Other passions: Star Wars

I have shared in this blog a lot of my passion for choral music, choirs, and singing. I've shared a little about my love of riding a motorcycle. I've alluded to my small obsession with The West Wing. But I haven't really discussed my passion for Star Wars. 

You may be asking "what does this have to do with the Lincoln Choral Artists?" or "Aren't they performing Faure's Requiem in a couple months? Why isn't he talking about that?" Well I guess I wanted to share my passion for Star Wars because it definitely is tied to my love of music. 

I can truly attribute both my love of music/ choirs and my love of Star Wars to my dad. One of my first memories is sitting on the kitchen floor watching "Empire" on our new VHS player. One of Dad's first VHS rentals was "The Empire Strikes Back." He still loves this episode, but he also a fan of Episode I. We very much disagree on that (damn Jar Jar). 

My dad is also a choir director and church musician at his core. Though he has done many things in his life, these two have always been present. I know some of his joy of Star Wars is the incredible score by John Williams. I remember listening over and over to the "New Hope" soundtrack on vinyl in my room in elementary school. This particular version had the dialogue included. So the first half hour of the Theatrical release of Episode IV is drilled into my psyche. I'm sure I have the entire movie's dialogue memorized, but I know for sure those first moments of Vader's entrance and Princess Leia's ( RIP Carrie) opening lines are immortalized for me. 

With the latest releases of "The Force Awakens" (now in my top 3), and "Rogue One" (top 2, Empire is, of course, 1) I am so thoroughly enjoying the new stories and the new scores. I'm even listening to a podcast (Star Wars Oxygen) that details and analyzes the scores of all the movies. Story telling in the way George Lucas started it, and now how the Lucas Arts story team is continuing it (good move Disney!) is probably some of the best writing happening for the big screen. I haven't gotten too much into the cartoons. But it's interesting to hear a little about them and how they are developing an all new Expanded Universe. 

But anyway, where I'm going with all this is my joy and passion for Star Wars is closely connected to my joy and passion for music, in particular choral music. Though the scores themselves don't have a lot of "choral" writing. The idea of creating a world of Stars Wars is like creating a world of sound in singing. I'm excited for the upcoming releases of The Last Jedi and the yet untitled Han movie, just like I'm excited for LCA to continue to work on Faure, perform with some wonderful Nebraska choirs in May, and plan an incredible season for next year! 

Remember: Do, or do not. There is no try. 

And also: May the force be with you, always!