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About the Composer
Dale Trumbore
Dale Trumbore
Light Like Letters
Three movements explore facets of mental health—loneliness, social anxiety, and depression—with innovative, contemporary language free from cliché.
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Part of Me Hurtling Toward
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Star Field
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Tritina for Patience
SSA(A) Chorus and Piano
The three movements of Light Like Letters explore how we move through three challenging aspects of mental health—loneliness, social anxiety, and depression—with grace and lightness.
In Part of Me Hurtling Toward, a restless piano accompaniment reflects a mind trapped in questions. In Star Field, we see ourselves—even our social anxiety and desire for connection—reflected in the stars. The upper register of the piano accompaniment reflects the “anxious” activity of the stars, and as the poem describes people instead of the skies, the accompaniment moves into a more grounded, lower register. And in Tritina for Patience, we explore “gloom” with a lightness unexpected in poems about sadness or depression—but here, it is this very lightness that allows us to accept the complexity of our minds and move through the gloom.
Composer’s Notes
These three movements may be performed in any order.
Part of Me Hurtling Toward was commissioned by The Radcliffe Choral Society (Harvard University) and premiered by this ensemble with Hana Cai, conductor.
Star Field and Tritina for Patience were commissioned by the Wellington High School Valkyries and premiered by this ensemble with conductor Bradford Chase, conductor and accompanist Lisa Moss.
-Dale Trumbore
Text
STARFIELD
There is an uneasy peace between the stars.
Distance is never neutral—it is charged
with a social anxiety. For want of touch
stars question their place, forget after months
& decades & blips & eons whether
they are loved. They try to scootch together
& leave tracks across the starfield, rough
scratches in the void that will not buff
out. Stars send light like letters across the expanse
& as they stretch, the universe expands.
Our telescopes are weak, plus we can’t hear
the sighs at night. Stars look so close from here.
TRITINA FOR PATIENCE
Once, I thought I’d leave this world too soon.
I’d not yet learned to put reins on my gloom
& let it canter through impeccable gardens.
A mind should be a forest, not a garden.
I once thought I would leave this world too soon
but now I braid the blue mane of my gloom
into diamonds of gloom, fishtails of gloom,
& clutch them as I trample through the gardens
that never suited me. I’m patient. Soon
impatiens will spring from my garden, bright as gloom. Oh, soon.
PART OF ME HURTLING TOWARD
-Erica Reid
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