Jump! A Composer Discusses Her Craft

Minnesota Public Radio aired a wonderful interview yesterday with Twin Cities composer Elizabeth Alexander.  It’s worth a listen, and not just because the broadcast includes a performance of a song called “Jump!” that’s sung by my daughter’s choir and features my husband as narrator (although that alone is reason enough, for me).

Composer Elizabeth Alexander (photo by Ann Marsden)

Alexander recently received a McKnight Foundation Composition Fellowship Grant.  Her name and face might be familiar to anyone who attended the Northfield Arts Guild’s 50th anniversary Beaux Arts Ball in December 2009, because Louisa’s Northfield Youth Choirs group gave the premier performance of “Jump!” at the ball (held at Carleton College’s Great Hall).  The choir also performed it later that spring.

Classical MPR host Steve Staruch conducted the interview (click here for the link) with Alexander, who talks in the first two minutes about how she began composing as a girl because it helped her make sense of the world.  She then discusses a piece she wrote for viola and piano called “Impermanent Things,” which plays at 3 1/2 minutes into the interview.  Ten and a half minutes into the interview, she discusses writing “Jump!” for the Northfield Youth Choirs group to sing at the NAG’s anniversary event.

Her mission was to create a work about renewing and remembering, so she came up with the idea of writing about taking a risk, of doing what had before seemed unthinkable.  As she explains, she used a quote attributed to author Ray Bradbury: “Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off.  Build your wings on the way down.”  This is the quote that you’ll hear Steve narrate in the piece, which begins at about 13 minutes into the interview.

Steve and me at the ball before the choir performance.

I’ve heard the piece performed live a few times, and it was inspiring to hear Alexander explain the process behind its creation.  Taking risks is important for growth, whether you’re a composer, a performer, a writer, or an artist of another type.  It’s nice to be reminded that those creative leaps of faith can be well worth the risk.