A Man In a Chair by Christopher Deane
A Man in a Chair (1996-2020)
A Poetic Monodrama for Spoken Word and Large Frame Drum
by Christopher Deane
Written for and Dedicated to John Lane
Notes from the composer:
"This composition was written for a percussionist who speaks the text and plays a frame drum simultaneously. The text is in the form of a twelve-stanza poem written in Cincinnati, Ohio in the fall of 1996. The accompanying music was composed in June and July of 2020 to support the text of the poem. Both traditional and non-traditional techniques are utilized on the frame drum to create a set of timbral variations for each poetic stanza...
The poem “A Man in a Chair” was written in response to my observation of a quadriplegic man sitting in his ventilator equipped wheelchair. He was unattended in a hotel lobby and sat motionless for a period of a number of minutes. He was, to me, a literal still life study that evoked a strong emotional response in me. I arrived back to my hotel room and wrote this poem. The poem stands as a sincere response to my experience that afternoon."