We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Ash Fork Verses - Set #1

by Glenn Stallcop pianist/composer

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    49
    releases

    Get all 49 Glenn Stallcop releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Campaign, Turning, Daydream, Interface, Soul Trek, Cherished Moments, The Drones of Contemplation, Wind and Chimes, and 41 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $161 USD or more (50% OFF)

     

1.
1.1 I wake to chewing 05:05
buy track
2.
1.2 Who is this morning cruncher? 02:43
buy track
3.
1.3 Hansel or Gretel 05:01
buy track
4.
2.1 The passing cattle 05:09
buy track
5.
2.2 Kick up a small cloud of dust 05:56
buy track
6.
2.3 Around the dry tank 05:15
buy track
7.
3.1 The old ceiling fan 04:20
buy track
8.
3.2 Blades gone gray and dull with dust 04:15
buy track
9.
3.3 Bright lines of moth trails 06:13
buy track
10.
4.1 The snapping mousetrap 04:16
buy track
11.
4.2 Made it rather difficult 04:31
buy track
12.
4.3 To go back to sleep 03:00
buy track

about

In October of 2008, I had a rare week off. I grabbed my keyboard and laptop and drove to my cabin in the juniper forest a few miles south of the tiny town of Ash Fork, Arizona. It is "off the grid" so I had to bring battery power. It is so quiet up there, and the fall and spring are spectacular! I would record every morning till my batteries drained, then charge them at night when I turned on the generator. The experience changed my music forever.

My improvisations were long, between 10-20 minutes on average, but they tended to group themselves into sections. I decided to make the sections into "movements" so that the listening experience would make more sense. This is the only way I have ever found to actually have a reason to group improvisations into movements. To emphasize this trait, I created poems (about the Ash Fork property) with each line of the poem become a title for one of the movements. To play the entire "poem", you need to play the entire improvisation.

The collection, Ash Fork Verses, has been compiled into three sets, which are being released separately.

This first poem of Set #1 actually happened one morning about 4am. When I heard the crunching, which was amazingly loud in the quiet of the pre-dawn stillness, I went outside and saw a mouse munching on the side of my house until he or she bolted!

The second poem is about cattle, which still roam free over much of the American West. Many graze on public lands (a source of continuing controversy), but some ranchers also own grazing rights to private lands owned by others. Such is the case with our property. There is a cattle tank (small dammed stream) on the edge of our property. The stream only runs when it rains. Sometimes there is quite a bit of water in the tank, other times it is dry. Sometimes it is dry for months. The cattle, usually in small groups, must make do. We can fence the property to keep the cattle out, and some do, but most do not. I rather enjoy their lowing and ambling by every now and then. But when it is dry, especially in late spring, I feel for them, and sometimes they don't survive.

The third poem is about a ceiling fan. It is very dusty in Ash Fork (all of Arizona really), with the humidity often in single digits. From my loft studio, I see the top side of the living room ceiling fan. The top side of the blades, which is always covered with dust, shows shiny grooves. The only thing I could think of to cause the grooves were insects, of which there are plenty! It wasn't until recently that I discovered that during very hard rains our roof leaked! The moth trails were actually caused by water drops. Roof repairs have caused my moth trails to become overgrown with dust again.

The last poem in this set refers to the first poem. Hansel and Gretel are cute, but I didn't want them running around my house.

credits

released January 6, 2014

Glenn Stallcop piano, composer, album artist

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Glenn Stallcop image

Glenn Stallcop Phoenix, Arizona

Glenn Stallcop is a composer, pianist, and a long-time double bassist with the Phoenix Symphony. He has recorded many albums of piano improvisation over the last 20 years. He is a well-established composer with over 100 published works for orchestra, chamber music and vocal works, solo piano and double bass. ... more

contact / help

Contact Glenn Stallcop

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Ash Fork Verses - Set #1, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Beans joins the show to discuss his album release, "ZWAARD".

listen now