On Writing & Storytelling: Tweaking Emails to Improve the ‘Epistolary Chapter’ in Reunion: Coda

Hey, everyone.

As I mentioned in my earlier post today, I spent most of my normal scheduled work period looking over the last batch of emails exchanged between Professor Jim Garraty and concert pianist Madison “Maddie” Reynaud in one of the “Present Day” (Spring 2000) chapters in my upcoming novel, Reunion: Coda.

I promised myself, when I set out to write this story last March, that I’d avoid the many mistakes I made in 2018 when I rushed to self-publish Reunion: A Story, the novella that was my debut as a self-published author of fiction and, unwittingly, became the first half of what I now call the Reunion Duology.

(The second half, natch, is Reunion: Coda, the project I am now working on and plan to release later this year.)

Anyway, because editing and revising are the stages where the magic of turning a manuscript into a finished book happens, I did quite a bit of nips, tucks, and retouches to Reunion: Coda‘s “Epistolary Chapter” – AKA “The One with the Emails.” Most of the fixes were tiny cosmetic ones – correcting a typo here, finishing a carelessly incomplete sentence there, or correcting spelling errors that evade Microsoft Word’s spellcheck feature.

I figured that since I’ve posted some of those early and imperfect “emails” in this space, I would share some of the revised – and hopefully improved – versions with you. So, without further comment from me, here you go. Enjoy!

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: New Topic – Your Big Day (and Other Matters):My Dearest Jim,

Hullo, love. I just got back into my hotel room after eating a quick dinner at Haxells Restaurant & Bar, which is downstairs in the Strand Palace itself. I had the Salmon Supreme, a sweet potato croquette, sprouting broccoli, and salsa verde. For dessert I had an orange and rum tart, served with lemon sorbet and burnt meringue  It was a bit…decadent and more than a bit expensive, but it’s not often that I get to come back to London or stay in a ritzy Soho hotel. Besides, I put it on my travel expenses account, even though I sometimes fret about indulging too, too much on the Philharmonic’s Mickey – or Dime, if you prefer.

Anyway, all of us, including Maestro Masur, our executive producer Heinz, the sound engineer, the album editor, and certainly my fellow performers and I, are happy with how well the recording sessions went today at Abbey Road. Or, rather, how well things turned out in the end with the recording sessions after a few…shall we say…bumps on the road.

As you may or may not know, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is not a particularly long composition. On average, it has a running time of about 17 minutes, although some ensembles play it so that it runs a bit over 18 minutes, depending on the orchestration and the quality of the musicians. It’s not as long as, say, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, but it’s not as simple as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

I won’t bore you with the details, Jim, but it took us 15 takes – and several hours, and lots of swearing on the part of Heinz and even some of us in the orchestra. Evelyn Lee, our principal clarinetist is – rumor has it – having marital problems, so she missed a note in the glissando. It was just one note, but it was a total cockup.  Of course, Maestro Masur had us all stop playing and start over from the first measure. He didn’t toss his baton at Evelyn, curse at her, or even raise his voice, but…if glares could kill….

By the way, Evelyn is an excellent musician and deserves to be our principal clarinetist. She was appointed to that position less than two years ago after she impressed Maestro Masur and the audition committee – which consisted of the principal player in the woodwinds section and eight other members of the Philharmonic – when she played Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A Major at her audition for the job.

As soon as Maestro Masur stopped the orchestra, I got up from my piano bench and walked over to Evelyn, who looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock. I put my arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry, love. It’s not the end of the world. You’re a brilliant clarinetist, and you can nail this glissando. Just take a deep breath, relax your fingers, and trust yourself. You’ve got this.” I gave her a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze and then returned to my seat. I hoped that my words would help her regain her confidence and composure and that the next take would be the last one.

Well, Professor Jim, it wasn’t quite that easy: Evelyn recovered from her slip-up, but there were a few other instances where the strings played a bit too fast, or the brass section came in either too early or too late. It wasn’t until Takes 14 and 15 that Heinz, Maestro Masur, and the sound engineer were chuffed with our rendition of the “RIB.”

Wednesday, March 8/Thursday, March 9, 2000: “My Girl is Coming Home!”

Subject: Eagerly Awaiting Your Return

Dear Maddie,

I just got back home to my apartment after putting in another day at the University.  It’s just past 8 PM here, and I am a bit tired; Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays tend to be my longest and busiest simply because of the number of classes I teach, not to mention the paperwork and other stuff I do during my office hours. Still, I hadto check my email to see how your day went.

Oh, sweetheart! I’m so glad that the recording sessions ended well for you and your fellow musicians of the Philharmonic, even if there were some bumps on the way to the finish line. So, no last-minute “pick-ups” or do-overs for any of the three pieces? As some of my younger students might say, “That’s hella good!”

I’m also over the moon at the prospect of you flying back to New York on Friday! Do you know what time your flight will arrive at JFK? I can take a cab and greet you there if you want. Please, let me know as soon as possible; I can probably arrange for a teaching assistant to cover for me if your ETA coincides with one of my late afternoon classes. It might not be easy, but I do have some clout in the History Department, and my boss likes me, so….

I must say that I was moved by your account of what happened with Evelyn during the first attempt to record Rhapsody in Blue this morning. I can only imagine how embarrassed she must have been when she hit that one sour note when she played the opening glissando – that clarinet solo intro is so iconic, so for such an accomplished clarinetist to, as you say, “bodge” it…must have been incredibly mortifying.

I am glad that you went over to her after that musical hiccup to console her and bolster her spirits. That was a kind and thoughtful gesture on your part, and I’m glad that Evelyn was able to put her anxieties and embarrassment aside thanks to your gentle hug and soothing words. I’m so proud of you – you’re not only a talented pianist, but you’re kindhearted and very much a team player.

I’m also over the moon at the prospect of you flying back to New York on Friday! Do you know what time your flight will arrive at JFK? I can take a cab and greet you there if you want. Please, let me know as soon as possible; I can probably arrange for a teaching assistant to cover for me if your ETA coincides with one of my late afternoon classes. It might not be easy, but I do have some clout in the History Department, and my boss likes me, so….

Jim to Maddie, Reunion: Coda

(You’re also lucky that your conductor has good leadership skills and isn’t, at least from what you’ve told me about him, one of those tyrannical music directors who have loads of musical talent but suffer from a shortage of “people skills.” Otherwise, Maestro Masur might have speared you with the Glare of Death for leaving your place at the piano, even if it was only for a brief moment.)

Incidentally, I was taking a brief walk on the campus grounds just past Avery Hall, which is the home of Columbia University’s Architecture Department just as the sun was setting. I’m normally in my office inside Fayerweather Hall at that hour, but I needed to stretch my legs and get some fresh air even though the skies were partly cloudy, and the temperature was in the 50s. The sun was sinking below the horizon, and its reddish-gold glow was giving the gray clouds highlights with salmon pink and purple hues. Of course, there was the usual mix of people walking from building to building, some of them at a brisk pace to escape the chill of the dying day, while others, including me, weren’t in a rush to get back in. In some spaces, you could see the occasional smokers taking drags from their Marlboros, Pall Malls, or even Virginia Slims and blowing out blue-white puffs of tobacco smoke.

 (I usually avoid lingering in those areas; my mom smoked constantly till she quit in 1994, and I never did like the pungent smell of cigarette smoke that permeated our house all the time. I’ve never smoked a coffin nail in my life, yet when I was at South Miami High School back in the day, people were always bugging me for a cigarette cos my jacket reeked of second-hand smoke. Ugh.)

Anyway, honey, apparently the universe was in harmony with us, because according to YoWindow, the sunset here was at 5:57 PM Eastern, or 10:57 London time, which was when you sent me your email.