Song
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Coming up to breathe at the start of a new semester is essential. Coming to The Deepening Ground to share those limited breaths, however, feels impossible. Just staying a day ahead of your students in the course material while being present in each moment for the necessary interactions, the life-giving exchanges of human-to-human, while carrying…
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Playing around with my banjo early this summer I came upon the chords and melody that would eventually become the first song I had composed since I finished my constellation series over a year ago. Here, I shift my attention to the myth of Narcissus and Echo. As Northrop Frye said in “The Keys to…
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Believe it or not, I still use CDs. In fact, in looking for a used Chevy Suburban to replace the one I lost, the lack of CD player in the more modern cars has been a big turn off. I know: get with the times, Anastasi! But I have to admit, I want to hold…
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For the first time in nearly ten years, I’ll be back in local coffeehouses playing music with my sons — except now it’s the next generation! Shortly after I released At the In Between in 2012, I began “touring” with my two eldest sons. We played wineries, coffee shops, and farmer’s markets and made many…
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Ever since I listened to Malcolm Guite’s YouTube post on November 23rd, 2024, I’ve been pondering what he shared about music and silence and noise as inspired by Sophie Jones. (You should listen to BOTH presentations!) For me, it immediately inspired the thought, “Wouldn’t that make for a great villanelle!” Of course, the concept of…
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Six years after beginning my constellations project, it is finished. I completed “Orion” on April 4, 2018; I finished Aries on June 24, 2024. Now that the compilation is complete, I’ll be turning my attention to developing shows around each of the three EPs I have planned around the constellations that appear in each season.…
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The beauty of Pisces rests in the tethering. Flipping back through all my drafts of this song, one phrase remained constant: “tether me to you.” The story of Pisces goes back to the mythology surrounding Typhon, the most awful monster the world had ever seen, with a hundred dragon heads with black tongues and eyes…
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I started work on “Cassiopeia” back in late February, reading up on the mythology behind the constellation. Once again, we encounter a vain and boastful character whose ultimate demise reminds us of the danger of vanity and unchecked pride. But what stood out to me as even more important was the cost of her vanity.…
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When I began to study the myth of Aquarius, the abduction of the young, attractive shepherd boy from his father’s fields bothered me. And the fact that his father seemingly rolled over and yielded to the wishes of the gods in exchange for a pair of “fine” horses or a golden vine puts Tros on…
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Arriving late for Christmas day itself, like the magi that arrived much later at the door to Jesus’ home (see Matthew 2:1-12), I come bearing three gifts: two poems and a song. I have spent the last seven days savoring time with family between my son’s wedding and celebrating Christmas itself. If you have a…
