Monday, August 1, 2011

So Sault Me

After 20 hours on the bus.

As we near the final stretch of Terry’s marathon I find my mind becoming more and more preoccupied with how I’m going to translate what I’d like to say into a piece of music.
My iPod was loaded in anticipation of this long ride and I’m taking the time to check in with some of my biggest influences, hoping for inspiration.
Gubaidulina, Part, Schnittke, Varese, Tchaikovsky, Adams, Copland, Meyer, Crumb and Ligeti are all along for the ride and provide an excellent soundtrack for an eternity on the Hound.
I know the piece will be in several short movements, each correlating to a stage of the mythical hero’s journey as described by Joseph Campbell, and I have a theme based on the numbers 3339 (the number of miles Terry ran), but I am starting to have anxiety over depicting what I want to say.
Of course, I’m not really clear yet about what exactly I’d like it to say. I think I was hoping it would all become clear as I rode the blacktop from the Sault to T-Bay.
And what a great strech of road it is. No divided highway here, no, it’s mostly 2 lane blacktop just like it was 30 years ago. There are some newer structures, to be sure, but a very high percentage of the houses and buildings would have been here in 1980 as well. 
I’d also forgotten how stunning Lake Superior is. Having grown up in lake country,  I’m finding a great deal of comfort being back in this area. I love living by the ocean in Vancouver, but the lake will always hold something special for me.
And now I have a sudden urge to put some Lightfoot on, and I think I’ll go with it.