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21 Sep 2011

Necessity is the mother of invention

As for most of my composition work, I will run into situations at the synagogue where a text needs--or demands--music that has yet to be written. Certainly there are many musical settings of the same texts, but sometimes I want to say something through music that has yet to be expressed by any previous settings. This is what drove me to start composing in the first place.

But sometimes, there are texts that one would expect to have many settings for, but alas--slim pickin's!

Such is the case of my latest composition, "Uvakhodesh Hash'vi'i." I know of only one choral arrangement of this line from the book of Numbers which heralds in the Jewish new year. Go figure! I looked high and low and found nothing. The one composition I did find I had the choir sing last year, but I never felt right with it.

So, with a little over a week, I sat down at my desk and came up with something! Thankfully, when I have a short deadline, I feel like I can deliver. So there it is! Hopefully the rehearsal will go well this evening!

 

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