Orchestral reading of "In a Midwest Field in January, Just to Get Out of the House," composed for Annika Socolofsky, by Grey Rose Grant.

Program note:
Memory outlives kindnesses, outlives cruelties, outlives regenerative actions, outlives destruc- tive actions, outlives joys, outlives sadnesses. Memory outlives death, until memory dies. We will die at least twice. Until then, we preoccupy ourselves with creation. Many thanks to everyone who I have been in conversation with throughout the duration of this composition process. Special thanks to Annika for your friendship and musicianship and to Professor Chambers for your guidance throughout this compositional process and throughout the past (nearly) 10 years. - February 2022.

Words:
and the hands that were held will be held again,
and the lake-tides will swell with the wind’s returning,
and the body knows to build itself back,
and the bodies below will someday bloom,
and the almanac knows when life resumes.

No, no, no you do not understand,
these are queer hearts and queerer hands;
homeowners of tender-button-tongues 
singing praise to the summering-sun.
No, no, no, there is nothing to end,
these gardens return again and again.
Lichen and blueberries will always rise,
remember, memory often lies.

and the hearts in the hands of distant friends,
and the friends with the hearts holding on by the end of a thread,
and communities know how to go and regrow,
and gathering places whither and wane,
so we forego gathering, convinced we’ll be the same.

No, no, no, there’s nothing wrong here
aside from the simmering, soon-to-come fear.
Renters lose and landlords win,
and municipal codes deem housing a sin.
No, no, no, there is nothing but ends,
usually frayed, too tangled to mend.
Parents die and children grow,
and we don’t know what we don’t know.

In A Midwest Field In January, Just to Get Out of The House for voice and orchestra

I write music, and I do some singing, and some dancing. It's real fun.

In A Midwest Field In January, Just to Get Out of The House for voice and orchestra

Grey Rose Noise