Music! Its Role and Importance in Our Lives

Chapter 8: Musical Creators

From the Top

Name: Sojourner Hodges
Age: 17
Instrument: Composition/Piano
Hometown: Calvary, GA

Sojourner Hodges on performing her Trio, Second Movement, on the From the Top radio show:

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this piece?

A: I wrote this 2nd movement as soon as I had finished writing the 1st movement of the trio, which was much longer and more complicated than the 2nd movement (and also took a much longer time to write); so the 2nd movement was for me a kind of catharsis. Everything seems to pull back in this piece, and the performers can definitely do what they like with rubato, especially during the windows of solo playing that each of the instruments have at various times.

Q: What is unique or special about this piece of music?

A: This piece was my first premiere! So that's definitely a reason that it's special to me. Also, writing for the traditional piano trio instrumentation was new to me at the time, so this piece helped develop my understanding of the relationships between the instruments and how they work in that combination.

Q: What was it like preparing for and performing on From the Top?

A: Being on From the Top was wonderful, but I especially loved working with Susie and Rachael prior to the show. We had never met before the show, and when I was told over the phone several weeks before the performance that Rachael really liked my piece and was looking forward to playing it, that just made my day. And I was struck by how few rehearsals we needed to fit everything together in the piece. It went so smoothly.