I’m really happy because I found out last week that my institution has awarded me funding for a few hours of weekly student assistance to help me typeset some some of Agnes’s music in the spring. This is going to be important because my own typesetting chops are…well, it would be charitable to call them rudimentary. I’m fine inputting notes for a while, but then when I want to add any mark that’s different, or move something around, it’s forty-five minutes of me swearing and googling how to do it. I need someone who can type music like I can type words. (Yes, I’m editing the etudes, but I’m not typesetting them: I’m proofreading and marking up someone else’s typesetting). So I’m delighted that I can have a student assistant or two to work on that this spring.
We’ll start with some of the unpublished solo piano pieces. I’m going to play six of them on my concert program next spring, and now I can say “these will be available for you soon.” It’s so nice that Agnes did write some easier pieces—so much of her work is only possible for professionals, but there are some pieces that are perfect for students and amateurs, and I want to get them out there. She calls several of them “Idylls,” and they really do evoke the countryside. I feel very lucky that I get to practice them and then go for walks in the countryside where I live. One of my best practicing moments last week was figuring out that a lovely short Idyll, Pastorale in E major, is a canon. That’s where both parts do the same exact music but one after the other, and the combination is magic. It’s also a bit of a flex: look, this beautiful music also demonstrates mastery of counterpoint.
One assistant I’m hiring is a first-year composer, who came up to me with her eyes shining after I did a presentation on Agnes. I’ve been enjoying having her in class; I emphasize to my students that it’s important to celebrate your triumphs, not just yell at yourself when you get things wrong, and I love that she gets excited when she gets something right. I got to see her play violin in the school orchestra concert last Friday, and it was thrilling to see how into the music she is. She’s absolutely focused and involved, not just on her own part while she’s playing, but also on the other parts when she’s not playing. Now, typesetting is different from feeling the music—they’re different skillsets for sure—but I’m really happy to know that this talented young woman composer, who’s so inspired by great music and by the story of Agnes, will be getting paid for intensive score study. She’s going to learn so much from Agnes’s music, and I’m thrilled for her about that. I also bet Agnes would love knowing that she can finally start influencing other composers.