A Palette To Paint Us As We Are (SSA)

I first heard Gerald Rich’s moving tribute to our skins’ true colors in the late 1990s at a poetry reading. As soon as Rich recited the opening words, the whole room grew suddenly still. As I took in each delicious new image, I envisioned a musical language that would contain as much harmonic and melodic color as the poem, moving tenderly from one subtle hue to another. What I did not imagine was that this song would change me. But day after day I sought to convey through music how light reflects from one person’s body to another person’s eyes. And at some point I realized that a different lens had been made available to my own eyes, one that was less fearful, more appreciative, and full of curiosity.

I owe a debt of gratitude to friend and fellow composer Ann Silsbee, who upon hearing my final draft remarked that she was disappointed that I’d set the word “champagne” on a low pianissimo note. “I hear it as a champagne toast,” she said. “A toast to our beautiful colors!” Ann was absolutely right of course, and I immediately went home and reset the word on a gloriously bright chord.

-Elizabeth Alexander