Jacob R Thomas Junior Recital (May 2021)

Disclaimer from the University:
"As the first land-grant institution established under the 1862 Morrill Act, we acknowledge that the state of Kansas is historically home to many Native nations, including the Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee, among others. Furthermore, Kansas is the current home to four federally recognized Native nations: The Prairie Band Potawatomie, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska."
---
Goat Dance (when the birch tree):
Ron Loewinsohn (1937-2014) was an American poet and novelist who practiced avant-garde styles in his works. The poem in this composition comes from a larger work called Goat Dances, in which Loewinsohn explores sensuality; modern selfhood; and the mystery, passion, and peace of nature.
In this text we can picture the rolling breeze eb and subside, carrying the words away with it. The narrator bitter-sweetly recollects how ever so often the rustling leaves and chills of the nighttime conjure the presence of a ghost— a chimera of her that he yearns for yet dares not approach. The piano phases in and out of supporting the main melody, creating tension and eeriness as the singer reflects. The harmony and discord, the so-called “warmth and coldness” of the music seeks to enhance the contrasts of the narrator’s desires and emotions— incorporating the duplicitous reactions to fear and beauty.
---
Crossing the Bar:
With text from the Alfred Tennyson poem of the same name, Crossing the Bar is a piece for Soprano voice, piano, and violin. This famous poem describes the narrator’s acceptance of death and their willingness to breach the threshold from this life into whatever lies across— hoping to final meet their “Pilot.”

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

Soprano: Ashley Peery, Violin: Lydia Paxton, Piano: Jacob Thomas
---
Dance Suite No. 1:
With choreography by Stephen Loch, this is a 3-movement piece with seamless transitions between them both musically and dance-wise. The over-arching theme of community was the main inspiration of the piece— looking at a community from the outside, joining them in their passions and indignation, and finally coming to understand the closing of the cycle by dying away from them (both corporally and/or spiritually). Each movement was inspired by the poems "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (Wordsworth), "Shine Perishing Republic" (Robinson Jeffers), and "Garden by Moonlight" (Amy Lowell) respectively.
---
Special thanks to Dr. Craig Weston, Dr. Slawomir Dobrzanski, Dr. Bryan Pinkall, Stephen Loch, and Neil Dunn.