Families

At a recent Writers’ Conference a literary agent who had looked over part of the novel I hope to release in the spring made this comment: “Memories of Jake has the potential to become a moving family drama.”

When I consider the books I’ve written over these past three and a half years, all of them are about families. How I Grew Up tells the story of the Stewart sisters, three young women who have to put their lives back together after one sister’s estranged husband shoots and kills their parents and another sister’s husband. Eli’s Heart is about a budding romance between a young pianist and a girl he loves which is detoured for a time by his domineering mother. You Are My Song is the story of a young tenor and his wife, and the families of both are an important part of the story. And Jamie’s Children is the story of that tenor’s son and daughter, talented young people who have their own challenges to face.

With Memories of Jake I continue with this theme of family, going back to How I Grew Up and following the sons of the man who murdered their grandparents. What happened to those two boys after that event? They later both serve in the Vietnam War and are deeply affected by it. These may seem like dark themes, and in a way they are, but in all my books I focus on the creativity in the lives of my characters. Music and art help them to face these challenges and heal.

Every family has challenges to deal with, some more difficult than others. And most families have shared memories of happy times as well. The Stewart sisters manage to go on; the two older sisters remarry and have happy lives, the youngest sister pursues her dream of becoming an actress. The pianist’s mother eventually learns to love her daughter-in-law and appreciate the happiness she brings to the man who bears the double burden of musical genius and a serious congenital heart defect. The tenor and his wife suffer a devastating loss and also brilliant success.

These are all stories of people that are, well, ordinary people in many ways. People who laugh, love, weep, rejoice, and find richness in their lives through their creativity.

People my readers tell me they come to love. That is immensely gratifying to me. You might enjoy meeting these people … all my novels are available on Amazon. Winter is a great time to curl up with a good book!

Covers by Tristan Flanagan

All books available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. 

Links can be found on my website, www.susanmoorejordan.com

Jamie Logan and the Wonderful World of Opera

You Are My Song is the final book in my “Carousel Trilogy,” a trio of books about three high school students whose lives are changed by a small town tragedy in the 1950s. When we first meet Jamie Logan, in How I Grew Up, he is performing the role of Billy Bigelow in Carousel. His leading lady is Melanie Stewart, a high school senior whose parents have just been shot to death by her estranged brother-in-law.

My thanks to Anita Lock for this excellent review of the book in this week’s issue of Underground Book Reviews, a great website which encourages and promotes independent authors in many ways. It was exciting that this was the second book the website selected for an in-depth review. Eli’s Heart was also reviewed by Ms. Lock.

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The Rundown
Jamie Logan’s love for singing was set in place at a young age. By high school Jamie gets involved in theater and his lilting tenor voice wins him the lead role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Although he’s attracted to the lead lady in the musical, Jamie is too enamored of Sarah, his longtime sweetheart—so much so that Jamie dreams of the day when he will be a dad. A few years pass and Jamie and Sarah finally wed. But the marriage is not a happy one since Sarah forbids Jamie to pursue his other dream of singing. Dissension brews eventually leading to divorce. Now with his dreams dashed, Jamie feels like a failure, especially when Sarah snidely comments that maybe he’ll “find a job as a professional rainbow chaser.”

Getting back on his feet, Jamie decides to contact Ed Davidson, his high school vocal teacher who inspires him to train for entrance into the University’s opera program. Passing with flying colors, Jamie slowly begins to build his career as an opera singer. Yet as highly talented as he is, Jamie has no idea the trials he will have to face on his musical journey. Jamie periodically finds himself plagued with nervousness prior to performances and low self-esteem as competition auditions become more taxing. It doesn’t help that a family crisis gets added to the mix. Amid all his problems, Jamie knows that the only one who can help him achieve the highest career goal is the woman he loves. But whether or not Jamie can overcome his worst enemy in the process will be his ultimate challenge.

In the final novel of The Carousel Trilogy, Jordan gathers the featured characters (Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, and Jamie Logan) from her series together in one glorious romance tale. Based on her “experiences as a voice teacher and stage director” and “inspired by real people she has encountered,” Jordan’s 1960’s plot shines a light on the complexities of professionals in the opera realm. While men and women’s roles were defined differently in general as well as in the musical arena, so too were issues of race and gender—all thought provoking concepts for readers to ruminate on to compare then and now. As she weaves in these troubling aspects in the midst of Jamie’s intriguing life, Jordan includes a delightful array of all things opera.

The Recommendation
You Are My Song creates a nice closure to a great trilogy! There is no doubt that the largest draw of readers will come from those who are musically inclined—whether instrumentalists or listeners. Yet Jordan incorporates so much more than the opera scene to grab the attention of anyone looking for a captivating read.

The Rating Reviewer Rating: 5 Stars
5 Stars (out of 5): Highly recommended. This book did exactly what it set out to do, with originality, style, and maybe even a twist. It stands out next to popular, traditionally published novels in its genre.
The Pros & Cons
Pros: Believable, Characterization, Page Turner

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Here's a link to the page: https://www.undergroundbookreviews.org/review-of-you-are-m…/

You Are My Song (Kindle edition) is currently on sale on Amazon for ninety-nine cents. A great chance to pick up the book! 

https://www.amazon.com/Song-Carousel-Trilogy-Book-Three-ebook/dp/B00SZAHWWG/

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

Stage Fright

Performance nerves. Performance anxiety. Stage fright. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s something most musicians have to deal with, and it can be awful. It can precede a performance by hours or even days, or it can be a moment of heart-pounding, gut-wrenching fear just before the performer steps onto the stage. It’s an adrenalin jolt that some performers manage to use to their advantage; a rush of energy that some can learn to channel in such a way their performance is enhanced.

I’ve never known a performer who didn’t experience it to some degree, because we all want what we do to be flawless, perfect and awe-inspiring. That’s asking a lot of ourselves, but it’s what we strive for. It’s rare for a performer to finish a performance and be totally satisfied with it. The nerves are usually vanquished when the first notes are played or sung and the performer realizes he is going to live through this. He thinks of the music, and it begins to be an experience that’s enjoyable if not exhilarating. After all, we do this because we love to do it, to share our music.

The musicians in my books experience stage fright. Jamie Logan, the tenor who strives to conquer the world of opera in You Are My Song, describes it as a combination of fear and excitement he experiences just before the curtains open. But that’s when he’s a mature artist: as a younger singer, he had serious trouble with stage fright. I think Jamie has learned how to use that adrenalin rush to his advantage.

Eli Levin, the main character in Eli’s Heart, sometimes has terrible attacks of nerves. In this excerpt from the book, he has one of the worst cases of nerves in his young life when he has limited time to prepare a difficult and demanding piece which he plays with a string quartet. He practices like crazy (well, that’s not new – Eli always practices like crazy). He cuts a class or two to practice, has trouble sleeping and isn’t his usual loving self with his wife.

The piece is the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, and if you’re intrigued there are quite a few performances on YouTube. One I especially love is with the great pianist Arthur Rubinstein and the Guarneri Quartet.

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Eli asked Krissy to sit in the auditorium for the first half of the concert, two Bartok quartets. She wanted to stay with him, but he told her he’d really rather she didn’t. She tried not to look hurt, but he saw in her face she felt he was shutting her out. She was right. He needed it to be him and Brahms right now. He studied the score, his hands trembling.

At intermission Walter told him not to worry, it was going to be great. Krissy found him and walked into his arms, and he held her tight. She didn’t say anything, just held him as close as she could. He relaxed enough to feel he could walk out to the piano. “Hold these for a minute, will you?”  He handed her his glasses as he wiped his face and hands with his handkerchief. It distressed her to see his hands shaking. Have I ever been this nervous before a performance? he thought. Krissy replaced his glasses and kissed him, and he relaxed a little more. She smiled and touched his face, love and concern in her eyes, and went back to her seat.

As Eli waited to go onstage with the Quartet, he tried to turn his thoughts inward, to find that place in himself where he had gone so many times to find the muse. He knew she was there; she was always there. He caught a glimpse of her and held onto it as he walked onstage. He sat at the piano, opening the score. He looked at the score as he heard the strings tuning, focusing on what Brahms was asking from them to bring the printed notes to life.

Think about the music, Eli said to himself. Think about the muse. He heard the music in his head. His hands were no longer shaking; they were steady as he lifted them. He looked at Walter and nodded slightly; he was ready. On Walter's signal Eli brought his hands down on the keyboard, a brief thought crossing his mind: Here we go. He felt and heard the opening unison passage, all of them moving as one.  Eli attacked the keyboard for the rapid arpeggios that followed, playing them cleanly; he heard the strings accenting what he was doing. He caught Walter’s signal as they began the main theme, and the music swept through him. He became caught up in the beauty of what they were doing together and the connection he felt with them.

The first movement went almost perfectly, and he began to feel more confident. Eli loved playing with these men. He was part of a team; it was the musical equivalent of playing in the infield with the New York Yankees. The nerves were gone. By the time they began the third movement ... the Scherzo ...everything felt right. His fingers flew over the keyboard with surety, elegantly arcing phrases, weaving the piano part perfectly with the strings. This was why he played; this incredible feeling of making the music soar. There was another rush of adrenalin as they approached the end of the final movement; after the last strong chords there were glances and smiles exchanged on stage. Eli breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling slightly giddy, elated by the joy of having lived music here in this hall with Brahms, with his colleagues, with this audience. The audience stood and responded with enthusiastic and prolonged applause.

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Links to my books can be found on my website at www.susanmoorejordan.com

Journey With Me Back in Time

Jamie’s Children, my fourth novel, was released on Monday, July 11. The first, How I Grew Up, was released in October of 2013. I’ve been on quite a journey. I’ve learned a lot about the craft of writing, I’ve learned a lot about publishing (especially self-publishing, which is the path I have taken).

Most of all, I have learned how much I love to write.

How I Grew Up, a fictional accounting of an actual event I experienced when I was a high school student in the 1950s, was the genesis for all of this. My work in progress even has its roots in the original novel. So in celebration of releasing novel number four, I am giving away Kindle copies of novel number one, between now and 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 17.

Here’s the Amazon link for the giveaway. It’s a good story. Many people read it in one sitting. It’s the first person accounting of a life-changing experience for an eighteen-year-old girl (my close friend in actuality) who is able to move from tragedy to triumph with the help of her family and friends … and the power of creativity in her life.

There is also a Goodreads Giveaway for three print copies of Jamie’s Children, which is already receiving some wonderful reviews. So I’m including the link for that as well.

My characters have challenges to overcome, and the music in their lives helps them to meet these challenges. The other two novels are Eli’s Heart and You Are My Song.

If you love to meet new characters and come to love them, and if you love music, especially classical music, you will find much to enjoy.

 Link to Amazon giveaway for Kindle edition of How I Grew Up:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Grew-Carousel-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B017WE3GW0/

Link to Goodreads Giveaway for Jamie's Children:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/194112-jamie-s-children

Jamie Logan and His Children

Jamie Logan made his first appearance in my first novel, How I Grew Up, as a high school senior playing the role of Billy Bigelow in his high school’s production of Carousel. He’s handsome, talented, and a super nice guy, and despite having a long-time sweetheart he has a romance of sorts with his leading lady, Melanie Stewart. Something that often happens in high school productions.

Two books later, and Jamie and Sarah’s marriage has failed, mainly because Sarah wanted to be a bride but not a wife. Jamie, who has an unusually fine tenor voice, has been taking lessons with his former high school music director (that’s quite a story in itself) and is encouraged by that teacher and his parents to go back to college and pursue a career. You Are My Song follows Jamie’s journey as he aspires for a career in opera. Self-doubt, family crises and even a hate crime are stumbling blocks he has to deal with along the way, as well as the rivalry and politics he didn’t expect. Jamie just wants to do what he loves: sing.

Equally important to Jamie is having a family, and he and his wife (and who she is may surprise you. It did me!) have two children, Laura and Niall, both musically gifted in very different ways. Jamie’s Children, to be released July 15, is their story. Each of them has life challenges they strive to overcome in order to be the artists and the people they want to be.

Here’s a brief excerpt from You Are My Song. The Kindle edition of this book will be on sale this coming weekend, July 2-4, for ninety-nine cents. While Jamie’s Children is a standalone book (as is You Are My Song), it’s fun to meet characters in one book and get acquainted with them again in a sequel. The year is 1958.

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The final piece for his audition was an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, “E lucevan le stelle” (“The stars were shining”). Ed had a portable record player in his studio and he had brought a recording of the opera. He played the recording of the aria for Jamie, first explaining to him a little about the opera and what was happening in the story when the aria was performed.

It was a defining moment for Jamie. Hearing this aria sung with orchestra by the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano transported him. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life. Ed saw the look on Jamie's face and knew Jamie had stepped beyond the limits he had set for himself and had caught a glimpse of an entirely new world.

When the aria ended and Ed turned off the record player, he turned to Jamie, intensely interested in hearing what his student would say.

“I want to do that,” Jamie said immediately, his eyes shining. “I want to sing that aria with an orchestra, standing on a stage. I want to sing opera.”

Ed put the record back in the album sleeve and handed it to Jamie. “Why don’t you take this home with you and listen to the whole opera when you have a chance? The aria I assigned you is wonderful, but the entire opera is full of the same kind of music. Puccini was one of the greatest of all opera composers.”

Jamie took the album eagerly. “Thank you so much, Ed. I’ll sure do that. I can’t wait to hear it. See you next week!”

Ed watched Jamie leave. His whole demeanor had changed since he had walked into Ed’s studio two weeks earlier. His head was high, he walked with purpose. The uncertainty Ed had seen was gone. Hearing di Stefano sing inspired Jamie as nothing else could have; Ed had made a good choice with both the singer and the aria.

Jamie’s entire world had changed in two short weeks. He had a goal. He had a purpose. He no longer felt like a failure. His marriage had been a mistake, but his whole life lay ahead of him.

A life in music.

 You Are My Song on sale July 2-4, Kindle edition, $0.99

http://tinyurl.com/z5d8cde

The CAROUSEL Trilogy

Receiving a new reader review on Amazon is always special, and it was gratifying to find two from the same reader who commented she had read the entire “Carousel” Trilogy!

Here’s more information about what that reader so enjoyed that she gave two of the books 5-Star Reviews.

   

The Carousel Trilogy

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

You Are My Song

by

Susan Moore Jordan

Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, Jamie Logan

Three high school friends connected

 by one life-changing event. Each with a story to tell.

How I Grew Up is Melanie’s story. On a February night in 1954, her estranged brother-in-law entered her home with a gun and started shooting. When he left, her mother lay dead, her father was mortally wounded, and another brother-in-law was critically injured. Less than two weeks later, Melanie auditions for her high school’s musical production of Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Carousel. How she wins the leading role of Julie Jordan and performs it brilliantly while her involvement in the show helps her begin to heal is a testament to the power of creativity in our lives.

Eli’s Heart is Krissy’s story. Just a few months prior to that Carousel production, for which she played harp in the orchestra, Krissy had met Eli Levin, a boy her own age born with two burdens: a prodigious musical gift and a frightening congenital heart condition. What seemed to be a budding romance between the brilliant young pianist and the girl he fell in love with during that summer was ended by the interference of his family. But Krissy and Eli manage to find their way back to each other some three years later. They marry while still college students when they are both twenty. Their story is one of learning to live a full life despite the odds against them.

  

You Are My Song is the story of Melanie’s leading man in Carousel. Jamie Logan had a voice of unusual beauty and seemed destined to become a singer, but his high school sweetheart didn’t want him to sing. Their marriage ended after two years, shattering Jamie’s self-confidence. Jamie comes to realize music is vital to his life and he returns to college to study opera. With the encouragement of his teachers and his new love, Jamie finds the inner strength to pursue a most difficult path, facing both professional and personal challenges along the way.

  Books in The Carousel Trilogy -- How I Grew Up, Eli’s Heart, and You Are My Song by Susan Moore Jordan are available in paperback on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online bookstores. The e-books are available on Kindle. Learn more: www.susanmoorejordan.com

Three Years Later …Thoughts on Writing

“Writing Rules,” or Writing Rules?

     Every so often someone will ask me something about how I write. First of all, it’s completely hands-on, in my opinion. If you want to write, start writing. All the “how-to” books/blogs/articles/courses out there (and they are endless) don’t mean a thing until you sit yourself down and start trying to put “pen to paper,” so to speak.

     Since I started my life as a writer three years ago I’ve written and self-published three novels and a work of non-fiction, and have another novel ready to prepare for release within the next few weeks. I wrote the first book for my own satisfaction, and was hooked. How I Grew Up was published in late October 2013 … yes, I wrote it quickly, but it was a story that had been simmering for decades.

    Two more novels followed: Eli’s Heart was released about nine months later, followed by You Are My Song in January of 2015. My non-fiction book, which was really the easiest to write since I was recalling events in my life as a director of musical theater for over three decades, was released in November, 2015. “More Fog, Please”: 31 Years Directing Community and High School Musicals made its debut at the top of one of Amazon’s less cluttered categories. Imagine that! I could pretend I was a “best-selling author” for a few weeks!

     That was a serendipity: I was seeking a category I felt the book fit best, and didn’t even look at how many similar works were available on the Amazon site. An example of one of the many things I have learned over the past three years as I’ve sought to improve my craft and understand how to promote and market my books. 

     Which brings me to the title of this blog: Writing Rules, or Writing Rules? Learning more about my craft has introduced me to a maze of rules which many authors today believe need to be observed as they write. Most of these rules make sense and I’ve learned better how to spot obvious errors as I write. Point of view baffled me for a time – I wrote the first book in the first person – but I think I have a better handle on it now. Growing up in the fifties I had the benefit of an education which taught spelling, grammar, and all those good things that seem sometimes lacking today. 

     But while writing rules are helpful in better organizing our thoughts … it seems to me it might be very possible to be so concerned about following rules that we don’t remember what we’re doing is writing. Telling a story, sharing our own excitement with a reader. Looking back at my three novels to date, I see improvement in the craft with each book. But I’ve mentioned before, even though How I Grew Up was the work of a newbie author, I’m proud to present the book as I first wrote it.

     The first person voice, that of an anguished, confused girl of eighteen, rings true. I re-read part of the book recently, thinking I might make some revisions since I feel my skills have improved, and decided the story as told by the protagonist is as it should be. It’s a compelling story which I let her tell. She was eighteen … in many ways, a very young eighteen. Yes, she thinks a lot about the costumes she wears when she performs the role of Julie Jordan in Carousel. That’s what a high school senior does. I wrote the book within months after directing that same show in the spring of 2013, and the girls were excited about their costumes. About the set. About the first time they heard the orchestra.

     In Melanie’s case, a stage kiss turned into to something more, confusing and exciting her. She fell in love with her leading man. I know I’m giving away some things … but there is so much more to this story. She was dealing with a horrific tragedy which happened just before she auditioned for the show. All of this is her story, and I stayed out of her way and let her tell it.

     With each succeeding book, I became more aware of ways to improve my craft as I wrote. But I hope I never worried so much about “writing rules” that I forgot this axiom – writing, telling the story, is what should rule ─ what should be foremost. I read something to this effect not long ago, and it makes great sense to this author.

     A good friend and fellow author has been re-reading some of the classics, and she commented to me that the authors of that era didn’t seem to worry about “writing rules.” They just told great stories that we love to read. When I read a book, even by a contemporary author, I don’t read it to see whether or not they followed all the rules that are out there. I read it to become engrossed in the story, to follow the journey they take me on, to love or hate the people they introduce me to. (Oops, just broke a rule there.) To turn the final page with reluctance because they’ve captured my imagination and I don’t like to say goodbye. 

     My take on all of this? Learn the rules … but don’t be afraid to break them. First and foremost, tell the story with all the love you have for it. Art needs passion if it is to live.

Please visit my author page on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/h5mxk3x

Meet Jamie Logan, Laura and Niall’s Father

The Consummate Tenor

I just re-read You Are My Song, the novel all about Jamie Logan and his journey into opera world, and his trials along the way. I like Jamie Logan. I wrote the consummate tenor when I wrote Jamie: he is unusually gifted and learns his craft well. He is an accomplished singer. I also made him a good guy with very little ego, something that tends to be a rare attribute in tenors.

Jamie goes through a lot in his journey, which takes place in the 1960s. His first marriage, to his high school sweetheart, ends acrimoniously. He doesn’t start to study music seriously until he’s twenty-three, and he almost immediately experiences how bitterly jealous a rival can be. He has to sing a performance of his first opera while his mother is lying in a coma as the result of an auto accident. He falls in love again, but that is very complicated because … well, no spoilers. His college accompanist is the victim of a hate crime. Another family crisis causes him to drop out of graduate school. His old college nemesis resurfaces at the most important audition of his career and does his best to sabotage him.

Good things happen to him as well. His ability is recognized wherever he goes, and he begins to achieve some success. Doors open for him, and sometimes luck is the determining factor in a career in opera. He meets the love of his life and marries her, and with her love and support he begins to overcome his self-doubts. When he becomes a father, it’s the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

Jamie had no idea how complicated being a father could become. He never considered that his daughter Laura would be a violin prodigy. Or that his son Niall would develop bipolar disorder. And that’s the story you will read in Jamie’s Children.

You Are My Song is available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. The Kindle edition is a measly $3.99.

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

www.susanmoorejordan.com

http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Moore-Jordan/e/B00IBZ731U/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1457388708&sr=8-1

Words and Music, Take Two

Writing About Music (Revised 3-6-16)

The characters in my books are musicians, generally performers of classical music, and since music is a vital part of their lives I attempt to use words to show the reader some of the music they love. This music can be so magnificent and so complex that it’s not easy to give a reader a sense of how overwhelmingly beautiful it is. 

It’s gratifying to read in a review that even though the reviewer is not versed in classical music, they found the descriptions enhanced the story. So I must have given them at least an indication of how much a character’s life is dependent on this love of music which drives them to perform.

Here’s a brief section from my work in progress, which until recently has had the working title Jamie’s Children.  Jamie Logan, stellar operatic tenor worldwide, is father to Laura, a violin virtuoso, and her younger brother Niall, who despite his bipolar disorder discovers his own music as a folk singer-songwriter.

A family friend and renowned accompanist has been Laura’s mentor since her gift was discovered at the age of four. A child prodigy himself, pianist Eli Levin becomes Laura’s mentor and is an important part of her life: he understands her as no one else can because of the common bond they share. When Laura is fifteen he dies unexpectedly at the age of forty-one, and it takes Laura years to understand the repercussions of that loss.

Some years later she performs a work at the Aspen Music Festival with pianist Anita Foscari, who later becomes Laura’s accompanist. This is an excerpt from Jamie’s Children. Laura and Anita are rehearsing Poulenc’s sonata for violin and piano. (This sonata is a personal favorite of mine, and I enjoyed listening to it repeatedly as I wrote this section. Yes, a very difficult part of my work – listening to wonderful music!)

(This section of the book has been revised. If you read the original, it might be interesting to see what I did with the revision.)

     “Well, Poulenc called this a sonata for violin and piano, but I think of it as a piece for piano and violin. You have at least as much music as I do.”

     The two women were hard at work on Laura’s solo recital, and played straight through the sonata. They smiled at each other when they finished and Laura said, “Let’s see what we need to do with this intriguing piece.”

     “First movement was a little rough,” Anita commented.  “Lots of changes … not just in tempo. Sometimes the entire mood is totally different.”

     “Yes, two different styles at play here. Some real musical humor and then some really nice lyrical stuff. And the transitions are a little tricky.” Laura stood by the piano and pointed to different passages with the tip of her bow as she talked.

     “I have to be careful not to cover you at times. He’s written a very strong piano part here … and here,” Anita said, flipping pages and indicating the passages she meant.

     Laura’s favorite was the second movement, in which Poulenc provided one gorgeous, lyrical moment after another, and she and Anita both let themselves soar with what the composer provided them. The movement seemed to drift away on a final moment of haunting tenderness.

     When Laura had first learned the piece, she read that the sonata was intended for performance by a young French violinist, Ginette Neveu; but when she died tragically young at thirty in an airplane crash, the composer made revisions which reflected his reaction to her premature death. Laura felt a definite connection to the piece because of her own experience with a great artist who had died prematurely.

     The last movement was bittersweet and tinged with sadness, ending with a uniquely wistful coda. Laura tried to reflect what she thought Poulenc had wanted to convey, a farewell to the violinist for whom he had composed it. She heard the sweetness as she drew a plaintive sound from the strings with her bow and as she held the final note, she let it grow softer and fade away to nothing.

     

     

Photo: Rocky Mountains National Park (NPS)

If this excerpt has intrigued you, you can read more about Eli Levin in Eli's Heart, and about Jamie Logan in You Are My Song. Both books are available on Amazon. You can connect through my website, www.susanmoorejordan.com I'd love for you to visit!

What's In a Name?

The Name Game

I read a status on the author page this morning of a writer I appreciate and admire, Suanne Laqueur, about a character in the work she has apparently recently started on. Her comment was regarding the name of a character … and she further commented she has already changed it. (ASIDE: Laqueur’s debut novel, The Man I Love, is one of the best books I have ever read. It has deservedly won several awards and I highly recommend it.)

Funny about naming characters. Some writers seem to have a difficult time coming up with them for assorted reasons. Since I started on this path not quite three years ago at the ripe young age of seventy-five, names have seldom been a problem for me. Entire names. First, middle, last. I don’t always include that information in the books, but I know it. I visualize the character, and the first name pops into my head, and to this point I’ve only changed a character’s name once … and it was a middle name. But it became his son’s first name, so it was important.

When I wrote my first book, How I Grew Up,  it was based on an actual event which took place in 1954 to a high school friend. I fictionalized it, so I gave her another name. Anita Barker became Melanie Stewart. I’m not sure why I chose the name Stewart, but I had a voice student at the time named Melanie Meilinger. Melanie was … and is … a remarkable young woman with a great deal of inner strength, and my character was going to need that. For Melanie’s love interest in Carousel, I combined two long ago high school boys … I gave my character one boy’s quite remarkable tenor voice, and the other boy’s super good looks. Neither of them was named “Jamie” or “Logan” … it was just that when I looked at the amalgam my imagination had created, that’s who he was.

Jamie became the protagonist for my third novel, You Are My Song, and I needed a middle name for him at that point. I introduced his parents, and since his looks were definitely black Irish, his mother was Anna Laura Cleary, nickname Laurie. Jamie’s middle name was her father’s name, he was Ian Cleary. Until I learned Ian was Scots and not Irish.

My first dilemma with a name. I knew Jamie and his second wife (and if you want to know her name, you’ll need to read the book … it’s a good story, you won’t regret it) would have two children, and the second would be a son whom Jamie would name after his grandfather. As it happened, this character is a protagonist in novel number four, my work in progress, which I guess might have been percolating even as I wrote You Are My Song.

It was definitely hard to let go of Ian. I loved James Ian Logan. What a great name. So it had to have the same flavor. Finally, with some help from my Facebook friends, Larysa Martone-Bunn in particular, Jamie told me his middle name was actually Niall. Niall, meaning “champion.” He had just been humoring me that it was Ian. James Niall Logan … that name worked for me, and it has no doubt colored the way Jamie’s son, Niall Roger Logan, has evolved. Roger is Niall’s maternal grandfather’s name. It’s a family thing.

Oh, and it just dawned on me. Those two high school boys I melded into Jamie Logan? The good-looking kid’s initials were J.L. The subconscious at work, no doubt. He was also a super nice young man … a quality I gave Jamie.

But this is strictly a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

www.susanmoorejordan.com

(The photo below is the late great tenor Franco Corelli in the role of Don José in Carmen, Jamie Logan’s signature role. This particular photo is very much how I envision Jamie, the mature artist.)

The CAROUSEL Trilogy

A Formal Announcement

When I began writing How I Grew Up in May of 2013, I had no thought about following with any other novels. But as I was preparing the book for publication the thought struck me: Krissy’s story was a compelling one and perhaps deserved a book of its own. And as I was finishing Eli’s Heart, I began to wonder about Jamie Logan and what would happen if he could pursue using that superb voice he had been given … hence, You Are My Song.

The books are all “stand alone” reads, but I made some small revisions to How I Grew Up and re-released the book as How I Grew Up (The Carousel Trilogy, Book One) and it is now available on Amazon, as are the other two.

The Carousel Trilogy

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

You Are My Song

 by

Susan Moore Jordan

Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, Jamie Logan

three high school friends connected

 by one life-changing event. Each with a story to tell.

How I Grew Up is Melanie’s story. On a February night in 1954, her estranged brother-in-law entered her home with a gun and started shooting. When he left, her mother lay dead, her father mortally wounded, and another brother-in-law critically injured. Less than two weeks later, Melanie auditioned for her high school’s musical production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. How she won the leading role of Julie Jordan and performed it brilliantly while her involvement in the show helped her begin to heal is a testament to the power of creativity in our lives.

  

Eli’s Heart is Krissy’s story. Just a few months prior to that Carousel production, for which she played harp in the orchestra, Krissy had met Eli Levin, a boy her own age born with two burdens: a prodigious musical gift and a frightening congenital heart condition. What seemed to be a budding romance between the brilliant young pianist and the girl he fell in love with during that summer was ended by the interference of his family. But Krissy and Eli managed to find their way back to each other some three years later. They married while still college students when they were both twenty. Their story is one of learning to live a full life despite the odds against them.

  

You Are My Song is the story of Melanie’s leading man in Carousel. Jamie Logan had a voice of unusual beauty and seemed destined to become a singer, but his high school sweetheart didn’t want him to sing. Their marriage ended after two years, shattering Jamie’s self-confidence. Jamie realized music was vital to his life and returned to college to study opera. With the encouragement of his teachers and his new love, Jamie found the inner strength to pursue a most difficult path, facing both professional and personal challenges along the way.

Books in The Carousel Trilogy -- How I Grew Up, Eli’s Heart, and You Are My Song by Susan Moore Jordan are available in paperback on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online bookstores. The e-books are available on Kindle.

For more information about the author, please visit www.susanmoorejordan.com

Violins and Violinists

Passing the Torch

One of my characters in Jamie’s Children, my work-in-progress, comments: “In the right hands, the violin can sing as beautifully as the human voice.”  A favorite college memory: hearing the legendary Jascha Heifetz perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. String players awe and amaze me. Mastering any string instrument has to be a challenge unlike any other, and I do love the sound of the violin. The Brahms concerto is one of my favorite pieces of music, and it plays an important role in the upcoming book.

I don’t recall when I first met violinist Chris Souza. I believe the first time I worked with him was, interestingly enough, in a musical theater production. In 2010 South High School performed The Secret Garden, which has a beautiful, lush, lyrical score which needs strings, and the school has no string program. Chris and a cellist with whom he frequently plays, Agnieska Rybska, agreed to join the high school instrumentalists and play for the show.

It was magical. The young musicians rose to the challenge of these two fine performers being in their midst; it was probably the best pit orchestra we ever had. The young men and women on stage also responded to the beautifully expressive and well-executed string sounds they were hearing, and the caliber of the show jumped several notches. It was an exceptional production.

When I was writing Eli’s Heart, I needed a violin and piano sonata that featured both instruments equally, and when I asked Chris for a suggestion he named Franck’s A Major Sonata, which I listened to and promptly fell in love with. The piece features prominently in the book, and last year when I held a “musical book signing” at the Pocono Community Theater … short readings from the book about specific pieces, followed by performances of those pieces … Chris and pianist Scott Besser played two movements from the Franck sonata. Hearing them was enormously gratifying. It was more than that; it was a thrill.

My current work in progress, Jamie’s Children, is about a brother and sister whose musical lives move in very different directions, and at very different times in their journey. Their father, Jamie Logan, is a world famous opera singer whose story is told in You Are My Song. Laura, Jamie’s firstborn, is discovered to be a violin prodigy at the tender age of four. Chris has been my “go-to”” person for learning more about Laura’s life and career. As a way to better understand what a child that age might have to experience when first beginning to play, Chris generously invited me to attend his studio classes one morning last week. It was an educational and delightful time.

Chris is as impressive a teacher as he is a violinist. I watched a few minutes of his “older” class (all these kids are home schooled and these were morning classes) and heard some nice playing. Then I watched him work with 5-year-olds who are just beginning. There were four little girls in this group but I believe Chris said two were missing.

I loved that one of the first things these children learn is respect for their instrument. They spent quite a bit of time learning to do a “concert bow” … how to hold the instrument and bow in one arm, keep the feet together, bowing to the audience, etc.  The kids were very attentive, partly because of Chris injecting humor into this part of the lesson. After he had shown them the proper way to do this, he had them close their eyes as he then demonstrated the wrong ways, one at a time, and had the kids tell him what he was doing wrong. It was a very effective teaching tool (and one I’ve used in audition workshops for aspiring musical theater performers).

At the beginning of the class they sat on mats and did rhythm exercises. Then after working on their concert bow, they worked on how to correctly hold the violin … they all seemed to have a good basic understanding of holding the bow … and did some open string exercises, and then were shown how to use the ring finger … the third finger … on the strings. As they played he moved among them, gently adjusting an elbow here, a bow arm there, checking hand positions.

He then had the children sit again and used some flash cards, again for practice with rhythm. When he asked them to stand, one child in the group said, “I’m sitting now.” And refused to stand, and her wise and wonderfully patient teacher ignored her and continued the lesson. Eventually she did get back on her feet.

Chris kept the class moving and I appreciated his soft-spoken and low-key approach with these munchkins. While I became very much aware of the amount of strength and coordination these young violinists would need to develop in order to play well, the kids were absorbing it a step at a time, and Chris made it fun for them.

At the end of the lesson they all took a final concert bow. They were a happy and excited group when they left, having experienced a joyful time with the violin. How great to witness a fine violinist passing on his passion for music and for his instrument to these fortunate children.

Chris Souza

photo by Tristan Flanagan

Who Is Jamie Logan?

You Are My Song

Jamie Logan, my book blurb reads, is from a small town in Tennessee, and is “a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice.” He gets off on the wrong track when he marries his high school sweetheart two years after they graduate; and two years later it’s apparent Sarah never wanted to be a wife. The year at this point in 1958, so here is Jamie, with an associate’s degree in business administration, running a car dealership because he thought that’s what his girl wanted.

Pretty depressing, to be twenty-two and feel that you’re a failure. Jamie has always wanted to be a father. His own family means the world to him: his father Jim, a good husband, father, and provider; his somewhat mystical mother Laurie, third generation Irish; his six-years-older sister Carol, her husband Larry Sweeny, her children, Jamie’s niece and nephew Anna and Steven, whom he doesn’t see nearly enough of since Carol’s family lives in Florida.

So where does he go from here? Devoted son, brother, uncle … and possessor of that splendid voice, which he used to its fullest in high school but hasn’t really used in four years. Jamie knows one thing: he can sing. He starts studying voice with his former high school choral director, now teaching in a private studio in Jamie’s home town.

When he hears a recording of the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano singing an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, Jamie has a life-defining moment. This is what he wants to do – no, this is what he has to do. After a few months of study he auditions for the nearby state university’s opera program and is accepted. And that is his first step into a world that can be exciting, fulfilling, nerve-wracking, stressful, daunting, challenging in ways Jamie never anticipated.

His college teacher tells him he has more than an exceptional voice. He has what’s called “the whole package”: he’s a gifted musician and actor, learns quickly, is adept with languages. Oh, and he’s also an unusually good-looking young guy, a definite plus for a tenor, who usually plays the love interest in an opera.

His voice teacher also cautions him that it’s a tough business. While it can be rewarding almost beyond belief, it can also destroy people. It’s not for the faint of heart. Jamie’s not so sure he’s up for the challenge. He sees himself as a pretty simple guy who tries to get along with people, who sings because he loves to sing. Part of Jamie’s charm is his naïveté.

He battles with his self-doubts. Sarah divorcing him has almost destroyed his self-confidence. In Tennessee at the time, “no fault” divorce did not exist: there had to be a specific reason for the divorce. The only one that will work for them is for Jamie to declare he was impotent during the marriage. He agrees, to please Sarah one final time, but it’s a high price for him to pay.

He also has a rival who does his best to undermine Jamie and get him dismissed from the opera program. But two things happen: Jamie falls in love again, this time with a woman who will do whatever she can to help him succeed. And he sings in his first opera and it’s an experience like nothing he’s ever had. Despite everything that’s happened to this point, he wants to pursue the art he’s become passionate about. He has to do this. It’s why he’s alive.

And the rest of the story is in You Are My Song. There are obstacles in his path. There are also successes. There’s sorrow, but there’s also happiness. There are surprises.

But it’s all about this good-hearted boy from Tennessee who has this gift … he can sing.

You Are My Song on Amazon tinyurl.com/p743ru9

YOU ARE MY SONG

About Jamie Logan, Tenor

    The nineteen-fifties. Elvis is wearing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Country music reigns supreme at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

     But in a small Tennessee town Jamie Logan ─ a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice ─ stars in his high school’s musical theater production and begins an unlikely, almost magical journey that could take him to the pinnacle of the opera world.

   The path is far from simple. Jamie just wants to sing. He is ill-prepared for the jealousy, rivalry and politics he encounters on his way. Family crises and even a hate crime also sidetrack him and threaten to undermine his journey.

    But Jamie has a voice beautiful beyond belief ─ and the love of a woman who inspires him to believe in himself. His desire to sing becomes his reason for being. Will that be enough?

     I introduced Jamie Logan in How I Grew Up; he played opposite Melanie Stewart in their high school production of Carousel. I like my character Jamie. He has a naturally beautiful voice. He has innate musicianship and an ability to learn quickly, and no ego. He’s friendly, generous, outgoing, considerate. Oh, and unusually good-looking. He and Melanie have a strong connection, and they both wonder if they could be in love. But no, Jamie has a jealous girlfriend he later marries, and she doesn’t want him to sing.

     When You Are My Song begins, it’s four years after Jamie’s graduation from high school, and his marriage has failed. I had to laugh at my readers’ reaction to that; two of them commented they weren’t surprised to learn of Jamie’s and Sarah’s divorce. I wasn’t either. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed Jamie to reconnect with his love of singing.

     

     The best singers don’t just perform. They share their souls with us. Because of the remarkable beauty of the tenor sound, we may feel he does that more intensely.

     Jamie eventually has the tools to pursue a career in opera, but when we first meet him he's a high school senior with a splendid voice and a good heart. Here’s his introduction to the reader in my first book, How I Grew Up, remembering the narrator is Melanie Stewart:

     Alice [Melanie’s sister] was right; Jamie was a very handsome boy. He had very dark hair, but fair skin and startlingly blue eyes. But it was more than that which made him so appealing; Jamie was someone everybody liked. He was friendly and kind, and always had a ready smile. Jamie had a truly beautiful tenor voice and he loved to sing, but he wasn’t conceited about it. When people complimented him on his singing, he always seemed a little surprised. He was just doing something he loved to do, and if people liked hearing him, well, that was great.

     That was Jamie at eighteen. My new book begins when he is twenty-two and follows him through the next seven years of his life, and Jamie goes through a lot in those seven years. You can order You Are My Song, as well as How I Grew Up and Eli’s Heart, in paperback or e-book format on Amazon. People who live here in the Poconos can purchase paperback copies of all my novels at a slightly discounted price at the Pocono Community Theater. I’ve loved writing these books. I hope you enjoy reading them.

You Are My Song,

Here's a link: tinyurl.com/p743ru9

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

Broadening Horizons

Jamie’s Children

In my upcoming book, working title Jamie’s Children, I follow the stories of a brother and sister whose lives take very different paths. Their father, Jamie Logan, is an opera singer. His daughter, Laura, is discovered at the age of four to be a prodigiously gifted violinist. Laura’s brother Niall, younger by not quite two years, says at one point in the story: “Laura touched a violin at the age of four and the heavens opened up and announced what her life would be.” Niall battles the demons of bipolar disorder as he tries to understand who he is and how he fits into this family which is defined by music.

I’ve set myself quite a challenge with these two characters. In Eli’s Heart, Eli Levin was a prodigy, an immensely gifted pianist with a frightening congenital heart disorder, Tetralogy of Fallot. While I don’t consider myself a pianist, I spent many years studying piano and learned enough to be aware of the talent and dedication necessary for a career as a pianist.  And as a singer, I learned to appreciate the special skills required by a good accompanist. Eli Levin became a great accompanist. This was territory I entered fairly comfortably.

Laura plays violin. While I love the sound of the instrument, I’ve never played one. Fortunately, among my good friends I count a fine violinist, Chris Souza, who is my “go to” person for questions about the world of string music. Laura has isolated herself because of her genius, despite her family’s best efforts. She has to work through her own emotional problems to try to free herself from her self-imposed ivory tower.

Niall plays acoustic guitar, another instrument I know little about. I am learning what an aspiring folk singer needs to do to break into the field, thanks to a former voice student. Nate Taylor is in the process of doing what Niall thinks he might like to try, and Nate has generously shared some of his experiences with me. (He’s very good, by the way, and I’m going to include his website so you can hear Nate's music ─ http://www.ntaylormusic.com). As a classical musician, it’s good for me to broaden my horizons with this music, and I’m listening to a lot of great folk artists these days.

The most difficult task of all is trying to gain an understanding of Niall’s terrible burden of bipolar disorder. To write a character, I have to know him. I have to be able to get inside his head. Niall’s bouts of mania and depression are something I thankfully have never experienced.

Writing about Niall’s first manic experience wasn’t easy, and will no doubt be rewritten, possibly more than once. It’s difficult to understand how Niall’s mind works because it doesn’t work at all the way mine does. Whether Niall’s music will help him live the kind of life he wants remains to be seen. My belief is that music is a powerful force in our lives; indeed, in the universe.

It was invaluable to have a cardiologist as my guide when writing about Eli Levin’s heart disease. For Jamie’s Children I’m fortunate to have a young friend who is a medical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital whose specialty is mental illness, bipolar disorder in particular. Dr. Andrew Rennekamp has provided me with a wealth of information about the condition.

Bipolar disorder presents in many ways, and it often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years. Medication is just one part of treatment ─ therapy, the support of friends and family, and the patient’s strength of will all must combine to make a productive and happy life even a possibility. 

People with bipolar disorder are suffering from a life-threatening illness. Far too many of them become overwhelmed and end their own lives. Somehow, we have to find a way to make that stop. It’s heartening to know there are researchers like Dr. Andrew who are working hard to provide more answers and more help.

           

While you’re waiting to read more about Niall and Laura, you can

 meet their parents in the third book of my Carousel Trilogy.

You Are My Song is about Jamie Logan’s journey in the world of opera

and the professional and personal challenges he must face along his way.
Here's the link to the book: tinyurl.com/p743ru9

www.susanmoorejordan.com

Nate Taylor

photo by Lauren Peters-Collaer