Rhymes and Rhythms: Poetry and Music
By Janine Wilson, Yucca Branch
Did you know that Music members of NLAPW comprise only 5% of the membership? Elizabeth Lauer, the music editor for The Pen Woman, is one of them. She educated and entertained Yucca Branch (New Mexico) on Sept. 20 at a meeting that initiated the new season with a new president, Sally Bryant.
Lauer has been part of Yucca Branch since 2005 and a member of NLAPW since 1984. She has performed many programs for the organization, both at Biennials and locally. This time, she chose to feature a vocal and chamber work that she composed at 19, in part to show that a teenager can produce a piece that is viable decades after it is first heard.
Lauer’s presentation included her method of dealing with a text — words, rhythms, vowels, consonants — the specific expressive properties of the voice and each instrument, singly and in combination, plus the practicalities of organizing performances and dealing with copyright. The poems she chose were penned by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950), a lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring ‘20s and beyond. She wrote much of her prose and hackwork verse under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd.
Lauer explained that a composer takes into account the strength of the particular musicians who will give the first performance. The members heard a live, professional performance of “A Few Figs from Thistles,” and Lauer illustrated the work on a keyboard, explaining why she chose specific sounds, combinations, scales, harmonies, rhythms — in short, making an analysis of her teenage musicality.
She started making up songs from nursery rhymes at age 4. After her family’s move to Boston when she was 10, Lauer spent three years with a teacher who taught popular music to adults only, but was intrigued by a child composer — a girl.
“I started composing so young that I didn’t know that girls did not do that,” she said.
During all these years, including high school, she continued to compose, adding arranging to her selftaught skills. She then was accepted, on full scholarship, to Bennington College, graduating with a Bachelor of Art in music, and then earned a Master of Art in music at Columbia University. This was followed by one and onehalf years as a Fulbright Scholar to Hamburg, Germany, where she studied with the director of the Music Academy, composer Philipp Jarnach.
Returning to New York City, Lauer went to work at Columbia Records, for the first five months typing forms in the basement. She soon became executive secretary to the president, the legendary Goddard Lieberson. Five years later, Lauer was named an associate producer for Masterworks.
She married Louis Lauer in 1960, and nine years later, the couple and their three children moved to Wilton, Connecticut. There, she became involved in performing (17 recitals at Lincoln Center), composing, and teaching university courses and private studio work. She also developed a series of lectures for adult education. Her favorite: “20th Century Music for the 19th Century Ear.”
Lauer was invited to join the board of the Norwalk Symphony and became the chairperson of the Program Committee as well as the orchestra’s in-house pianist. An orchestra’s conductor and the board get together to make plans for a season. Of course, it all has to do with budget. “Music gets around,” Lauer told the audience.
How does that happen? After a composer copyrights her music, there are a number of avenues for the music to be played. Most composers — the vast majority — are affiliated with an educational institution, and these support and foster their composers’ efforts.
The phrase “call for scores” refers to lists that are published by music associations, music societies, and educational institutions. There are competitions, frequently organized by, for example, a group that fosters the clarinet, a choral group, or an orchestra. Or perhaps a musical group wants a new anthem, Christmas carol, or fanfare.
Some music is published, but with the current use of music-writing programs (highly sophisticated software), composers can print their own, very professional scores. Also, music can be downloaded from publishers. Publishers have put out several of Lauer’s compositions as she produced them on her computer.
Clair Hurrey, who attended the event, commented, “I learned about the layering of composition, much like a complex painting. Much thought must first be put into the materials at hand that the artist/composer has to work with. There are freedoms and limitations that must be considered and balanced out to make the piece successful.”