Sowash: Trio #3 “Shadows of November” for clarinet, cello and piano.

When I joined Boy Scout Troop 152 of Lexington, Ohio in 1961, I was assigned to the Red Fox Patrol.  Dick was my Patrol Leader.  Through our teens we were together on many, many Scouting adventures — hiking, camping, competing in woodcraft skills, cooking over campfires.  We became Eagle Scouts at the same Court of Honor in 1966.  Later, in our thirties, we served Scouting as adult volunteers, leading High Adventure canoe trips to Algonquin Provincial Park where we saw moose, bears, minks, loons and heard wolves howl at the moon, a sound I will always remember.

Now we’re old guys.  It’s been a long time since either of us slept in a tent.  “The ground has gotten so much harder than it used to be,” says Dick.  “It has to do with global warming.”

Troop 152 is still going strong and has turned out nearly a hundred Eagle Scouts.  Dick still lives near Lexington and keeps me posted.

Sometimes he sends me poems he’s written.  Here’s one about the pecuilar, dark beauty of this time of year, something Dick and I have observed, firsthand, together, on many a camping trip.

November Has A Beauty All Its Own

He views the naked cornfield
Ringed with gray and brown and black,
And he knows that fall has fallen
And there is no turning back.

There's a twinkling of twilight
As he hurries down the path
To the warm and candled window
Of his rustic woodsy shack.

He smells decay and oldness
Mixed with pine and apple scent,
And he sees the snow clouds gather
Rank on rank, in their ascent.

He feels the cold wind quicken,
And he hears the forest moan
As he's reminded: November has
A beauty all its own.

In my Trio #3 for clarinet, cello and piano, subtitled “Shadows of November,” I tried to express it musically.

To hear the French trio, “les Gavottes,” play the first movement from "Shadows of November,” click here:
http://www.sowash.com/recordings/mp3/nov_shadows_1.mp3

To see a PDF of the score, click here:
http://www.sowash.com/recordings/mp3/nov_shadows_1.pdf

I'd love to know what you think about this music; reply if you're inclined.  But please don't feel that you are expected to reply.  I'm just glad to share my work in this way.

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