Time To Dance

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The story is one of love, lust, jealousy, frustration, mixed loyalties, obsession, misunderstandings & the issues & problems that are present in a relationship where there is a large age & class gap, though common ground is found in this instance. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law…

Bernard MacLaverty is an Irish writer with a “Belfast accent, which has never left him, despite having lived and worked in Edinburgh, Glasgow and, remarkably, Islay in the Inner Hebrides.” (The Irish Voice) He may have lived for many years in Scotland but much of his work has focused on Ireland or alludes to the country, including his fivenovels, Cal , Lamb , Grace Notes , The Anatomy School and Midwinter Break . MacLaverty is still very much seen as an Irish writer rather than a Scottish one and yet a story like 'A Time to Dance' manages to capture the city, Edinburgh, in which it is set while also making clear the main characters are very much from elsewhere. Well, it’s clear that the years I spent in the study and practice of Javanese gamelan music have been a huge influence. What interests me is adapting the deeper structures and compositional principles of gamelan music to Western resources. Steve Reich put it quite neatly: "one can study the rhythmic structure of non-Western music and let that study lead where it will, while continuing to use the instruments, scales and any other sounds one has grown up with". One of the most formative things I grew up with was singing, so I feel very much at home composing vocal/choral music. But when I come to work in a new medium, I take time to study with a master in that form. So when I was commissioned to compose a string quartet, for example, I spent a lot of time listening to Haydn. A Time to Dance is my first attempt at a cantata. I’m keen to do more, and so I’m now spending a lot of time listening to Bach. It is indeed true that there were some raunchy scenes between the two main characters but they were entirely appropriate and in keeping with the plot.In A Time to Dance, Karen Kingsbury paints a portrait of a Christian family with a crumbling foundation. As John and Abby struggle to avoid each other through the course of their daughter’s engagement, they turn not only from one another but also from God. They ignore or refute his promptings, even while wondering why He no longer cares to give them comfort. Both are mired deeply in a web of pride and self-pity, refusing to give, becoming more and more bitter. Performers often have to be reminded –particularly when performing Baroque works – that the style is ultimately rooted in dance music. Which of course it is! And your music – both A Time To Dance, but also the similarly light-footed Hatfield Service – clearly pays homage to this tradition. Is this something you try to involve in all the music you write? Christian fiction LOVES a fallen man so that there is a chance for his redemption. I'm more than a bit weary of that whole cycle because of the women who get pressured (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, institutionally) into keeping their unfaithful men and supporting them through their transgressions. Regardless of the cost to the women. Puts a bad taste in my mouth. So why 3 stars? The story gripped me and I couldn't put it down. I appreciate that kind of writing in fiction.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleA time to weep, and a time to laugh,.... There is a time for these things, as it goes ill or well with persons, as to their health, estate, or friends; and as it goes ill or well with kingdoms and states. The Jews wept when they were in Babylon, and their mouths were filled with laughter when their captivity was returned, Psalm 137:1; and as it goes ill or well with the church of Christ, when there are corruptions in doctrine and worship, a neglect of ordinances, declensions in faith and practice, few instances of conversion, and there are divisions and contentions, it is a time for the mourners in Zion to weep but when God creates Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, or makes her an eternal excellency, and the praise of the whole earth, then it is a time to rejoice and be glad, Isaiah 61:3; and as it is, with believers, when Christ is withdrawn from them, it is a time to lament, but, when the bridegroom is with them, it is a time of joy; when it is a night of darkness and desertion, weeping endures, but when the morning comes, the day breaks, and the sun of righteousness arises, joy comes with it, Matthew 9:15 John 16:19. Now in the present state is the saints' weeping time; in the time to come they will laugh, or be filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory, Luke 6:21;You use the chimes of the handbells at strategic points to denote the passing of time – striking the hours of three, six and so on – and the work’s diverse texts tightly integrate the times of day, of the year and of human life. How did you manage to find texts reflecting all three parallel progressions as closely as your music does? The class Nelson goes to is on religious education and the teacher quotes a passage from the bible with its lines, "a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to wear down and a time to build...a time to mourn and a time to dance..." The school is the religiously named St John the Baptist and the time for dancing that Nelson has half-seen and half-understood was a baptism of sorts if we take it colloquially to mean an initiation. Nelson may not quite know what that means for a couple of years more but it is one of those events that can seem more consequential retrospectively than at the time, as the boy will come to understand his mum is a sex worker on anti-depressants, while he is well-aware of being a truant with a squint eye. It is a story full of pathos but MacLaverty's achievement is to allow us to view it too as a tale of two hypocrites who want to keep from each other what they do with their days. MacLaverty asks us not to judge but to allow the sadness to seep in

A Time to Dance was first performed in Sherborne Abbey on 9 June 2012 by Ex Cathedra, conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore. The work was commissioned to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Summer Music Society of Dorset, founded by its President and Artistic Director, Dione Digby, in 1963. The brief was to provide a large-scale, celebratory work, reflecting the passage of time and fifty years of music-making. The seed that set my creative juices flowing was the text which Lady Digby suggested as a possible starting point—the well-known passage from Ecclesiastes which I have used for the opening Processional. This lovely, profoundly human text provided the four key themes which permeate the whole work: times; seasons; love; dance. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh… Charlene was there when he needed his ego boosted, she always hanged on to his every word, making him feel he was important, and wanted! John’s body wanted Charlene in a way a married man just can’t express. And fighting this want was almost impossible for John, until he took the time to read his youngest son’s SA on Eagles. Here God really opens his eyes to what a marriage should be, and why he could not leave his wife. Honestly! John and Abby are seen by everyone around them as the perfect married couple. They have been married for 22 years and have no idea how to communicate??? What have they been doing in all that time? I recognize that people can grow apart, but these two never make any attempt to actually talk to each other. They just make accusations and suffer hurt feelings. I wouldn't say I have a perfect marriage, but we do TALK to one another, and there is mutual respect, meaning we listen to the other point of view, even if we don't agree. Is that actually a rare thing in the world? I spent a considerable time researching and assembling the text, whittling down over one hundred poems to the final choice of twenty-nine, drawn from a wide variety of sources ranging from Ovid to Aphra Behn. The choice was made not just by the suitability of the texts, but also by how they speak to each other. I followed my usual practice of taking the poems for a walk, listening to their melodies and rhythms, and learning how they might dance. Apart from the text, however, the main influences on the music of A Time to Dance were Shakespeare, Bach and Skidmore.John is caught up in the fight between lust and staying true to his wife. The Girl he waited for was gone, his personal cheerleader was gone, and the person who believed in him more than he believed in himself was gone! She didn’t listen to him anymore, she didn’t care about his wants and needs, all she did was fight and scold. With their marriage dead for the past four years and John finding a new best friend - who is everything Abby was in the beginning - who could blame her?