12/17/05
I know what Steve is trying to say with this play, but I am forced to consider what I’ll be saying with the music for the play. Will it complement the play or stand on its own?

The writing approach has been largely organic, inspired by the things around me at the time – that is to say that the material could have turned out in a completely different way during other points in my life.

While not Catholic myself, I grew up in an area gripped hard by Catholic doctrine and dogma. Many of my friends had experiences with the Catholic Church, and my wife grew up in the tradition.

The recording is a bit different from the live performance, taking into account the possibilities of the studio, but I wanted to make it a work in itself – something that people could take away and use to reflect some of the themes of Steve’s piece.

12/28/05
The music writing for this play took place, almost strategically, over the 2005/2006 holiday season, which included the usual weekend away at my in-law’s, all Catholic.

Of particular note are my interests in Sufi poetry (Rumi, Hafiz) and the spiritual traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and – to some extent – Islam. It is also worth noting that the period directly prior to my work on this play, and the period during the work on this play, has seen a parallel increase in the intensity of my studies…