Music Meets Drama

Sitting in my closet are two plastic storage containers that hold the physical history of my Gena Branscombe project that began in 1999.  Manila folders hold my handwritten research notes from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts where I found Gena’s original manuscripts, published works and Laurine Elkins Marlow’s dissertation.  Also in folders are copies of letters from Gena Branscombe’s family, my contract with Albany Records, copyright approval to record certain songs and also to print specific poems in the CD booklet, a fairly large  number of pictures, two 3-ring binders with copies of nearly all 150 of Gena’s songs, cards and letters from people who purchased my CD or attended one of our performances, magazine articles about Gena or myself, programs and publicity from performances of my one woman show and lecture recitals I have given.  In addition I found the original mock-ups of the publicity brochure I designed for “Life! Love! So...

Just four days after the events of September 11, 2001, Martin and I had a recording session.  It was an arduous two hours as we were changing microphones, repositioning microphones as well as changing where I would stand.  Then we dealt with various other technical glitches that had to be fixed.  As the session drew to a close we had not recorded what had been planned for the day.  David Smith, our recording engineer, called up from the booth to suggest we record one more song before calling it a day. Looking through our prepared songs, I chose the shortest one, “Dear Lad O’Mine.”  Martin found his copy, I positioned my sheet music on the music stand preparing to begin recording, when we heard David say from the booth, “oh, my.”  David had read the first line of the poetry, “War gods have descended, the world burns up in fine.”  Oh, my, indeed.  Strong words, strong musical setting and an emotional connection to what had forever cha...

In March 2008, Martin and I presented “Life! Love! Song!   A Visit with Gena Branscombe” at Hofstra University.   Little did we know that in the audience that day was a former member of the Branscombe Choral, Agnes Conway.   At the talk-back after our concert, a woman raised her hand and said she had her personal pictures and programs of the Branscombe Choral and letters from Gena Branscombe that she would like to give me.   To say the least, the audience was as surprised as we were!   A Branscombe Choral member was in our midst!  In a binder lovingly cross-stitched with Gena Branscombe’s name and a fancy border, we found two Christmas greetings from Gena, copies of two articles written by the composer/conductor for the “Showcase, Music Clubs Magazine,” an invitation to a tea in honor of Gena’s 90 th birthday, concert programs, and letters from the composer to Agnes.   In addition a small photo album again with cross-stitch, “The Branscombe Chor...

Women’s History Month officially came to a close yesterday.   As many of you may have seen, I posted on my Facebook page, Life! Love! Song!  A Visit with Gena Branscombe, a short biography and photo of thirty different women composers of Gena’s era (1881-1977).   On International Women’s Day I posted a photo and biographical information on Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana who in 1916 voted for equal voting rights for women in all states.   To honor all thirty-one women during March was a learning experience and an eye-opener for their accomplishments. What struck me as I did my research was that 23 of these women attended college including Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Leipzig Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Conservatory of Music, Peabody, Columbia, New York University and other schools.   These same women studied with the great composition teachers of the time whether here in the United S...