What is memory,
But the wisps of moving clouds;
A fleeting echo
Combining my loves of music and psychology during my college experience, I examined memory from a variety of angles. Research in psychology shows that music is well suited to evoke vivid and emotional memories. With this thought in mind, I chose pieces for this recital that illustrate the raw emotion and visual elements brought with autobiographical memories.
The first half of my recital contains works written before 1750 by composers Handel, Bach, Strozzi and Rameau. This section is saturated in emotion - joy, elation, grief, anger, hope and despair. These illustrate the emotional memories from one’s past, buried deep in the subconscious, that continue to mold and shape the way an individual interacts with the world. The second half moves closer to home, both in location and time. These are all pieces by American composers, written in the 20th century. Though many of the pieces in this set may be of unfamiliar sound to the ear, they are still accessible to the average listener with their imagery and sweeping motives. Each piece in this section contains images that remind me of home. One can hear tributes to many essences of my home - the woods of Troutbeck Lane where the stars streak across the sky, extended family and the people of EMHS and EMU who embody joy and love, the music of Community Mennonite Church which has lead my faith formation, and the mountains and clouds of the Shenandoah Valley, which has held me for all these years.
In visualizing my final project, I was drawn to include visual elements of memory, exhibited three galleries. I worked to grasp the brilliance and vividness of a memory, as well as the shifting confidence, the unreliability, and the unavoidable fade. These pictures add to the elements expressed in the music, and each series sets the stage between music sets.
When I chose many of these pieces in the spring of 2019, I could never have guessed how they might lead me and carry me through the events of the last year. When I moved home in March due to Covid-19, a few short weeks before I was to perform, I set aside my music for nearly two months. As I slowly picked each piece up again, they spoke to me in new ways. In experiencing months of loss, uncertainty, and reckoning, I found new expression in the rage, despair and hope exhibited in the first half of my recital. And similarly, after spending 149 days living in my childhood home, I found new meaning in the memory and imagery of home exhibited in the second half.
Seven months to the day from my original recital date, I recorded these pieces to share in a socially distant way. I hope that by inviting you along on this journey with me, you will reflect on the memories that have shaped you throughout your life, and dwell particularly on the memories from the past seven months. How have they shaped or changed you? Thank you for the gift of your presence. Let us gather here in a place of reflection on the past, and hope for the future. I am proud to present to you my senior recital: Memory.
Follow THIS LINK to find text and translations. I encourage you to have these words pulled up in a separate window as you listen and watch.
