Bang on a Can

Dad Left... is dedicated to a good friend of mine whose dad left when he was born. My friend shared with me his feelings of anger, rejection and pain for not having a father in his life. For me, writing music is a very frustrating and, many times, downright unpleasant experience because of the difficulty of translating what it is that I'm hearing. Somehow, the inspirational ideas that begin the process lose their energy and punch. With Dad Left..., there was something that kept me on track better--maybe it was the instrumentation, or maybe I was more emotionally attached to the piece, I don't know. I felt better and had more fun writing it compared to other works.--Mary Wright