Calendar Girl:
Composer pens 30 songs, one day at a time

“I sit down to the piano regularly at nine-o’clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.” --Peter Ilytch Tschaikovsky

A time-tested method of curing writer’s block is to simply write something every day. Pay no attention to form, substance or value.

Just write.

A friend of composer Linda Kernohan used the same philosophy to create one small work of art every day for a year. Facing her own block after moving from San Diego to Detroit, Linda took on the personal challenge of writing new music every day for a month.

A bolt out of the blue

  Newly wed, she now lives in Clawson with her husband, Brian, who is in a residency program with Detroit Medical Center. Although friends in California responded to their move with a combination of horror and pity, the couple has found Detroit does indeed have “gravity and breatheable air.”
   “The only problem for me,” Linda said, “is there aren’t enough Mexican restaurants.”
In California, Linda was building her career as a composer and pianist. She had works commissioned for violist Ralph Farris of the ETHEL string quartet and La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, performed in venues as diverse as a West Hollywood nightclub and the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican.
From 2000 to 2002, she was half of the Giesel Library Toy Piano duo with Scott Paulson, appearing on ABC’s World News Tonight and PBS’s California Gold.
   But two months into their new life, something was missing.
   “Since we moved here, I hadn’t gotten back into composing,” said Kernohan, who had started blogging what she and her husband Brian have called “Our Detroit Odyssey”-ourdetroitodyssey.wordpress.com. When Brian’s birthday rolled around, Linda decided at least she could write something for him.
   “I sat down and wrote a piano piece... The idea struck me like a bolt out of the blue,” she said. Her idea is now on-line, as The 30 Days Project. “I thought, this should snap me out of my stuck place.”

Writing on the fly

   Every day after, Linda got up, ate breakfast and sat down at the piano. She didn’t start out with any organized plan, no “today, I’ll write a fugue” or “tomorrow, a sonata.” The way things worked out, she really didn’t have time to be so organized.
Still, her muses showed up every day, right on time.
“It has worked out, I’m so fortunate,” she said. “I’ve been able to respond to things that are going on.” Her composition for September 7, for instance, was inspired by the death of world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti, and her blog post shared her memories and thoughts about him.
Writing on the fly has given her the freedom to explore different genres and a variety of instruments, creating works for viola, saxophone, percussion and even a little guitar and banjo.
It’s almost too easy to draw paralells between the physical move to Detroit and Linda’s creative moves over the past 30 days, into territory just as uncharted and likely to meet with unusual reactions.   On Day 3, for example, Linda’s husband - who goes by the name of “McDoc” in the blog - asked what would happen if she combined the rhythm of a Polonaise, a Polish dance in 3/4 rhythm, with jazz harmonies. Linda’s response: a minute-long piano composition she called “Tango-ish”.
She has also found a way into Detroit’s most avant garde musical community. Having heard about “8 Days in June,” the Detroit Symphony’s exploration of connections between classical music and other genres, Linda and Brian attended one of the concerts by New Music Detroit, symphony musicians led by DSO percussionist Ian Ding.
   New Music Detroit organized a marathon concert September 1, a 12-hour event with music played in 1-2 hour blocks with breaks in between. Linda played two pieces - and, quite naturally, blogged about the event.

What's a theremin?

    Posting a new musical composition every day has gotten Linda in gear to work on two important projects.
   “My dissertation is sitting on the shelf half-finished,” she said, adding, “I was kind of disappointed I didn’t get it finished before I got married. I wanted us to be Doctor and Doctor.”
    She also has an unusual commission: a concerto for theremin, one of the earliest fully electronic instruments. Remember the sound the UFO makes in those old science fiction movies? That’s a theremin.
    Linda’s former performance partner Scott Paulson plays the theremin. He’s also an oboeist with a chamber orchestra in San Diego, whose conductor was looking for something unusual the group could perform. Paulson suggested a theremin concerto - and knew just who should be asked to compose it.
    “I don’t know how many theremin players there are,” Linda said, “but I’m sure they’ll all be very enthusiastic about it.”
    After that, well, the Detroit odyssey will continue for at least three years. While they haven’t discussed specifics, staying in Detroit doesn’t seem to be out of the question. McDoc is doing his residency in emergency medicine, and Detroit Receiving is among the nation’s best training grounds. There are other considerations as well.
    “As nice as it is to live in California, the cost of living there is ridiculous,” Linda said.
    No matter where they live, her life will always be all about the music.
   “Everything I want to do relates to music. It’s kind of like being a writer. It’s something that chooses you, and you can’t be happy doing anything else,” Linda said.
    Well, maybe one thing.
    “I would like to learn how to play some different instruments. I play piano and organ, and I have an electric piano that I take with me, but it’s heavy. I’ve often wished I’d learned to play the flute.”

Linda's work was performed as part of the Detroit Institution of the Arts grand opening weekend in November. She plans to put her compositions on a single CD and to perform them in concert. To keep up with developments and listen to all 30 compositions, visit ourdetroitodyssey.wordpress.com