A Girl, a Bird, and a Gardener

A Girl, a Bird, and a Gardener First a poem, then a book, and now a musical composition on the cusp of its world premiere

By Ross Boissoneau

An unlikely trio of characters from the pen of a local author has inspired a concert-length musical composition by the author’s husband. After delays caused by the pandemic, the piece will receive its world premiere, online, Dec. 4. And it all stemmed from events of 100 years ago.

Laura Cobb was turning 50 when she stumbled over a troubling statistic: The life expectancy for women a century earlier was only 55. She started to imagine what life had been like for women then — a time when women didn’t even have the right to vote until the 19th Amendment was passed in 1919, around the time her widowed grandmother Rose had come to this country, pregnant and with a two-year-old.

“I think that’s where the seed was planted,” Laura Cobb said. “The women before me, and the challenges they had to go through.”

Reading about the suffragettes and the silent sentinels, Laura Cobb was inspired to write a poem. But she didn’t stop there; she fleshed out the concept into a book. The result was "The Lesson of the Lark: Celebrating the Centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment of the United States of America," an imaginative interpretation of the struggle for women’s voting rights, targeted for readers ages 10–16 and told through the characters of a girl, a lark, and a gardener.

She immediately began receiving accolades for the book, including from her husband, Jeff Cobb. He had been at her side throughout the writing and editing process. The head of the music program at Northwestern Michigan College, Jeff Cobb took inspiration from his wife's work and wrote a musical composition of the same name.

“Laura was working on the book for a long time. We sat down to read it together, and I thought, this has to be a concertlength [musical] piece,” he said. The various movements feature a jazz orchestra, soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, chorus, and a narrator.

Jeff Cobb said the rhythm of the text inspired him to create a jazz suite. “The lark’s lines were like a bebop solo. The girl is sassy, like a blues tune. The book finishes with text that sounded like gospel. It was the first [part] I wrote,” he said.

They were off and running. As Laura Cobb scored appearances at various conferences throughout the Midwest to celebrate women and their hard-won right to vote, Jeff scheduled rehearsals, with the performance of the piece set for April.

We all know what happened next. The pandemic hit, scuttling plans for Laura Cobb’s appearances and Jeff Cobb's concert. Yet in the time of COVID-19, the spirit of innovation and the ubiquitous presence of the internet means that the project didn't have to die; it simply morphed into the online space. It's first virtual performance is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Jeff described the composition as a jazz suite, with the various movements showcasing different styles. “Each movement is different: a jazz waltz, blues, an ode to free improvisation, Latin with salsa and bossa nova. It follows the arc of the story,” he said.

The music features members of the Northwestern Michigan College Chamber Singers, Grand Traverse Chorale, and Canticum Novum (all of which Jeff directs), faculty from the NMC Music Department, and others from local music and arts organizations. In keeping with the restrictions on gatherings, which prompted NMC to shut down all of its planned music programs for the year, the performances were recorded individually by the performers, then edited together by students from NMC’s Audio Tech and Visual Communications programs. Local musician and music engineer Jack Conners —not-socoincidentally a former NMC faculty member — has been doing a lot of what Jeff calls “the heavy lifting” of editing the audio.

“It’s been a great collaborative partnership,” said Jeff about the way the composition has come to life, from the initial writing of the piece based on his wife’s book to the performers’ efforts to the NMC students using the work as part of a credited course. “It’s a really powerful text. The lark and the girl are the soloists. The choir is the garden,” said Jeff Cobb. And for the plum role of the narrator, he didn’t have to look far: It will be performed by none other than Laura Cobb.

One of the challenges in the time of the coronavirus was recording all the parts when people couldn’t get together. NMC low brass instructor Mike Hunter suggested to Jeff that it might be easier for him and fellow NMC faculty members Laurie Sears and Josh Wagner to record all the horn parts. “Instead of 13 people, it would just be three,” he said.

Jeff agreed. That meant Hunter (trombone) and Wagner (trumpet) had to master and record 32 separate parts, one for each of the four parts in their sections across eight movements. For Sears, it meant 40, for first and second alto, first and second tenor, and baritone saxophone.

Hunter said they followed a guide track that Jeff Cobb provided. In his case, that meant practicing the parts enough to get familiar with them, then recording the videos. He recorded the actual audio parts separately, feeding them into his Logic software to make sure he hit all the markers at the right time. Using the software meant that if he made a mistake, he could go back and re-record that section, rather than do the whole part over.

It’s all more than Laura ever anticipated. “We’ve collaborated on things before,” she said of working with her husband. “I was surprised

Clockwise from top left: Production’s Gabrielle Edgcombe at work. Laura Knight Cobb’s April 2019 book, “The Lesson of the Lark,” served as the impetus for the Dec. 4 musical performance. Author Laura Knight Cobb Composer Jeff Cobb

he wanted to take it on. It’s been such an amazing opportunity. It gives us this passion and forum when we could be distracted by the negatives in the world.

“We focus on the message and hope for the future for women, our daughter. She is 17, and our son is 21,” said Laura Cobb. She said, to them, the thought that there was a time when women couldn’t vote is appalling.

She believes there’s still more work to be done, noting that the first draft of the Equal Rights Amendment was in 1923. In March 1972, it passed both chambers of Congress before being ratified by several states — but not enough to pass. “Then it sat for 40 years,” she said — until Nevada passed it in 2018, Illinois a year later, and Virginia this year. A portion of sales of the book goes to Equal Means Equal, an organization dedicated to the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

With 90 percent of the population favoring it, she’s hopeful that the amendment will finally be approved, and that her book will provide some additional momentum. “I hope the message gets out. The job is not completely done. It’s so important for future generations to not forget this,” she said.

“The Lesson of the Lark” will premiere Dec. 4 at 7pm on the Northwestern Michigan College Facebook Page. Free tickets are available through www.mynorthtickets.com. Northern Express Weekly • nov 30, 2020 • 15

Downtown TC Leaders Talk Survey Results, Modified Holiday Plans

By Beth Milligan attributes they saw in place downtown. Smith said that while a “key takeaway”

A survey of nearly 1,500 residents, visitors, from the survey was that the majority of and downtown Traverse City business respondents in all categories supported owners shows significant support for changes changes made by the DDA, results also made downtown this year to weather the showed that “it's not as if the decisions pandemic, including closing two blocks of were clearly a benefit for all businesses 100 Front Street, converting State Street to a two- percent.” In particular, businesses on some way street, adding more outdoor café seating, downtown side streets “felt they were left and painting Front Street. Traverse City out” out of the Front Street closure, and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) some retail stores felt the changes primarily board members discussed the results of the benefited restaurants and not retail. Business survey Friday – including key takeaways owners were particularly unhappy with the and what those might mean for the future modified Street Sale – normally a large oneof downtown – and also heard updates from day outdoor event that this year was changed staff on revised plans for multiple downtown to a weeklong indoor event – and some cited holiday events this season. frustrations with overall parking and traffic flow, including challenges for elderly and 2020 Survey Results disabled customers reaching their locations.

A professional survey administered by Smith said that if downtown could local consulting firm Avenue ISR solicited recreate some of the 2020 adaptations in the feedback from 1,472 unique respondents on future while addressing traffic and parking changes made to downtown Traverse City in issues, the DDA could potentially have a best2020 – with the majority supporting pivots of-both-worlds solution. “If it were possible made to Front Street and other areas, with to take the best that came about (with this the exception of a subset of business owners experiment)...without creating the negative who felt the changes hurt sales and limited impacts, that would be ideal,” he said. DDA access for elderly and disabled customers. CEO Jean Derenzy said it was unlikely the

Woody Smith of Avenue ISR presented DDA would completely shut down Front the survey results to DDA board members Street again, but that the organization was Friday, noting that 73 percent of downtown looking at permanently converting State business owners/managers and 84 percent of Street to two-way traffic and finding ways downtown employees felt that closing Front to help visitors better spread out downtown Street this summer either “worked well” or – the aspect survey respondents said they “somewhat well.” Eighty-eight percent of enjoyed most about the 2020 overhaul. both city residents and visitors to downtown “How do we have sidewalk cafes responded the same way. A majority of not just on the sidewalk? Can we have respondents in all categories said changing bigger sidewalks? Can we have additional State Street to a two-way street, adding more bumpouts?” Derenzy said, adding the DDA restaurant/café seating, and using colorful could also look at whether Front Street needs paint on Front Street also either “worked two lanes of traffic or could scale down to well” or “somewhat well.” Downtown owners one, offering room for expanded sidewalks. and employees reported seeing fewer locals While Derenzy said the DDA was preparing but more first-time visitors this summer, and plans “A, B, and C” for 2021 in response to praised having open space for pedestrians, possible pandemic scenarios, she said the social distancing opportunities, and overall ideal was that in 2021 a vaccine would be health and safety precautions as the top available and businesses would be coming 16 • nov 30, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

back full-time, with many remote employees returning to work downtown. “Just doing the same thing we did this year I don’t think is the answer, but building on it,” she told board members.

Downtown Holiday Event Changes

Holiday celebrations will look very different in downtown Traverse City this year, staff reported to DDA board members Friday – but the DDA is still encouraging shopping at local merchants and working to host socially distanced holiday events.

The downtown holiday season kicked off Friday night with a televised treelighting ceremony at the site of the annual city Christmas tree at the Cass and Front intersection. This year’s tree is a 35-foot, 5,300-pound blue spruce harvested from Keystone Road. While past years have traditionally seen downtown streets closed to accommodate large crowds and an inperson visit from Santa, streets remained open this year for the event and residents were encouraged to watch the ceremony from home and not attend in person.

The next downtown event will be the holiday shopping weekend encompassing Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday from November 27-December 1. DDA staff made the decision to cancel Ladies’ Night and Men’s Night this year due to the large crowds typically attracted by the shopping events, but are encouraging supporting downtown shops with curbside and online ordering, in addition to in-person shopping (note: acapacity limits are in place for in-person shopping, and mask-wearing is required). Special deals offered by merchants for the holiday shopping weekend will be listed online by Thanksgiving Day. At a press conference this week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer urged Michigan residents to shop locally this holiday season, noting the precarious state many small businesses are in during the pandemic. Just a 10 percent shift in retail spending from online/outof-state vendors to local stores would infuse $1.2 billion into the state economy, Whitmer said.

While Santa will not be available for visiting hours in his downtown house this year, the DDA is partnering with the Traverse City Firefighters to provide special Santa visits to every city neighborhood, staffed announced at Friday’s DDA meeting. During the first two weeks of December, Santa will be chauffeured to different neighborhoods on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons on an antique fire engine, with “Firefighter Elves” collecting letters to Santa that families can hand over as the truck comes through. Santa will visit Kids Creek, Slabtown, and Central neighborhoods December 1 from 3pm-5pm; Old Town and SoFo neighborhoods December 3 from 3pm-5pm; Traverse Heights, Boardman, and Oak Park neighborhoods December 8 from 3pm-5pm; and Old Mission Peninsula and Civic Center area neighborhoods December 10 from 3pm-5pm. Route maps and times for each neighborhood will be available on the downtown website starting November 27.

Finally, the annual downtown Light Parade will be replaced this year with a new Strolling Light Parade on December 12 from 5pm-9pm. Twelve different locations in downtown Traverse City will host light displays themed after the 12 Days of Christmas decorated by a dozen local nonprofits. Residents are invited to go on a self-guided, socially distanced tour of the outdoor displays and vote for their favorite installations. Each vote costs $1, with monies raised split between the nonprofit vote-receivers and the Downtown Relief Fund, which is helping offset rent and other expenses for downtown merchants this winter. The December 11-13 weekend will also host Walking in a Winter Wonderland, a window-decorating contest among downtown Traverse City businesses.