Composing a substantial work of music based on a significant work of poetry is not something that is normally offered in most departments here at Dartmouth, either in the music or English departments. That is why Patrick Handler '07, composer and musician, decided to pursue this goal by becoming one of this year's Senior Fellows.
Senior Fellows do not take classes and graduate without a major, but they leave Dartmouth with something equally important: the experience of working on a self-driven project for an entire year. They also get funding, if it is needed, for their work, based on their project.
The Dartmouth had the chance to speak with Handler in his office on third-floor Baker last week.
The D: Let's talk a little bit about your background in music. When did you first start playing music, what instruments did you start with, and where did you go from there?
Patrick Handler: I started with piano lessons at school in first or second grade. They were school lessons and they weren't very serious. I started outgrowing my teacher, and then got a new teacher and outgrew her, and after that I was very fortunate to end up with a fantastic music teacher that I've been with ever since. With her, it's been a very extensive piano study, and later on she also started teaching me theory. I became very interested in that, and from there the progression to composition was pretty natural.
The D: Can you explain the basic idea of your project for us?
PH: What I'm doing is writing four string quartets based on T.S. Eliot's "The Four Quartets." I've been studying composition for about six years now, and I've felt a little bit limited by the resources of the music department here; not necessarily by what the professors have to offer, but in the structure of the music major here. For example, how many composition classes they offer. In my final year, I was looking for something more to further my education, and I had become pretty close with professor Steve Swayne. I started talking to him about a senior fellowship, and we started working on a project in the fall of 2005.
The D: What is the application process like?
PH: We started with the logistics of advisors, talking out things like that and getting a rough sketch of the project. I used my winter term to work on a proposal. Generally you apply in the spring, but I was abroad on the Music FSP in the spring, so I applied a term early. It is a pretty extensive and thorough proposal. You propose a budget and everything, and then submit to the Senior Fellowship Committee, and you have an interview with them. A few months later, you find out.
The D: What led you to T.S. Eliot's "The Four Quartets" as the basis for your upcoming work?
PH: I've always been interested in using text as inspiration for music. I've written a cycle of four songs and a piece based on a Shakespeare sonnet, so I wanted to look for something that had to do with text and music. Eliot was part of this school of poets who were very interested in the relationships between poetry and music, and exploring that frontier of verse. They're both temporal arts as opposed to spatial arts; they're linked on several levels. So I started looking at Eliot, and then ran across the piece "The Four Quartets." It seemed like the right thing, and reading through them, it's incredibly inspirational, deep poetry. I feel like I can justify making a year-long project out of this.
The D: So where are you going from here? What comes after this project for you?
PH: From here, I'd definitely like to pursue graduate school. I've been advised to take a year off, continue composing, build up my portfolio, and then apply to graduate school. Right now I'm looking at Julliard as my primary choice. I've been working with a professor there, who used to be head of the pre-college program there, and I've been working with him on a weekly basis, and it's a really great atmosphere.
The D: Have you considered anywhere else? Do you think New York is the place for you?
PH: I'm not really sure; I've been looking in to some schools outside of London and that area. Being on the Music FSP was really great; the music scene there is fantastic.
The D: Are you involved in any other music activities here on campus?
PH: Yeah, I'm in a band, the Rightly Guided Thieves. It's a jazz-funk-rock band.
The D: Well, Patrick, thank you, I wish you the best of luck, and I can't wait to see the work when it premieres.
Handler's work will be premiering in the Spring Term, on Wednesday May 23, in the Hopkins Center.
