The purpose of this webpage is to document how the choir program at WRHS is honoring the memory of Andy McLaren.
Mr. Takach,
My name is Adam White, I am the choir director at
has been invited to perform at the
in late February of 2008. In August I arranged to have a composition
written in honor of a choir member that was killed in a car accident
last year to premiere at the conference. Unfortunately, that composer
has dropped the ball and left us without a piece. I know we are in a
severe time crunch but would you be willing to write a piece for us?
We would like to take possession of the piece in January, but could
probably receive it as late as Feb. 1st. I admire your work and look
forward to hearing from you.
Adam White, Choir Director, Washburn Rural High School, Topeka
Office, 785-339-4161
Home, 785-233-0186
Cell, 785-845-5520
15 minutes later:
Adam,
Thanks so much for thinking of me. That is a very tight timeline, but
I would love to help out if I can. Do you have a text picked out? If
so can you send it to me? If not, we'll probably have to find
something in the public domain with the short timeline. Also, how long
of a piece are you looking for, and what is the voicing? I'll call you
later today to chat about it.
Tim
Timothy C. Takach, composer
Minneapolis
612.522.1066
www.timothyctakach.com
A brief chat on the phone followed and I sent the following information to Mr. Takach:
Thanks for you quick response.
The choir is 24 voices, SATB or SSAATTBB. We are able to do fairly
challenging literature for a high school. A few examples of our
recent music would include: "Wade in de Water," arr. Koepke,
"Dieu,
Qui la Fait...," Debussy, "I am not Your's," Stroope, and
"Out of the
Deep," Robert H. Young.
The piece could be 3-6 minutes, or so. With or without accompaniment.
(Without would be my first choice.)
I do not have my heart set on any particular text, but I have looked
at the following:
Psalm 121, "I lift my eyes to the hills."
Psalm 100, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord."
Romans 8, 38-39 "Neither height nor depth can separate us from the
love of God." (read at Andy's funeral)
I am really open to any other ideas that you have. I would like it to
be of a sacred nature.
I am not looking for a particularly mournful piece, but more one of
healing, renewal, celebration, and faith.
I will contact you on Tuesday, Dec. 4th. and let you know if we would
like to proceed.
Thanks for your interest!
Adam
Mr. Takach sent the following response:
Adam,
I'm glad we talked today, and I hope this works out for both of us. As
for texts, I'll take a look at the ones you mentioned below. I also
looked through my file of "Poems to Set" and found a couple that
might
be nice. One thing I've been doing lately in my compositions is
combining texts from different sources into one piece. For instance, I
could see taking parts of the Whitman poem below and pairing it with
part of one of the Bible verses you listed, and bring new meaning out
of both together. I think this Whitman poem is a wonderful metaphor,
but for this project, I think taking it out of context and using only
some of the ideas to keep it poignant could work also.
I look forward to hearing from you on Tuesday. I'll still be on tour,
and my cell number is 612.961.0460.
Tim
On the Beach at Night
Walt Whitman (adapted)
On the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.
Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky.
From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Weep not, child,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears,
The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars
only in apparition,
Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another
night, the Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden
shall shine out again,
The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again,
they endure,
The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons
shall again shine.
Something there is,
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter,
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.
Something there is,
Something immortal.
Monday Dec. 3rd,
5th hour, TG talked about our options. We had offers from three composers to write a piece in honor of Andy.
- Tim Takach
- Paul Basler
- Daniel Gawthrop
It was understood that Gawthrop, while being an exceptional composer with a tremendous list of work, would not write a piece that was personal to us. He probably already had the piece written and would add Andy’s name to the title page. This was not what we were looking for.
Paul Basler, on the other hand had a great reputation and had shown interest in writing a piece specifically for us. In the past few years the choir program had performed four of his works. He was the safe choice. Many students preferred this option.
Tim Takach was unknown to all of us prior to our discussion on Monday. He was a young composer (younger than me!) who had shown a great deal of promise. Still, choosing him represented taking a risk. With this said, we felt that he would pour his heart and soul into writing a piece that would be premiered at the KMEA conference. It is for this reason that most of the students wanted to go with Takach. Ultimately, I decided that the KMEA conference was the appropriate place to perform music from a relatively unknown composer. Who knows, maybe this piece could be his breakout piece. I also chatted with Ken Forsyth, Luke Chaffee, and David Ohse. They all recommended going with a young composer. The decision was made.
Tuesday Dec. 4th:
I called Tim and told him we would like him to write the piece for us. He seemed genuinely excited and honored. The first thing he asked for was information on Andy. He wanted to make a personal connection with the person he was writing for. Heath Hodge and I came up with the following and sent it to Tim:
Andy McLaren, 1989-2006
Left behind his father Greg, his
mother Amy, and younger sister Kristen.
A truck hit his car square on the
driver side door while he was turning left on to a busy street. He was pulling
out in front of his parents who witnessed the entire accident 16 days before
his 17th birthday. His mother’s greatest fear is that people
will forget her son.
Over 1,000 people came to his funeral.
Loved to sing and play football, but
his real passion was baseball. He had a wicked curve-ball.
Loved popcorn and chips.
Always talking about either sports or
girls.
Always ready to listen to your
problems.
Loving, caring.
Always smiling.
Had a never ending faith in God.
Here are some links you may be
interested in.
www.fbctopeka.org/sermons/eulogies/andy-mclaren
www.cjonline.com/stories/110306/loc_mclaren.shtml
www.cjonline.com/stories/110207/lif_214324769.shtml
Andy is the second student to the
right of me in the front row.
He wrote back:
This is great to have,
thanks.
Tim
Wednesday Dec, 5th:
At
Adam,
I have put together a couple different sources, and have come up with
a text that I think might work very nicely. It's uses just one line
from Psalm 121, and that bit from Romans used in the Eulogy, and a
poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans. See what you think
So I believe.
I will lift my eyes to the hills.
There, dost thou well believe, no storm should come
To mar the stillness of that angel-home;
There should thy slumbers be
Weighed down with honey-dew, serenely blessed.
So I believe.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
neither angels, nor demons, nor powers,
neither things present nor things to come,
neither height nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
I do believe.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
So I believe.
- Psalms 121:1
- Felicia Dorothea Hemans
- Romans
- Revelation
Tim
I showed the text to Veda, Heath, and a few other students.
At
I am speechless.
This text is breathtaking. It brought tears to our eyes. I
can't tell you what this will mean to his family.
Adam
At
Adam,
So glad you like it. I think it'll make for a great piece, and I think
it's a bit more personal that any of those passages alone. Now I can
get started!
I'm including a pdf of my contract. Please look it over and see if it
looks good. One thing that I'll need for sure is the inscription for
the top of the score. I marked that in the contract with (email to
Composer). I won't need that for a while, though, so whenever you get
around to it.
Tim
I read the contract and filled out paperwork.
At
Tim,
The contract looks fine. I should be able to get a check cut and sent to
you by Friday.(Maybe Monday) Would you like me to send it to your
A few other things...It was nice to see our piece listed on your website.
I am not offended, but you listed my name as "Andy White."
My students got quite a chuckle out of that. We have also enjoyed
reading about your process for constructing a new composition. We are all
honored by the effort you have shown to get to know Andy and write a text with
profound meaning. I handed a copy of the text to one of Andy's lifelong
friends and when he was done reading it, he looked up with tears in his eyes
and nodded. No words were necessary.
We look forward to the final product,
Adam
Thursday, Dec. 6th.
8:
Adam,
Sorry about the name thing. I got it fixed. How embarrassing!
A couple questions for you about the group. Any particularly strong
sections? Any weak ones this year? I know how much it can change from
year to year. Do you have any recent recordings of the group, so I can
get an idea of how they sing? It'll help me to get their sound in my
head as I start thinking about this piece. Also, can you give me safe
vocal ranges for the sections? Particularly tops for tenors and
sopranos, and the bottom for the basses. I never worry about altos too
much. They can handle it.
Tim
Friday, Dec. 7th.
This is tough...
My sopranos are probably weakest above the staff. Anything above an F and
they get scared and shut down their instruments.
My altos are fine, just young.
My tenor and bass sections are fairly solid. Basses can carry a low F(G
is probably better) and the tenors can fairly comfortably sing a G above the
staff.
I am sending you a CD we recorded last year along with the contract. This
year’s group is not yet as mature and solid with their pitch as the group you
will hear in the recording. Two of the best sopranos I have ever had
graduated last year.
Thanks for considering our needs. However, we (the students and I) don't
want you to sacrifice a better composition for our sake. The premiere is
only one performance.
I also sent three audio files of TG recordings from 06-07. “Praise to the Lord,” “Weep, O Mine Eyes,” and “Dieu…”
11:12PM Tim wrote:
Adam,
I got all of these, and they played fine. If you're worried about
skill level, I'll keep things safe, I think that I can write something
to suit your group really well. They tune well (Dieu) and they have a
good sense of musicality. I'm excited about starting to work on this.
I was thinking about the piece all the way back to the hotel after our
show tonight.
Tim
12/27/2007, 10 AM
Mr. White wrote:
Tim,
I hope your tour with the
"Commissioned in memory of our friend
Andy McLaren for the
If you want to reword it, or change the
order in some way, that would be fine.
You have more experience with this than I do.
Have a happy New Year!!!
Adam
Tim responded:
Adam,
Sounds good, I'll add this to the score, just
as is. The piece is
coming along nicely, I've got most of it
written. I'm hoping to finish
up the music this week, go on vacation next
week, and then make the
score and tweak it when I come back. I think
we're right on schedule!
Tim
1/7/2007
Tim wrote:
Adam,
I'm working on your piece this week, and I
should have it done for you
by next Mon. Is that an okay timeline for
you? It's all pretty much
written, I just have computer work to do on
it.
Also, I wanted to talk to you about the
premiere. I'd love to be able
to come down and work with the singers
before the premiere - what is
your schedule like the day or two before,
and is there any funding
available to help support my trip down. I
was able to move a couple
things around on my end so that I'll be able
to come to the premiere
for sure, and I was hoping to get to know
the choir a little in the
day or two previous to that.
Let me know what you think, and I'll get
cracking on the piece!
Tim
A brief phone call ensued…
Tim Wrote:
Adam,
Thanks for your call - I just booked the
flight in Tuesday night, and
I leave
Take a look at this score, listen to it, and
see if there are any
eyebrow raisers in there. Hope you like
where it's headed.
Tim
A copy of the piece was included…
Mr. White Wrote:
Sorry, it has been a really busy day. I will save my compliments for another
time...I have many.
I don't have any concerns with the
piece. I think we will sing it
well. I will write more tomorrow.
Adam
1/8/2008
Tim wrote:
Adam,
Here is the finished score. I forgot to ask
if you needed/wanted a
piano reduction in the score. I can put one
in if you want, but I
probably couldn't have that ready until
later this week.
I'm pretty happy with the piece. A couple
notes on it: there are
places where you can take some time, and a
place or two where the
piece could use some forward motion (m.
38-46). I've marked only a
couple, but feel free to work with tempos as
you and the singers get
used to the piece. it definitely shouldn't
go too fast, it has a more
relaxed pulse to it the whole way through.
Also, I think that most of the phrases are
singable on one breath as
marked. There might be one or two spots
where staggering is necessary,
but I prefer to have corporate breaths, and
hear the section phrase
together as a whole. If you come upon any
phrases that are too long,
let me know and we can try to find a good
spot for a rest.
Have fun looking the score over, and let me
know if you have any
questions, or if I can do anything else for
you. Oh, and I booked a
ticket yesterday to come down to KS. I get
in Tuesday night, and fly
out Friday morning,
Tim
We took possession of “Neither Angels, Nor
Demons, Nor Powers”
Following TG reading the piece, Mr. White wrote:
Tim,
Thanks, you should be very proud of this
piece. You set the text
brilliantly. It also fits this choir and
my taste so well. Andy's family will be so
honored to hear it. I am glad we came in
contact with each other.
My favorite moment is m. 62-63. Writing like that makes me thankful to be a
choir director.
Thanks, Tim, for all you have done.
Adam
1/10/2007
Mr. White wrote:
Tim,
I don't think you could have done a better
job for us. The kids love the
piece. It fits their voices perfectly
and they sing it well. I hope you will be
pleased with our performance. I can't
wait to share it with the McLarens and the teachers of
I have contacted the people in charge of
paying you and am waiting to hear back from them. Sorry for the delay. You should be receiving two separate payments
for the entire amount soon.
I am working on the KMEA concert program and
would like to include your bio. Can I
use the one on your website? Would you
like me to add anything to it? Can I
capture one of your pictures and use it in the program? (It will be fairly
small and in black and white)
After the premiere, I would like to perform
the piece with my large group (78 students) at my March concert. We will present a framed copy of the title
page to Andy's family. Would you like me to purchase the additional copies from
you, or how does that work?
I am still working on getting you money for
traveling here. I will keep you
updated. Would you like to give a
lecture/talk to music students while you are here? We have a number of theory students and
band/orchestra students that would love a Q & A session with you.
Sorry for the ramblings...
Adam
1/11/2008
Tim wrote:
Adam,
Thanks so much for your kind words. This
commission has been a first
of it's kind for me. There's enough pressure
in writing a commission
anyway, but to have a larger group of people
connected with the
project made it even more so. For me in
writing the piece, it meant a
lot to be able to read the eulogy and to
find out a bit about Andy,
and to have such a wealth of resources when
trying to choose a text.
Because of all of that, I think we are able
to have a piece that means
more that just a well-suited poem would have
meant.
I'd love to hear the work in progress, if
you have that capability,
and I would certainly love to meet with your
students while I'm in
town. Let's put something together for that
day that I'll be there.
For the program, the bio from my website
will be fine, and underneath
are headshots you can use. I'd recommend the
first one, and you'll
probably only need the smaller file.
And I'm glad to hear you'll perform it again
with a bigger group. I'm
sure that will be stunning. Just go ahead
and make those scores - no
need to purchase them from me. It's
basically part of the same project.
A question for you - how long would you like
to have exclusive rights
to perform the piece? I'm excited about
sending it out to other
conductors, but i want to make sure you feel
like you've got enough
time with it as your own. I'd also like to
bring copies to hand out at
KMEA to interested people.
Tim
Mr. White wrote:
I would like exclusive rights to the piece
until Feb. 28th, 3:15 PM.
After that, we want everyone to sing it.
Adam
Listen to Neither Angels, Nor Demons, Nor Powers
Tim Takach and the McLarens at KMEA
