I didn’t manage to blog yesterday. Monday was a difficult day for me as I did my three ballet classes exhausted. Keeping the odd and even number phrases straight for my Modern Ballet class proved a tough assignment for my tired mind. I apologized to the instructor afterwards because there were more than one moments when I wasn’t sure I hadn’t lapsed from one system of phrasing into another one. She was graciously forgiving.
Before my afternoon class I mentioned this to the instructor and she was sympathetic and advised me to “float” on through the afternoon. She confided in me that she was exhausted herself and had fallen asleep just before her first class of the day. Later she commented to me that even the students were showing signs of fatigue.
I had a nice conversation with her between classes and then a very nice brief chat with the the third instructor before my class yesterday morning. The semester is ending and I feel like it’s been a good one for me. Working with the ballet department has been refreshing and fun. I like sitting and making up little tunes for hours on end while people move with discipline and beauty. I love listening to the wisdom of the instructors who know so much about the body, movement and how artists can work with their own minds and anxieties. Very cool.
I am still in motion from Easter. Yesterday was a deadline for information to be submitted for the next two Sunday Bulletins. I picked preludes and postludes and one more Choral Anthem for a week from this Sunday. I met with my priest and we debriefed Holy Week and discussed visionary changes that might be in our future.
Choosing music (especially the Choral stuff) is taking a great deal of energy and brain power,lately. At this point I have multiple criteria I try to satisfy including ease of preparation, worth and attractiveness of the music, appropriateness to the occasion.
The gospel a week from Sunday is the lovely story of Emmaus where the risen Jesus appears to the disciples in “the breaking of the bread.” It provides phrases in one of my favorite collects in the Book of Common Prayer, “The Collect for the Presence of Christ.”
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know thee as thou art revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of thy love. Amen.
Years ago I wrote a choral setting for cello and SATB choir of this text. Yesterday I reviewed the setting and considered using it with my choir. After much consideration I decided that even though the text was very appropriate that the composition itself was not good enough for my present standards. So back in the drawer with that puppy.
Then after reviewing tons of material, I landed on an unusual hymn setting right in the Hymnal: “Look there! the Christ, our Brother, comes.” The composer, William Albright, taught at U of M for years. He’s not a favorite of mine particularly but he is clever and has had a presence on the contemporary composition scene. He wrote the melody at a workshop and describes it as a gospel-rock setting with a strong dash of minimalism.
The accompaniment for the verses has an 11 note repeating pattern in the right hand and a 6 note repeating pattern in the left hand. These only coincide after 8 statements of the longer pattern, otherwise they overlap unevenly. Surprisingly it works quite well. The chorus is really a little rock-and-roll piano part written out. Over all this Albright has written a sprightly respectable melody.
I found an MP3 online of a choir singing the hymn and emailed the recording and a copy of the hymn to my choir yesterday. This is probably what took most of my energy.
Later my brother arrived and I had a delightful distracted evening chatting with him before retiring. Another good day.
*****************************************************
LINKS
*****************************************************
The Guantánamo Papers – NYTimes.com
This is an editorial from yesterday’s paper giving Obama heck about Guantanamo. I liked it. Good quote:
“But the administration is wrong to insist on secrecy. Inordinate resort to secrecy and resistance to testing evidence in fair and credible legal proceedings put the nation in this fix.”
Here’s a link to the most recent wikileak:
The Guantanamo Files – NYTimes.com
*********************************************************************
Common Core State Standards Initiative | Home
This is a group attempting to provide some better curriculum standards for college prep for high school students. I haven’t looked closely at it, but the idea is very admirable.
*********************************************************************
One of the authors of this textbook died recently. It made some best general history texts lists and I didn’t want to forget it.
*********************************************************************
I bookmarked this Ross Douthat column because I think he had too many “withs” in a sentence. What do you think?
“….every natural disaster inspires a round of soul-searching over how to reconcile with God’s omnipotence with human anguish.”
********************************************************************
This is the AA text online. Very cool that this is available. I started reading a bit in it recently. AA always makes me think of David Foster’s wonderful novel, Infinite Jest.
*********************************************************************
Why the King James Bible Endures – NYTimes.com
“The influence of the King James Bible is so great that the list of idioms from it that have slipped into everyday speech, taking such deep root that we use them all the time without any awareness of their biblical origin, is practically endless: sour grapes; fatted calf; salt of the earth; drop in a bucket; skin of one’s teeth; apple of one’s eye; girded loins; feet of clay; whited sepulchers; filthy lucre; pearls before swine; fly in the ointment; fight the good fight; eat, drink and be merry.”
********************************************************************
Congressional Progressive Caucus : FY2012 Progressive Budget
This is an attempt by a Democratic caucus to articulate a different kind of vision for the budget which retains the values of fairness to all citizens and peace as an agenda item. Interesting.
********************************************************************
Picking On the Competition – NYTimes.com
Arthur Brisbane, the NYT public editor, gives them some hell for navel gazing. And not covering its own flaws while exaggerating the flaws of its competition.
*********************************************************************
Daniel Clowes is publishing a new graphic novel (He wrote Ghost World).
Here’s a link to the entire thing online in pdfs. I’m reading it.
Mister Wonderful – New York Times
*********************************************************************
Britain, the Traitor Nation: Media Disinformation and Crimes against Humanity in Libya
A bit different take by David Halpern on the Libya war from a point of view critical of the aims and goals of those involved. Another article I haven’t read but am interested in.
*********************************************************************
Along the lines of the just mentioned article, except in Iraq.
*********************************************************************
Mirage and reality in the Arab Spring – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
This article asks some questions about the use of violence in current upheavals.
**********************************************************************