About
To you,
My name is Abigail Jones Walker and I teach bassoon IRL at the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College. I have a heart for new music and new art, but primarily, I have a heart for collaborative efforts using art as vessel. I have had the honor of premiering 13 new works for bassoon in the last 2 years.
My passion is commissioning and inspiring composers to write new music for my instrument and for the engagement of art music audiences!
This project is a part of the blooming of those two friendships. I am commissioning a new work for two bassoons and narrator by John Steinmetz to be premiered at the International Double Reed Society 2019 Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida in August of next year.
In the words of Beethoven in a letter he wrote to his brothers in 1803, it seems "impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce, and so I endured..." I truly know that art has the power to create hope and help others carry on into the unknown and uncharted paths of life.
Here is how our creation will be built:
Step 1: Abigail needs your help to raise the commission fee for the 10-12 minute long piece. John's commission fee is $7,500.
Step 2: Jeff picks inspiring music, art, poetry, and literature that has acted as catalyst for his career and teaching style.
Step 3: Abigail improvises melodic fragments based on Jeff's picks.
Step 4: John composes said piece from recordings of Abigail's improvisations.
Step 5: Abigail and Jeff perform the new composition for bassoonists from all over the world.
Step 6: Future Performers of this piece will get the opportunity to make selections inspired from the written score to be read by the narrator.
Step 7: Everyone enjoys the combined richness of music engagement and teamwork.
I am certain that this piece will be light to those seeking to play their part in the creation of art. Jeff shared this video with me last week: 200 Years of Woodwinds in which, Samuel Barber talks with the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet about music. The video mentions that Barber's "Summer Music" was commissioned by many people with small to moderate individual donations. At the premiere they say, everyone felt a feeling of ownership. One lady made a cake with the first theme written on top. Sol Schoenbach responded, "Way to taste the opening."
I am constantly inspired by others. My esteemed colleagues: John Steinmetz, master composer and Jeff Keesecker, Master Bassoonist and Bassoon Pedagogue (and also my former teacher at Florida State Univesity turned colleague and life-long friend) have been a source of consistent peace and growth for me.
Backers will be able to purchase this piece or receive their free copy of the score (according to their level of support) from TrevCoMusic.com starting Fall of 2019.
Two more quotes for you:
1. Ralph Waldo Emerson says,
"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to ear the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, hether by a healthy child, a garden patch...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, This is to have succeeded."
This is what I aim for in all I do. I hope you will consider backing our project today.
Thank you for your consideration and valuable contributions towards this incredibly exciting project. I hope that we, too, can build what Barber and the Detroit Woodwinds built last century, but I hope that we can build it now, with our newness.
John and I both love a German poet named Rainer Marie Rilke.
2. Rilke says, "Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other."
I am honored to greet you here, in this place, right now; and may we all play our part in bringing more connections, community, musical friendships, and art into the world.
Peace and Thank You!
Abigail
Risks and challenges
I know that there are risks associated with every project, but I know Jeff and John well enough to confidently say that we will be able to navigate these risks together.
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