Artist’s Statement

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Music connects me to memories, events and locations. “The Lonely Sparrow” is an arrangement of two traditional Finnish polkas performed locally during the Second Season of Beethoven and Banjos at the Crystal Falls Theater in Crystal Falls, MI. The opening phrases are a musical conversation between a banjo (Laurel Premo) and an accordion (Teija Nika) ; remindful of the sounds of the footsteps of two good friends, who have approached the same section of frozen cattail marsh for many years. We breathe cautiously. The air is foggy. Fortune Lake is just beginning to melt out. Imagine our hearts’ stillness brightening as we see a flicker of wings and hear a clear whistling tune that welcomes us back… the change in the music’s tempo is our hearts’ reflection of joy!