New York City.
“I Carry Your Heart” is a song he wrote while living in Shanghai, when he was commissioned by Chinese choral conductor Jie Yi to write a song — based on an American poem — for a festival in Ningbo.
Steve chose an early poem by ee cummings.
A few years later he and I recorded a non-choral version at Doug Hammer’s studio on the north shore of Boston.
I love the images in ee cummings’ poem, and I love the way that Steve set them to music.
And I love Steve.
He and I have been friends since he lived — with a Yamaha grand piano — in a studio apartment above an ice cream store in Brighton, MA.
He and his wife and two children have lived all around planet earth, but we have remained in contact.
Right now he is working on an original musical with lyricist/librettist Geoffrey Goldberg called Piece of Mind.
It is about an 80-year-old former USO dancer named Robert whose mind is failing him.
If you live in the NYC area, Steve and Geoffrey are having two staged readings — on Monday, March 5th at 6pm and on Tuesday, March 6th at 2:00 pm — at the Davenport Theatre (354 W. 45th Street @ 9th Avenue).
It is by invitation only, but you can click on this Piece of Mind link to find out how to be invited…
The second song — “What Am I Doing Alone?” — was inspired by a phone conversation that Steve’s wife once had with a friend.
When Steve’s wife told him about this conversation, he took notes and then wrote a song inspired by her conversation.
And it took him about an hour!
These two songs represent a yin and a yang perspective on love.
Valentine’s Day is much more pleasant to celebrate when one has a beloved person with whom to share the festivities and hoopla.
And Valentine’s Day can feel rather raw and lonely if one does not have a special someone in one’s life…
I love the story that unfolds in this song.
And the sense of longing and hoping that Steve captured in the music…
As some of you may know, I recently returned from a sweet trip to visit friends in Shanghai.
Heading out on the tricycle…
They live in a row house on an alley — many of which are being torn down in order to build apartment/condo skyscrapers.
There was lots of eating, biking, exploring the city and making music.
Although there are MANY motorbikes, cars and trucks in Shanghai — as well as a beautiful and enormous new subway system — lots of people still ride bikes.
My friends had several black single-speed bikes and also built a big trike with a yellow rear bed for transporting things and people around town.
There were items for sale everywhere — including fresh fruits and vegetables; live turtles, frogs and fish; and much, much, much, much more.
One of my friends is a wonderful composer, jazz pianist, and teacher.
My friend’s mother checks out a street vendor’s wares…
He and his family have been living in Shanghai for seven years, and a couple of years ago he started teaching music in the school his younger child attends.
I was able to visit some of his classes and was happy to see — and hear — how much his students love to sing.
We even taught them a song that my friend and I had written together — back when he lived with his Yamaha grand piano in a studio apartment above an ice cream store in Allston, MA — called “Let’s Go To The River.”
They learned it quickly and sang it with great gusto.
I was delighted.
A few days after I returned home to Boston, when it looked like my friend’s primary vocal ensemble might be participating in a VIP concert for the mayor of Shanghai, two of China’s top conductors came to hear my friend’s choir sing.
Me walking near the Bund, I think…
They listened to three pop/rock/show tunes, responded warmly, and asked, “What else do you have?”
My friend projected the lyrics for “Let’s Go to The River” up on a screen at the front of his classroom, and his choir performed a rousing version for them.
After class, the conductors stayed to talk about his choir participating in the concert. One of the maestros tactfully mentioned the importance of choosing songs with lyrics that would be apolitical. He suggested “What a Wonderful World,” my friend suggested “Singing in the Rain,” and they decided that a song in Chinese would be great, too.
The maestro again reinforced the necessity of choosing lyrics with an eye to political sensitivity.
My friend didn’t think too much about the maestro’s remarks until after they had left — and he went back into his classroom and saw my lyrics still up on the screen.
Lots of people ride double like this on their bike…
The two conductors had had time to study the message of “Let’s Go to the River,” and my friend realized that it may have made them nervous that he was teaching such ‘subversive’ messages to primary school students — and might even want to perform such a message at a public event.
I have typed the lyrics at the end of this blog post.
Perhaps they are a bit subversive for our ever-more-wired-and-plugged-in-and-distracted culture in the United Stated of America, too!
What do YOU think?
Thank you to my friends for flying me to Shanghai not once but twice during their years there.
Thank you to Steve for giving me a melody many years ago to which I set these lyrics.
Thank you to Kate for her lovely graphic design for the CD — BLAME THOS GERSHWINS — of Steve’s songs which we recorded a few years ago.
And thank YOU for reading (or re-reading) this blog post!
And I love Steve.
amusicalifeonplanetearth 