doing words or music

If you checked my blog yesterday you may have seen a pretty weird sight/site. My daughter Sarahwho has been helping me with my blog “left a whole bunch of [my] old files (pdf and stuff) uploading from [my] old website to [the] new one – and it included an index.html file – which happens to act as a default main page! oops…! [but she has] fixed now [obviously].

I’m kicking myself for not taking a screen shot of it to put up here today.

My days have been so full since Wednesday that I have not had enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to. One day I practiced much less than I meant to, all three days (W-F) I ended up skipping my treadmilling.

This also means I didn’t read the New York Times for those days (my standard reading material when I treadmill). This morning I finally gave up and checked today’s New York Times telling myself I would read deeper into the past three days when I treadmill today (which I WILL do by gosh and golly).

Yesterday Eileen asked me if it has occurred to me that I am a writer as well as musician. I was a bit amused that she wasn’t remembering (though I’m pretty sure she has heard several times from me)  the stories of my high school ambivalence between being editor of the high school newspaper and active in music department (trumpet, jazz piano).

The way I remember it, a young woman I had a crush on pointed out to me that she could see I was interested in writing/journalism and music and was surprised when I seem to be pursing the latter more than the former in my waning high school years.

From this vantage point I can see that I would have been a good writer (am one?) especially writing prose. I enjoy putting sentences together and thinking about meaning, ideas and clarity which is the way I see prose writing.

The feedback I get about my musicianship and my own assessment has led me to understand myself as someone who intensely enjoys music and is maybe medium to occasionally mildly good at it.

Admittedly my standards are sky high in these areas. I know that. Almost all listeners of any ilk these days compare us poor live musicians to recordings. Often (if not most of the time) this is an inaccurate comparison.

I have said in this space before that I think recordings are a completely different art from the art I practice in music (see the bad videos below of my practicing). I see myself as composer, improviser, analyst and live performer of music. I see recording as essentially “sonic sculpture.” I also see as an interesting and developing art, just not my art which is more along the experiential lines.

I knew an excellent player who was temporarily entranced with learning his music away from his instrument (with his MIND). When I was told this by a third party my reaction was “that takes the fun of out if for me which is largely derived from DOING music.”

This a prejudice I have mentioned here before: Music is something you (I) do.

Speaking of “doing music” I managed to find time to tape myself practicing three upcoming pieces I will play at church:

This Sunday’s Prelude

The Postlude:

We are using this tune with a very interesting text, “Mary, when the angel’s voice.” The first stanza is about Mary (Jesus’s Mom) and I am going to have only women in the room sing it. The second is about Joseph so just men will sing. The third is about Elizabeth the fourth starts “God whose name we magnify, all your children matter.” Three and four sung by all.

Here is the Messiaen I have rehearsing mentioning. Planning to perform it Monday evening in the Choral service that precedes the late Christmas eve:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.