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This piece sets a text by Dale Trumbore and was commissioned by the Miami University Men's Glee Club, Jeremy Jones, Conductor.

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THE PIANO TUNER

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Well-worn tones you've lived with for months
suddenly stand at attention,
every interval back in tune,
sharp-edged, fresh and still.

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You try to make a song from the tuning,
the same note twice, and then six more times;
a third, fourth, fifth spiraled endlessly upward.

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As the tuner strikes the same key,
the same key indefinitely,
we sit silently in another room,
we who have been trying for months
to turn into better versions of ourselves.

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We huddle together as each note turns brighter.
We barely speak. We don't dare disturb
the becoming that rings in the air.

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—Dale Trumbore

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