Commissioned in 2021 by: Haley Armstrong/South Dakota Mines Choir; Dwight Bigler/Virginia Tech Chamber Singers; Jeffrey Brillhart/Singing City Choir; Robert Duff/Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Singers; Dean Luethi/Washington State University Concert Choir; Matthew Mehaffey/ University Singers, University of Minnesota; Eugene Rogers/University of Michigan Chamber Choir; Randall Speer/Randolph College Chorale
Text by Marg Walker.
Poet Marg Walker wrote “Cliff Notes from Your Mother as You Leave Home” in empathy with friends and their children who were going off to college. Loosely modeled on Polonius’s advice to his son Laertes (“to thine own self be true”) in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mother’s tone is varied – motivational, practical, gently exasperated, regretfully knowing that it’s time for them to ignore her expectations and form their own.
Cliff Notes from Your Mother as You Leave Home
If it starts to spark, remove it.
The bigger mistake is not asking.
Don’t wait too long to get started.
Drop every expectation that does not belong to you.
Always poke it first to see if it moves.
Sometimes the only method is inexperience.
Above all, be kind. No – be true to yourself. Also, kind.
If you’re going to nap on the sofa, for heaven’s sake tuck your
glasses underneath it so you won’t step on them when you get up.
Figure out for what you would walk through fire.
Walk through fire.
Marg Walker
from Sitting in Lawn Chairs After a Complicated Day
Copyright © 2020 Margaret Walker.
Used with permission.
Genre
Instrumentation
SATB, piano
Listen
Sample recording by University of Michigan Chamber Choir/Eugene Rogers
Duration
c. 3:30
Year Written
2021
