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Solo
2024
Baritone
Piano
- Program Notes
- When my friend Kyle Forehand asked me to compose a song for him to sing for the inaugural Indiana SongSLAM! competition in December of 2023, I was incredibly excited. Kyle had taken German with me that semester and we had discussed collaborating. Having had just turned 20 years old, I was experiencing the anxiety and absurdity of growing up. It seemed not long ago that my brothers and I lived in the same house, that I would come home from school and immediately start riding my bike with the kid that lived next door. I wanted to find a poem that reflected on growing up in a beautiful way. I thought Gidlow's poem does that. The speaker tells the young girl that life becomes more difficult in some ways and that she should enjoy life while she can. I hypothesize that this poem is written to either a younger family member or to a younger version of herself, perhaps encouraging them to always appreciate life's beauty, while also grieving her youth.
- Performer Credits
- Kyle Forehand (baritone); Courage Barda (piano)