Our Hilltop woods are now in their slowly creeping seasonal decline, somewhere between the green of summer and the frost of winter, which is to say accumulating with dead and soggy brown leaves that I’m too busy or lazy (so far) to rake or clean from the gutters, at least till the rest of the leaves come down. However, today they predict it will be sunny and in the mid 70’s! If so, I’ll be out on my chaise lounge this afternoon, pretending it’s still summer and clinging to whatever rays are there. With the shorter daylight now, I confess I have to work at being cheery, though I am blessed in so many ways and have no good reasons to complain. I guess I’m just a summer person.

I’m thankful to have made good progress in the last two weeks on the fourth (last) movement of my new Symphony No. 3: “English” that I mentioned last time. Its subtitle is “The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest,” which is the oldest and biggest tree in England, around a thousand years old (pictured here). If a tree can inspire music, this one has suggested to my creative imagination majestic themes and some period-English musical styles to indicate the passage of centuries that this old boy (or, who knows, girl) has silently witnessed. I also indicate in the music the timeless cycles of history by gradually modulating through the “circle of fifths,” which in a chart resembles a clock face. That description sounds rather academic, but what matters, of course, is whether the music sounds beautiful.

As usual, this year’s Grammy Award nominations came and went, and I entered but did not expect my CD to be a finalist (it was not). So this is really not sour grapes, I promise, but it does remain a mystery to me how, with a few exceptions, it is the case that most of the pieces chosen as classical composition finalists year after year after year are of the modernist, avant-garde, “interesting” style that almost zero classical music lovers actually enjoy, which have almost no album sales or streams, and which are quickly gone and forgotten? Go figure. But that’s only a comment on musical style. I’m happy for them as people, as fellow composers laboring in the trenches (many of them are friends), to get some recognition for their work.

As I mentioned last time, Crystal is currently rehearsing for the stage version of “White Christmas” in the role of Betty, played in the movie by Rosemary Clooney (left), opposite Bing Crosby. Crystal has now been at the point when I get to “read lines” with her at home, meaning I read aloud all the other parts from her script while she must act out her character’s lines from memory. Fun! She’s just about “off book,” which is the deadline coming up in a few days for the actors to have their parts completely memorized. The next week after Thanksgiving (Nov. 26^th through 30^th) will be “tech week”  — long rehearsals, running the full show every night till opening night on Friday. I think it’s called “tech” week because that’s when they also get all the lights and microphones and scene changes ironed out.

Anyone interested in auditioning for my own humble musical, Dear Miss Barrett can find audition information beginning this Friday on the theater’s site, HERE. (Search around there for it.) Auditions are Dec. 3 & 4 with call-backs on Dec. 6, and the performances run March 1 – 10, 2024. I am meeting with the director and music director to plan the audition process before that. Other than one read-through on Dec. 12, rehearsals won’t begin till Jan. 7, 2024, allowing the cast some time to begin learning their parts.

The talk I gave at a conference in D.C. some weeks ago is now published in StAR Magazine (aka Saint Austin Review), a somewhat academic but very readable journal. My talk/article is called “Truth in Music,” and you can click on Truth in Music by Michael Kurek to open a scan of the 2,000-word, two-page text, if you’d like to read it.

Thanksgiving week has crept up on us unawares! Normally, we would plan ahead in some way to enjoy it with others, but this year we are both contented to get some rest and be with our cats. No all-day cooking and then mountains of dirty dishes, I proclaim! We are determined to make it just a simple dinner with a small turkey and only a couple of sides, plus a slice of pumpkin pie. Maybe it will be a quiet day with our books and/or an old movie and a fire, if it’s cold enough outside. Sorry, Hilltop does not do football or Christmas that day. I’ll close with a wish for you to have a thankful Thanksgiving, and we’ll all make an effort to count our blessings.