The text that inspired this art song comes from Tumblr user @crow--teeth. The context for the phrase originates with said user photoshopping dog teeth onto a picture of a crow and describing the creation with the caption: "normal bird." The uncomfortable visual was met with a great deal of faux-hostility, including one who replied: "hi! you've been asked to stop." To this demand @crow--teeth promptly responded "I was born with the gift of hands and I'm going to make that everyone else's problem. This sentiment went viral on the website, and when I came across it, I knew I wanted to set it to music. I took a more introspective and serious route with this piece, as I find it to be personally uplifting and powerful.

I was born with the gift of hands and I’m going to make that everyone else’s problem.

@crow—teeth

The Gift of Hands was performed at Source Song Festival as part of the 2021 MNSong Composer Showcase. It was performed by Tracey Engleman, soprano, and Mindy Eschedor, pianist, via an online broadcast on August 6, 2021.

Molly Beth Hennig (BM) is a recent graduate of vocal performance and music industry at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. During her time at UWO, she studied composition with Dr. Ed Martin and Dr. John Mayrose and participated in a songwriting masterclass with professional solo artist Alarke/Mary Alouette hosted by the New York Singing Teachers Association at the National Opera Center in New York. Her past works include Lucille (2017), a musical theater solo for piano, strings and voice, First Sting (2019) for solo clarinet, Mr. Eel (2020) for intermediate piano, and Abandonment (2020) for SSAATTBB choir and piano. Current projects are a self-produced album and a piece for Pierrot ensemble.
Molly participated in UW Oshkosh theater productions The Fantastics (2017), Sweeney Todd (2018), and the UW Music Department Opera The Tender Land. (2018). Her awards include the Provost's Award for the Oshkosh Celebration of Scholarship & Creative Activity (2019, 2020) and the UWO Music Department Concerto Competition (2019) and Honors Recital (2018, 2020). She was awarded the Office of Student Research & Creative Activity Undergraduate Research grant both for her scholarship of Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben (2019) and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre (2020). Molly's academic writing on the performance of Frauenliebe und Leben is featured in the 2021 issue of the Oshkosh Scholar. A recipient of the Leland Coon Fellowship for Musicology, she will continue her education at UW Madison in the fall of 2021.

Further information is available at: www.mollybethhennig.com