It's Lighter Than You Think

The structure of It's Lighter Than You Think came from two sources: my (temporary) struggle to find joy in writing, and a set of rules from a nun. A few years ago, I found myself writing a really heavy volume of music. When reconciling creativity with the realities of deadlines and day jobs and bills, it can become extractive, and it did: I was running on fumes. I knew I needed to investigate the thing wholesale, or I would burn out the motor entirely. At the same time, I became acquainted with the work of the designer and educator, Sister Corita Kent. Kent's life touched many, many others—most remembered through her long tenure at Immaculate Heart College and her Ten Rules, a set of guiding principles she developed while teaching there. (These are sometimes misattributed to John Cage, but the two were friends, and Cage helped codify some of the rules!) These rules range from practical to soulful—things like "FIND A PLACE YOU TRUST AND TRY TRUSTING IT FOR A WHILE" and "DON'T TRY TO CREATE AND ANALYSE AT THE SAME TIME, THEY'RE DIFFERENT PROCESSES"—but the one that struck me the most, running on empty, was rule nine: "BE HAPPY WHENEVER YOU CAN MANAGE IT. ENJOY YOURSELF. IT'S LIGHTER THAN YOU THINK." For this piece, I decided that I would only write while I was enjoying the writing. Sometimes I made it an hour without getting frustrated or stuck or bored; sometimes, it took forty-five seconds. In either case, as soon as I wasn't enjoying myself, I hung up the spurs, did something else. What emerged was this set of miniatures (named in honor of Corita’s rule,) along with a renewed understanding of the joy that can be found in the process of making.