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Words & Music: A Conversation with Poets and Composers

Boss: None of the texts I’ve written for Jake have ever tracting. Living poets can speak meaningfully into the
landed in one of my poetry collections. That’s because heart of our times. I agree with Carlos that to expand
my texts for choral setting don’t really operate well as the commissioning process to include poets is a valu-
poems. I don’t think of them as poems. They don’t re- able artistic choice. The times we live in are volatile
spond to the demands a poetry reader makes of poems. and rapidly changing. New Choral Music is a powerful
A text’s responsibilities are different. So that’s anoth- form of art with a tremendous capacity to speak into
er reason I prefer to write custom for Jake. His needs the present and shape the future. Conductors lead this
aren’t satisfied using the methods I was trained to use. process with their beautiful choices.
I’ve had to learn a very different way of writing.
I’ve come to believe that composers compromise a
great deal when they adapt most poems, because most Newhouse: How collaborative and joyful this can be!
poems weren’t made to be sung. (Leave aside for a mo- And of course, the result is a piece tailored for them.
ment that I also feel composers do a disservice to art I’ve heard some of the headaches that composers have
when they source poems from dead writers as opposed had with clearing the rights from published poets (liv-
to living ones.) I dream of a day when composers are ing and deceased) to set their work. From my point of
working directly with poets as a general rule to create view, life’s too short to be difficult about these things.
living works of art that are of the moment, and I’ve al- We all want the new work a.) to be absolutely superb;
ready put myself at the service of poets and composers and b.) to be meaningful for the conductor, the choir
looking for guidance. and the audience; and c.) to have a long life afterward
so other choirs want to sing it. Let’s have some fun
making it together.
Cordero: People need more communication and time.
The creative process is best when all the parties involved Pederson: There are so many variables for conductors
are available and willing to be there for each other. I to consider when commissioning a piece. I’ve certainly
know we are all going through difficult moments in life, heard horror stories—it’s sometimes remarkable to me
but we forget to mean it when we ask “how are you?” how resilient conductors are and how committed the
or to reply to an email sent weeks ago. Musicians can choral world is to commissioning new music. And, of
forget that they are humans first. We also need to break course, all of us composers and lyricists are incredibly
the stigma of using living poets. There is a terrible un- grateful for that resilience and dedication to new music.
spoken rule in the composition world: don’t use copy- For conductors who haven’t had a chance to com-
righted poems, be careful with living poets because mission a new work (whether music or text), it really
it will be a pain to get permissions. It can be difficult can be a wonderful experience to reach out to com-
sometimes, but that’s not always true and some of my posers/lyricists about your vision. There are so many
best pieces have come from living poets! If not, we will composers eager to chat with you and help bring that
continue to have all the Teasdale and Rosetti and not vision to reality.
much of the Flanders of the world, and I don’t want
that unbalanced future for our new choral music scene.

Flanders: I come from a background in theater where
the text and music are often created in a dynamic back-
and-forth process of artists sparking and inspiring one
another. This is the process by which Carlos and I cre-
ate. The work in theater, at its best, is very exciting. The
best choral commissions are also very exciting. Com-
missioning can be culture-changing and audience-at-

16 CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2023 Volume 63 Number 7