Jennifer Beck Colburn

Composer

Jennifers Premiered Works

Sunrise at Guantnamo

In the pink light of early dawn

I listen as palm trees brush
their leaves together. They whisper
freedom, the land of my birth.

I roll out my prayer mat, bow down

Amar: Duet for Two Violins [2012]: Amar (the Spanish verb:
to love) is a conversation between two instruments. The violin,
being one of the most romantic instruments, was the ideal choice
for this work. The two instruments act as two independent
voices singing together, creating a bond that evokes the emotion
of love. Playing between thirds and seconds, the dissonances
that are created pull at the heartstrings. The story unfolds before
the listeners eyes with the beauty and the sadness the violins
tone creates with Jennifers moving counterpoint.

toward Mecca, and pray to Allah.

In my words are echoes of the ancients
and of my brothers, trapped here.

Allah is the wind that lifts me

above narrow cot and sweltering cell,
above swaying palms and glittering
sea,
so high there is no injustice,
no taste of bitter ashes in my mouth.

Where are my father and my mother?

I can taste the bread my mother served
me each morning, fresh, melting
on my tongue, and her good, strong
tea.

I have traded family and homeland

for rubber tubes up my nose, shackles,
and pale, frowning men with guns,
forced
to make this trade when they dragged
me here.

There is no way out except to die.

They will not let me.

Sunrise at Guantnamo [2013]: This piece was inspired by the

poem Sunrise at Guantnamo written by Jennifers stepmother,
Lisa Kinney Colburn. Jennifer felt inspired by this poem that
captures such strong emotion of the tragedy of an imprisoned
life longing for death. Since the words are the most important
part of this work, she wanted to make the piano as unobtrusive
as possible. Unlike the typical piano accompaniment behind a
vocal line, in this work the pianist does not underline the vocal
line. Instead, the pianist plays completely outside the vocal line,
leaving the vocalist on his own to find the note. The last minute
of this piece consists of the piano repeating the same phrase over
and over, simulating the endless waiting for death. This work
leaves the listener feeling unsettled.
A note from the author:
On April 14, 2013, The New York Times published an op-ed
by Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a Yemeni prisoner of
Guantnamo Bay since 2002. Gitmo Is Killing Me describes
in brutal detail the force feeding of detainees on hunger strike
at that time. Reading Moqbels story, I was flooded with
anger. I had known, of course, about Guantnamo Bay, and
had read about the hunger strikes. But it wasnt until I read
one mans storyand put myself in his shoesthat the
injustice of the situation became intolerable to me. How
would it feel, I wondered, to be imprisoned for more than a
decade without trial, and with no hope of release? This poem
is my attempt to answer that question. Lisa Kinney Colburn

As For the Rest [2013]: As For the Rest was Jennifers first
work for solo piano, and was inspired by
the story of Peter Pan. The beginning
theme of the piece represents Peter Pans
home, Neverland, a place where children
never grow up. The theme sets the scene
for a mysteriously magical setting and
takes the listener to the shores of
Neverland with the invoking smell and
sound of the ocean imagined. The children
who are there, the lost boys, came to
Neverland because their families had
abandoned them as babies. So even though it is a land of
adventure, there is an underlying theme of innocence. This
innocence is what Jennifer captures in this work by evoking a
resonance of bittersweet happiness throughout the music.

A Dogs Life, a Charlie Chaplin Film [2014]:

This silent film is about a man who is utterly broke and
his newfound dog, Scraps, getting into all kinds of
trouble. Chaplins humor and ability to tell such a
fantastic story without a single word spoken inspired
Jennifer to experiment with her passion for film and film
scoring. Jennifer started this project by editing the film
from its original 35 minutes to 24 minutes and 30
seconds; this editing process involved staying true to the
original content while making sure that the story still
flowed well. Each character was then given a motif, that
would represent him or her in the music. The music in
this film was recorded live on a midi piano and edited on
the program GarageBand. The music in this project
represents an abstract experimentation with composition.

World premiere of my composition "The

Confines of Fear" was performed at the
Ferguson Center for the Arts by the
Christopher Newport University Orchestra.

The Confines of Fear [2014]: Out of the quiet

intensity of the opening measures evolves a sense
of uncertainty and underlying hope suspended in
time. In this uncertainty, we find ourselves in the
confines of our fears. Jennifer was inspired by the
idea that sometimes the only thing standing in our
way is our very own fears. This work takes the
listener on the journey of uncoiling these
confines, and throughout the development of the
work, release from the fear of uncertainty. The
end of this work is not meant to feel conclusive,
but intended to create a kind of resonance that
remains with the listener long after the piece is
over.