Praise for the Fount Opened

I met Ashley Mack-Jackson on the second day of classes during my first year at Butler University. She was the professor of my First Year Seminar titled "From the Heartland", where we held vibrant discussions on art, its practice, and its importance to ourselves and society. Mack-Jackson is an artist herself, a writer. I approached her one day about setting some of her text to music, and after perusing some selections, her poem Praise for the Fount Opened stuck out to me. I didn't realize the true impact of the piece until about a month later, when Ashley shared with my class the recent loss of her 11-month-old, whom she'd spent the previous academic year on leave with, knowing the death of her child was inevitable due to complications in the womb. After learning more about Ashley and her long-term struggle with pregnancy, I knew I wanted to share her story. 

Praise for the Fount Opened is haunting and poignant. A soprano vocalist resembles Ashley, and the instrumentalists create the anxious scenes that bounce back and forth between Ashley's mind and her physical surroundings, a hospital room. Ashley is grappling with her faith as she struggles to understand how she is unable to birth a healthy child after dedicating her life to religious purity. For what sin is she being punished for, which makes her unable to birth a healthy child? The off-stage choir in the final section of the piece resembles the lingering, ever-present desire for a healthy, clean body.

Heaving Sidewalks is available for ePrint score and parts. Please contact me regarding further details.