The Notes Will Carry Me Home, an anthology of writings on music from Evansville and the tri-state area, is now available! The anthology was made possible thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra , Bird Brain Publishing, and 28 talented writers.
I had a great time this past Saturday night at the #EvansPhil concert debuting The Notes Will Carry Me Home at the concert. The book is now available at Your Brother's Bookstore, Bluestocking Social, H&H Music, as well as at the EPO offices, and online at Barnes & Noble and the evil empire Amazon! It has also been added to Goodreads.com.
Today I'm including a sneak peak - the foreword written by yours truly - below.
Happy reading!
Foreword
When the EPO hired Roger Kalia as its new music director, it also resolved to increase its presence in the Evansville community and to collaborate even more with other organizations. The pandemic season of 2020-2021 made this difficult, but this initiative still got off to an excellent start, as you will read in Roger’s piece in this volume.
I have served the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra as a trombonist and staff member for nearly six years, but only recently did I become involved with the Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville. Bringing writers into the concert hall may not be as much of a no-brainer as having dancers accompanying music by Astor Piazzolla or showcasing artists during Modest Mussorgsky’s biggest hit. But dissertations could be written on the great many classical music compositions that are based on literary works. An entire orchestral season could theoretically be programmed using nothing but music inspired by Shakespeare. Many prominent musicians—one thinks of Leonard Bernstein, Glenn Gould, and Alfred Brendel—are also fine writers. I conceived the idea of an anthology of music writings written by musicians and authors with strong ties to Evansville and the tri-state.
By the time we hear the EPO’s October 2021 concert, “Literature & Music,” it will have been a little over a year since I mentioned the idea to John William McMullen at Bird Brain Publishing. John is not only a publisher and a writer, but a lover of music whose books include one on the French composer, Olivier Messiaen. A few weeks later, I worked up the courage to pitch the idea to Kimberly Bredemeier, executive director of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and to Roger Kalia. To my tremendous relief, all were enthusiastic about the project.
Perhaps an even bigger relief, however, was the outpouring of interest I received from the writers I reached out to. Following my call for submissions of academic essays, personal essays, and poetry having to do with classical music, jazz, and the like, I was humbled to find how many were excited for the project, eager to submit their work, and supportive of the undertaking. As I was finalizing the roster of writers, I kept thinking of others I could and perhaps should have asked. Among the writers—some I know very well, and some I haven’t yet had the pleasure—are (unsurprisingly) a number of musicians, including members of the EPO; faculty members of both the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana; previously published authors of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; and four married couples.
The title, “The Notes Will Carry Me Home,” comes from the last line of the final poem in this anthology. The line resonated with me because of the strong sense of community my wife Emily and I felt from almost the first moment we moved to Evansville in August of 2015. The rallying support I’ve felt behind this project, particularly from the writers, has only cemented my affection for the city. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve as editor for this book.
Joshua Britton
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