50@50 – Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a complex city that contains a multiplicity of cultural realities. Wealth, prestige and the idealized American historical backdrop butts up against the most abject poverty, I have ever seen.
I have recently moved here, for a while at least, to work for a small, talented music organization. I walk mornings – in the old city, urban residential neighborhoods, into the museum district, exploring the Italian Market, University City, and along the, trying to piece together all the aspects that make up this diverse culture. I take trains where it is too far, or isn’t safe to walk.
A current ad on TV parades celebrity artists saying “You’re gonna LOVE the arts in Philadelphia!” From my first visit to this city in 1987, Philadelphia has been transformed and according to many, the arts have both culturally and economically let the change. One can attend musical performances seven days a week; I’ve seen plays, attended concert performances, opera premieres and the inspiring monthly salon of composer Andrea Clearfield. The arts represent a bountiful facet of the city’s culture, but the core is deeper – as deep as the rivers and the surrounding land.
In 1610, Sir Samuel Argall explored a body of water and named it after the 12th Lord De la Warr. The surrounding valleys and serpentine rivers were fertile, navigable, plentiful with game, and to Quaker William Penn, the perfect location to foster a new society with radically new ideas. The original city of Philadelphia was laid out like a grid, from the Delaware to the Schuylkill Rivers. Upon his death in 1790, Ben Franklin willed ₤100,000 to ensure a supply of fresh water to the city. In1812, the Fairmount Water Works, on the banks of the Schuylkill River began constructing the most sophisticated water system in the world. The land surrounding the river was then protected to ensure the water supply remained pure. Today, surrounding Fairmount Park is a labyrinth of woodlands, trails and landscaped park (http://schuylkillriver.org for more info) and a National as well as State Heritage Area.
Some of the finest educational institutions in the country reside in the Philadelphia area. Intellectual discussions of globalism, creativity and existentialism abound in the pubs and coffee houses; even into neighborly gatherings of apartment houses like mine. Competition among the colleges academically, and athletically, on football fields and basketball courts, is fierce, but nowhere is the competition tougher than the regatta races on the Schuylkill River.
I began my hike on November 13, at the impetus of the trail off of Locust Street. Since moving to Philadelphia, I find walking the pathway along the river both calming and invigorating. It’s an easy paved path with gentle slopes. The first regatta boats become visible about a half mile after the Columbia Bridge. Local universities like, Penn, Drexel and Villanova as well as those further afield such as Lafayette, Virginia and Connecticut all have teams here with fully supplied breakfast tents. This isn’t called the Frostbite Regatta for nothing! A vendor with hot coffee for bystanders could make a fortune, but we arrived a bit early. A permanent viewing stand is perched on the banks, but holds only a handful of the hundreds there for the event. I watched the first few races before continuing along my trek.
After another mile, I arrived in East Falls, stopping in an old diner for tea before crossing the Schuylkill River to trek back down the west side of the river. The trail meanders away from the river a bit. Fall colors have waned, but a few bushes glow in brilliant yellow. Watching more of the races from the other side, I eventually return to Locust Street – just under 10 miles.
As a composer, I’m concerned with the sounds of strings, oboes and horns, and the movement of line, gestures and rhythm. I find myself equally concerned with the sounds of leaves, water, and wind, and the movements that allow me to hear them. These I sense and translate into a harmonic language that I hope people appreciate.