AND THIS SHALL BE FOR MUSIC: MY CREDO

 

This morning, November 12, 2022, I  released my sixteenth book (fifteenth novel), And This Shall Be for Music.In many ways, I believe this is the book I’ve always wanted to write. The primary purpose of the book is to share the immense power music can have in our lives. I see it as the most powerful force in the universe, and I’ve said that in many different ways in most of my novels.

 I first met the character Lindsey Cameron when I was writing the two books in “The Cameron Saga.” In Memories of Jake, she was the much-longed-for and much loved first child of Andrew and Mary Cameron, born after Andrew had been treated for PTSD and had begun his successful career as an artist. Near the end of the book, we learned she hoped for a career as an opera singer. In Man with No Yesterdays we again encountered Lindsey and learned she was quite a determined young woman.

 Lindsey wanted me to tell her story, but in 2017 I obviously was not ready to do that and instead embarked on a series of murder mysteries which were great fun to write. The first two volumes in “The Augusta McKee Mystery Series” were released in 2019, and over the next three years, during which time our world turned upside down, writing the mysteries was truly an escape for me…going back to Cincinnati, the city I love most, and the 1960s, the time I lived there.

 After releasing book eight in the mystery series, I felt ready to tackle Lindsey’s story. I knew it was not going to be an easy story to tell—Lindsey had to deal with some extremely difficult situations as a very young woman. Near the end of her undergraduate study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, in the early spring of 1996, her two housemates were in a freak accident and one was killed, the other badly injured, including the loss of his lower right leg.

 I had written about four chapters in 2017 and went back to that material, which needed to be reworked. I began in December of 2021 and completed Lindsey’s story only recently. Writing a long, character-driven book after eight much shorter mysteries required a different rhythm to what I was doing, and many rewrites. But I think I’m ready for my new baby to meet the world. Early readers have given me very strong, positive responses, and all agree this book is the most powerful and most personal novel I’ve written.

From a beta reader, Ken Van Camp: “Wonderful job, your best book yet! I would recommend this book to people dealing with a great personal loss, as it does a beautiful job of showing people working through the grieving process, and coming out the other side of recovery. Of course, the music therapy is a strong and original theme, and the character development is outstanding.”

A long-time friend who has been active for decades in the entertainment and film industries agreed to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) and had this to say: “A tremendous piece of work that resonates in so many different ways—in particular the way music affects us in a way that nothing else does.”

 Comments such as these are definitely heartening. However, there is still that writer’s trepidation about releasing this work, in which I bare my heart and soul to the reader.

But that’s life, isn’t it? And in truth, it’s why I write. To share that which is my passion.

 

Available on Amazon, print edition and Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJF7M1WG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1

 

THE BOOK THAT ALMOST WASN'T

 

The fifth book I wrote, Memories of Jake, dealt with two brothers who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s-early 1970s, and the impact their service had on them and their families. Andrew, the older by two years, an artist and musician, enlisted from a sense of duty after his first year of college. His rakish younger brother Jacob, an athlete and ladies’ man, enlisted immediately after high school from a desire for adventure.

During Jake’s time in Vietnam, where he served as a Green Beret, a helicopter crash resulted in severe retrograde amnesia. He could remember a great deal about the world, but almost nothing of his past life other than a few early childhood memories. Such a memory loss meant he could not continue with what he had hoped for, a career in the military.

Eventually, Jake left home and lost all contact with his family for nearly two decades. His disappearance resulted in Andrew being hospitalized and treated for deep-seated mental and emotional problems. However, with good care and the love of his family, he recovered, but he never stopped wondering where Jake could be.

While writing Memories of Jake from Andrew’s POV, just for fun I wrote a short chapter in first person of a romantic tryst Jake had with Andrew’s college art teacher who found him attractive and charming. I shared it with Ashleigh Evans, my editor, and she loved it and thought I should include it in the book. We added a few such first person moments. Since Andrew was an artist, they are termed “Sketches” in the book.

When I reached the point of Jacob’s disappearance it became apparent to me I couldn’t finish Memories of Jake until I knew exactly what had happened to him. So, time out from one book while I wrote a fairly detailed outline of where Jake had been during those years. Readers of Memories of Jake often commented on how real a character Jake had become to them, and I knew then that I needed to tell Jake’s story in a second book.

Only, I let Jake tell his story in the first person. In Man with No Yesterdays, this great-grandmother attempted a novel by a young warrior. Except, of course, at that point Jake was no longer a warrior…and didn’t know who he now was. It became undoubtedly the greatest challenge I had set myself, and it took time and effort, but it resulted in a book many people have read and appreciated.

Jake’s memories from Vietnam were never recovered, but he met other vets, one of whom had served with him, and he told Jake about some of their experiences. The book required a great deal of research because Jake traveled from his home town in Pennsylvania, first south, then across the continent, and eventually into Canada. He met many people on his odyssey, and this author journeyed with him while learning a great deal.

My talented editor, Ashleigh, also an artist, painted a portrait of Jake as I had envisioned him. It later became the image on the book’s cover and the original painting hangs next to my computer. More than most characters, Jake is an integral part of my life.

 **

If you read and enjoyed “The Cameron Saga,” you’ll appreciate my upcoming release, And This Shall Be for Music. The protagonist, Lindsey Cameron, is Andrew’s daughter, a talented, aspiring opera singer who learns how quickly our life can change.

Memories of Jake and Man with No Yesterdays can be found on Amazon 

on my author page

 https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Moore-Jordan/e/B00IBZ731U%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

MUSIC CHOOSES US

 

During the forty-plus years I’ve had a private voice studio, I’ve been privileged to work with some unusually gifted students…students who have a naturally beautiful voice, excellent musical skills, an innate sense of musicality, and a passion for music. It has been immensely gratifying to see a few of them become professional performers, sometimes for only a few years, sometimes building a successful long-term career.

  I often say to these students: “We don’t choose music, music chooses us.” And I believe that to be true. However, being a Chosen One isn’t all smooth sailing. Especially in the World of Opera.

 Even when a young singer has “all the tools,” there are no guarantees. It’s a difficult and demanding profession. Singers in particular are musical athletes. They need to be in great physical condition and constantly care for the voice. They spend hours and hours learning new music, memorizing music, coaching, studying, and rehearsing. They must be willing to travel sometimes at the drop of a hat. Despite this, as one of my most successful students said at one time, “sometimes the best singers never make it.” The factor that can’t be ignored is luck—being in the right place at the right time, or being the right choice for a particular opportunity.

 My recent research into music therapy led me to wonder about the incidence of mental illness and emotional distress in this population (performers), and it was no surprise to learn that it is indeed higher than in the general population. These are by and large sensitive people who respond more intensely to the stressors they undergo as they attempt to build a career.

Yet a passion for music and the skills for performance are powerful motivators, and many people continue to pursue such a career. I for one am grateful they make this choice…for what would life be without the music they share with us? The reward goes far beyond receiving remuneration for their “work.”

 Magical moments can happen in a live performance…magical for both performer and audience alike. For a while, all else is forgotten, and together we enter into an unforgettable time and space which removes us from our day-to-day existence.

 

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, 

flight to the imagination and life to everything.” 

– (attributed to Plato)

picture by Tristan Flanagan for cover of my book, "You Are My Song"

www.susanmoorejordan.com

In Memoriam: Robin Williams and Jerry Hadley

(originally published on August 11, 2014)

 “All is ephemeral, fame and the famous as well” – Marcus Aurelius

It was a shock to learn today that Robin Williams, known no doubt worldwide for his many talents, died at the age of sixty-three, an apparent suicide. It was impossible not to hear about it – it was splashed all over the social media and on all evening newscasts. What we are told is that Mr. Williams was, and had been, suffering from depression.

In one of those life is stranger than fiction parallels, I had recently been researching a very fine American singer, tenor Jerry Hadley, who also took his own life not many years ago, and apparently for the same reason, depression. Hadley had one of the loveliest voices I have ever heard. He was opera’s Golden Boy for a time, and sang all over the world for nearly a quarter of a century beginning in 1979. From what I have read about him, he was a generous and caring colleague, with charm and wit. He was a very good-looking man. He was a fine musician and was equally at home in the standard operatic literature and in contemporary works. He was also comfortable in musical theater.

He was married to a pianist, Cheryll Drake, whose photos show her to be as lovely as Jerry was handsome. She was his accompanist and mother of his two sons. It would seem Jerry Hadley had it all. Though his fame was not as widespread as Robin Williams, he was well-known and admired by opera lovers. 

And yet. In 2002 Jerry and Cheryll were divorced, and for five years he did not perform. Apparently he stopped singing, and suffered from a deep depression. Whether the depression preceded the divorce or the reverse was true, the result was the same: a beautiful voice was stilled. I read that in 2007 Jerry had begun a comeback, and it seemed he was on the threshold of a second career. There was a new woman in his life. And then on July 10, 2007, he apparently shot himself in the head, suffering irreversible brain damage. He was put on life support for a time, and after being taken off the machines died two days later, on July 18.

I’m sure we will hear a great deal more about Robin Williams’ death in the days to come, and perhaps learn more about the depression he suffered that caused him to end his life. Williams was a genius. It would be difficult to find anyone in this country who was not familiar with his work. Of his many films, two I admired greatly were Awakenings and Dead Poets’ Society. In recent years I don’t recall hearing much about his impromptu comedy, but for those of us who saw him on various television variety shows and watched him launch into an impossibly funny and brilliant routine, it can only be described as “awesome.” He was one of a kind.

So here were these two gifted men, still young (Hadley was fifty-five when he died), famous on at least some level, seeming to have all the things so many people aspire to. Yet both in such despair they chose to leave the world they seemed to have at their feet. Hadley’s depression we know was of long duration; it’s possible Williams’ was as well.

I’d like to think there may be a lesson here. Mental illness still carries far too much of a stigma. If we have friends we think may be in trouble, we have to learn to reach out to them. We have to learn to reach out to them.

Depression is a terrible disease, as we learned to our sorrow once again today. Godspeed, Robin Williams. You gave us much joy. How sad that it seems you had lost it.

Why I Write About Music

 

In my book Memories of Jake, the first in a series of two about brothers who served in Vietnam and how they managed to survive it, my character Andrew Cameron is an artist. Yet music is vital to his very existence. Andrew listens to music as he paints; it inspires him. Music provides hope, comfort, and healing throughout his life, through whatever challenges he must face. Music is also part of the happiness he experiences.

Music is in every book I write. How could it not be? As a child, my engineer father, whose avocation was playing the trumpet, frequently had recordings playing on the stereo in our home. Mostly classical orchestral music, which he loved and which I came to love as well. Like many young girls, I studied piano and ballet, learning more musical literature, and I eventually discovered opera at the age of 14 by listening to a Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcast. It was, as I’ve said before, like falling in love, a love that has lasted a lifetime. Music has never failed me.

 I’ve had interesting responses to the music in my books. One reader’s review referred to my work as “music-centric” and I really like that description. Another reader, who hadn’t anticipated that music would permeate the pages, entitled her (one star) Amazon review of Eli’s Heart: “You should be an opera enthusiastic (sic) to really enjoy this.” Well, an honest appraisal from her point of view; the book is certainly full of music.The main characters are two musicians who meet at the age of sixteen.The young man, a piano prodigy,was born with a defective heart. Yet he and his love manage to enjoy a fulfilling life which includes his highly successful career—because of the music that brought them together and filled their lives.

That was my second novel, and I am now at work on novel number 15. The main character in this latest one is Andrew Cameron’s daughter Lindsey, who has wanted to be an opera singer since she was seven. The book begins in 1996, just before she completes her bachelor of music degree. It is definitely “music-centric,” and there is a great deal about the world of opera…among other things. (Maybe I should offer my one-star reviewer a complimentary copy?) Once again, my characters face challenges, and the music in their lives helps them to meet those challenges. So if you’ve read ”The Cameron Saga,” and choose to read And This Shall Be for Music when it’s released, you’ll revisit old friends and follow Lindsey’s path and that of her close friends and the man she comes to love.

 When I write about music, I describe it from the point of view of the listener or performer, or both. This excerpt is from the prologue to Memories of Jake. Andrew’s younger brother Jake has been missing for some years after returning home from Vietnam with retrograde amnesia, choosing to try to find the man he is now rather than struggle to recapture who he once was. Older brother Andrew receives a phone call from a sheriff in North Carolina, which is where Andrew was last seen. Human remains have been found and since Jake’s is an unresolved missing person case, it’s necessary to have them tested. Andrew hears back from the sheriff and puts on a recording to help him deal with this new crisis.

 ***

 Listening to this music always helped him reconnect with all the good in the universe, and when the second movement of Brahms’ Requiem started, Andrew was able to focus on the music and let it wash over him. The repeated timpani beats seemed to him the broken heartbeat of all humanity; the stately chords led into the chorus singing softly:

 Behold, all flesh is as the grass,

And all the glory of man is as the flower of grass.

For lo, the grass withers,

And the flower fades away.

 The orchestra returned, the chords changed and the powerful forward movement of the music culminated in the chorus now bursting forth full force with the repeat of the opening phrase and then dying away softly. But Brahms wasn’t done yet. An a cappella section was like a light playing through the gloom:

 Be patient for the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits patiently

To receive the rain.

 The entire first section was repeated. Then came the part Andrew found so powerful he had to remind himself to breathe. A complete change of mood, the sun bursting forth and completely destroying the darkness:

 But the word of the Lord endures forever …

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 Andrew had been introduced to the Brahms Requiem when he returned to college after his tour of duty in Vietnam. He had felt lost for a time, unable to shake the experiences of the war, no matter how hard he tried to forget them. He needed some way to reconnect with the boy he had been before he left: the boy who loved art and music and beauty and peace. Brahms’ music helped bring him back; it spoke to him of hope and a great promise. Death is not the end, it proclaimed. Not even for his lost brother, no matter what may have happened to him.

***

The remains uncovered in North Carolina, Andrew learns, are not Jake’s. Hope remains alive for his missing brother.

 Writing this book was a wonderful, gripping, emotionally wrenching, yet uplifting journey. It wasn’t easy to write, and it isn’t easy to read. But many readers have found it well worth the journey it took them on. Memories of Jake is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

To order: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XXHJ63N/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3

 

The Wonderful World of Opera in America

 I’m staring at a page that’s about three quarters written, and the heading says “Chapter 27.” But I’m wondering if this book is ever going to be finished. This is first draft, and I feel like I’ve been swimming through a river of mud and driftwood during the last few chapters. I’m supposed to enjoy writing. I want to enjoy writing. I have enjoyed writing. Right now, though, it feels more like an arduous chore.

 I heard my first opera in the fall of 1952. I was fourteen, listening to a Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Claude Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande (sung in French, of course). It was love at first…well, hearing. In the fall of 1955, I became a freshman at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, thrilled beyond belief to have been accepted as a vocal performance major.

 This is a preamble to the book I’m attempting to write at this point in my second career as a writer, which began nine years ago at the age of seventy-five. I’ve written fifteen books, much to my astonishment. All of them include music. Music has been my life since even before that fourteen-year-old impressionable child became enamored of opera, thanks to a father who loved classical music (though opera wasn’t his thing). Even my eight-book cozy mystery series overflows with music. Some people love these books (it would be nice if there were more readers, but I think my protagonist Augusta McKee—singer/teacher/amateur sleuth—has a small but loyal following).

 My years at CCM were a dream come true. As a freshman, I realized fairly early on that my voice was one of those described thusly: “she has a small voice, but it’s pretty” (any singer will know exactly what I’m saying…at least it wasn’t “small, but ugly”). It was a real eye-opener to hear some of my schoolmates—indeed, some of my classmates, who had large, mature, thrilling voices. Wisely, I realized singing at the Met was not going to happen for this soprano. That was okay, I still loved opera and wanted to somehow be part of that world. Then I met this tenor.

 Yes, I fell madly in fatuation (I just made that up) and fairly soon we were married. He had a true talent, and for about a decade managed to sing professionally. I did everything I could to support his dream. Or what I thought was his dream. After those ten years, he decided the life of an opera singer wasn’t for him, and instead established himself as an independent notesetter for music publishing companies. He liked his new career, and I accepted it. He loved to sing, but he never truly loved singing opera. (His acting ability was not on a par with his singing ability, but that didn’t prevent him from continuing to sing right up until his death fourteen years ago.)

 Three children later, we left Cincinnati to move to Northeastern Pennsylvania so the notesetter could be close to his primary customer. He then suggested I establishing a private vocal studio, and that’s when I realized my true calling. Because of that “small, but pretty” voice I had worked hard to develop my own instrument. While my voice was never suited for opera, I had become a decent singer, thanks to the three excellent teachers I worked with. What I learned, I loved teaching to young singers, and it turns out I communicated vocal technique to them well, along with my passion for classical vocal music. I believe in the past forty-three years nearly every student who came into my studio left with a better understanding of their voice, and some continued their music studies in college. Some even built careers, which was tremendously gratifying for this teacher.

 So, the book I’m attempting is about a young aspiring opera singer, beginning with her graduation from “the Conservatory” (translation: CCM) in 1996. It should be easy, right? I’ve been on the fringes of “Opera World” for decades, and even lived there with the tenor for a time back in the sixties. Not so. The “landscape” of opera in the United States changed dramatically beginning sometime in the sixties, and while at that time there were two major opera houses in this country (the Met and San Francisco) and three regional opera houses…that adds up to five…these days the organization Opera America has a list of ONE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE major and regional opera companies on their list. And there could be even more.

 This showed me that my protagonist, Lindsey, has a lot of decisions ahead of her, so I needed to learn all about the growth of my favorite art form over the past five or six decades. How does an aspiring opera singer build a career in more recent years? She has many paths, but also much competition.

 On top of that, because of a trauma in her young life, Lindsey becomes aware of music therapy, the Bonny method of Guided Imagery with Music in particular. Something else I’m researching because until I started writing this book, I had never heard of GIM music therapy.

 So. Here I am, up to the first draft of Chapter 27 and my outline shows potentially 32 chapters (it could be one or two more). You’d think the finish line would be in sight. And yet, lots of logs and debris in this river as I thrash and splash my way through.

 Opera in America is as much of a production offstage as it is on. Those who love the art and try to make it happen face challenges, sometimes traumatic, that can change them. This next story shows how people react to what a life fraught with trials in opera can bring, seen through the eyes and experiences of my soprano Lindsey.

 Am I having fun yet?

 Well…I am. In a weird sort of way. Which only means I’m a writer. Right?

MY FAVORITE PERSON I’VE NEVER MET: THE RETIRED CINCINNATI COP

One of the things I enjoy most about writing is research. And my favorite part of research is finding remarkable people who are willing to share their time and expertise to assist a writer pursuing a subject they are passionate about. 

After writing several historical novels, the last two of which were intense because they were about brothers who had served in the Vietnam War, I decided four years ago to go in a completely different direction and try my hand at a cozy mystery. I chose to set my story in a city I love, Cincinnati, when I lived there during the nineteen-sixties.

Almost immediately I was stymied by police procedure in that city in that era.  I found online good information about how the Cincinnati Police Department operates today. My memories of the city were that we admired the local police and felt protected, but since I was never on the wrong side of the law, I’d had almost no personal interaction with what I’ve since learned was maybe the greatest police department in the country at the time.

During an internet search, I stumbled across the Facebook page of the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society. A further search took me to the organization’s website, and I wondered if this might be a place where I could get some answers. I sent a message through the Facebook page, explaining who I was and what I hoped to do. Fairly quickly I had a very nice return message from retired Det. Lt. Stephen Kramer, then president of the organization, saying he’d be happy to help me. I had done as much preliminary research as I could, so I sent Lt. Kramer my list of questions about police work in the city during that era, explained my story in more detail, and again in a short time received a remarkably complete and wonderfully written response addressing my questions.

Eight books later, I can’t even imagine how many e-mails have flown through cyberspace between Steve Kramer and myself. I know that without his input, interest and guidance, “The Augusta McKee Mystery Series” would be sadly lacking in accuracy and interesting details, and also in the personality of one of the main characters. Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell has become a significant part of all the novels in the series.

 A writer himself, Steve Kramer has been willing to help me work out details in each plot so that they are believable, even when I’ve stretched the envelope a bit. Need a really scary jail where Augusta visits a suspect? Here you go…the Cincinnati Workhouse, complete with its history, photos and his own visceral reaction to the place. Perfect. Who provided security for Music Hall in 1964? Not only an answer but a contact, the former chief of the Cincinnati Private Police Association. (All those times I attended concerts and even performed in Music Hall, and I never knew that.)

I lived in Cincinnati from 1955-1971 and remembered Sheriff George Ratterman and April Flowers, and knew Newport wasn’t the picturesque town it appeared to be from the Eden Park Overlook. But I never knew about master bootlegger George Remus, and even more, his wife Imogene’s ghost. Lt. Kramer recommended a book which gave me a wonderful insight into that story. Imogene is discussed in the second book in the series when Augusta is directing an opera workshop production that includes operatic ghosts.

We (notice I moved from “I” to “we” by book #3) need to stop this suspect from getting on a plane on her way to flee the country and to complicate matters further, we want her to be arrested but released. Fortunately, Augusta’s best friend is involved with a criminal defense attorney. A wild drive to the airport and while Malcolm tracks down the suspect to detain her, Augusta calls Garrett and tells him to get over there ASAP because the suspect needs his assistance.

More recently: need to check out a downtown Cincinnati car chase? I put together the route from my vivid memories of driving in the city often and with the help of Google maps. Steve and his wife Pat “surveilled” it for book #8 by driving it! (Aside: The Case of the Bogus Beatle, which begins with an actual Beatles concert at Crosley Field in August, 1966, along with all other books in the series are available on Amazon, Kindle and paperback. You can find them on my author page, Susan Moore Jordan. Note: end of the shameless self-promotion pitch.)

An enormously important element of this book series is Lt. Kramer’s insight into what drives a dedicated law enforcement officer. There are numerous times in the books when the words that come out of Malcolm Mitchell’s mouth originated in Stephen Kramer’s emails. My female protagonist (there’s a spark there even at their first contentious meeting) eventually asks Detective Mitchell why he became a cop. And more specifically, a homicide detective. Here’s what Steve Kramer sent me, which almost verbatim became Malcolm’s explanation to his new love interest:

“Being a homicide detective has to be one of the most satisfying occupations on God’s earth. Mentally, it’s challenging. It’s like playing a different puzzle every day, except the outcome is very important to another human being. Actually, if you’re successful, two human beings. No, if you’re successful, many human beings, considering what happens if you don’t catch the perpetrator…he just keeps perpetratin’. When you’re doing a homicide investigation, you see the person who’s dead and you have a physical reminder of what’s going to happen if you don’t catch who did it. When you catch him, it’s hard to explain how it makes you feel. The endorphins scatter in your brain like fireworks. It may be the best thing you ever feel.”

I’ve never asked Steve Kramer why he’s willing to have emailed me thousands and thousands of words (along with more photos) to assist with these books. Maybe I’m afraid he’ll decide enough, already, at some point, but I have a feeling he enjoys sharing his knowledge and memories of his lengthy service to the city we both love.

He’s done all this to date for copies of the novels and a gift certificate to Skyline Chili (one of the things I really, really miss about living in Cincinnati). We’ve never even spoken on the phone. Maybe it’s the twenty-first century equivalent of being pen pals?

Steve Kramer is definitely my favorite person I’ve never met face to face, but I feel he’s become a valued friend.

Det. Lt. Steve Kramer then ...

... and now