Recording of Matthew's Song

In December of 2003 Alan and I attended "A Time to Remember," a special holiday meeting of a local support group sponsored by the Philadelphia-area organization UNITE. Those wishing to attend were encouraged by the group's organizer, Gerri Wismer, to bring along poetry, music, or anything special that we wanted to share. Since I had recently begun writing poetry for Matthew, I brought two poems to read. It was also the perfect opportunity to share "Matthew's Song," which I had written only a couple of weeks before. I brought some photocopies of the handwritten score, but I thought that the song was best shared as actual music. Before the meeting, I taped Alan playing the tune on his violin. We then made a second recording of Alan playing over the tape we'd already made. To allow listeners to hear the lyrics, we also taped the song in my voice. Despite the unavoidably poor quality of our recordings, I think the essence of the song came through to those present. It was profoundly moving to share "Matthew's Song" in a contemplative setting where all were gathered to remember their children. At the end of the meeting, we were approached by Paul and Dora Eaton, who had very recently lost Hunter, their baby son.  Paul told me that he and Dora were musicians and that they were interested in recording "Matthew's Song" as a gift to us.  I was extremely grateful for this unexpected expression of kindness and generosity. The idea of recording "Matthew's Song" rested on the back burner for several months. In the late spring of 2004, I began planning a birthday memorial for Matthew. I very much wanted to share "Matthew's Song" at the memorial, and I began thinking of ways in which the song might be performed (asking friends, hiring choral singers...).  Alan, whose musical knowlege is much more extensive than my own, felt that a five-part, a cappella canon was too complex to be performed live within the given time frame.  He reminded me of Paul and Dora's offer and suggested that I contact them.  And so I did. About a week before Matthew's birthday memorial, Alan and I met Dora at work to pick up a CD of the song. We first listened to it on a little player in Dora's office. We were very excited about this gift, and we would have loved it no matter what -- but when we heard it, we found ourselves catching our breath in surprise at its overwhelming beauty.  Dora's voice is exquisite.  Paul's editing is spectacular. The recording begins with a clear and mournful solo of the entire melody. After this, Dora's voice begins to overlap itself line by line, building up to the deep, sweeping harmony of the full canon. Each of the five parts slowly subsides, pulling away from the listener with the repetition and seamless gravity of ocean waves, exposing a soulful, final solo line -- a mother left alone in this life, calling out to her son in the next.

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