I used up my morning blogging time reading this morning, so this will be short. I have to get moving and get to ballet. I nailed the Bach postlude yesterday. I don’t think many people were listening, but I tried to lose myself in his wonderful setting of Schmüche dich. I used a slightly different technique in my choral pregame rehearsal yesterday. Instead of the usual vocalises, I emphasized singing as an ensemble by alternating the four part hymn settings with repeating the anthem for the day. I had one bass, two tenors, two altos and four sopranos. Of course this particular group had never sung together in this way before (the line up always shifts because attendance is so sporadic). I thought repetition might help ensemble to gel. I think it did. We rehearsed mostly acappella which is how we performed the anthem.
Weirdly, during the anthem the ushers rudely reached in front of the soprano section to retrieve the offering plate. This reminds me of a Roman Catholic usher who tried to take up the choir’s offering during an anthem. I’ve got many stories of rudeness like this.
I emailed the Hope College conductor about not paying me yet for playing for him a couple weeks ago again yesterday. This time he replied. It looks like they will mail a check sometime.
After I bought my John Eliot Gardiner book on Bach online yesterday Amazon asked me if I would like to begin reading it right away. It did this by a specific online Kindle link. So by purchasing a real copy, they provided instant access until it arrived. I like that. I have the library copy, but this means I don’t have to lug a rather large book with me today in order to read in it at work. Cool.
I look forward to when a purchase results in access to both a hard copy and a digital copy of a book. This would make it much more convenient.
I think this is the week where I will muster my energy and prepare all the psalms for Holy Week. In each service, when a psalm is used we are now singing it to an Anglican chant. This means I make a version that is pointed with the chosen chant with my Finale software. I don’t mind that much because it creates an elegant musical moment in the service. But it is more work.
1. Shakespeare’s Plays Are a Natural Fit With Dance – NYTimes.com
When I subscribed to a real copy of the New York Times I used to peruse every section (except sports). Now I find that I only regularly access the three sections of International News, National News and Opinion. Some of this is a combination of clunkiness of their evolving online portal. Some of it is the slowness of my computers. At any rate, yesterday I managed to hit the arts section and find some pretty interesting articles. The one linked above has numerous historical references to dances made from or about Shakespeare.
2.A New Rameau for Specialists – NYTimes.com
A Couple of Nights of Disruptions – NYTimes.com
O.K., Singers, Let’s Move Along – NYTimes.com
These three links I marked to spotify music mentioned in them.
3. Joseph Kerman, Colorful Critic of Musicology, Dies at 89 – NYTimes.com
The New York Times finally did an obit on Kerman.
4.Two Cheers for Rach 3 by Joseph Kerman | The New York Review of Books
The obit linked in this article by Kerman. Bookmarked to read.
5.Few Safe Places for Central African Republic’s Muslims – NYTimes.com
Christians killing Muslims. Nice.
6. Ukraine’s Hopes Riding on a Chocolatier – NYTimes.com
The Willy Wonka of Ukraine running for president. Russian banned his candy. You can’t make this shit up.
7. ‘The Story of the Jews,’ by Simon Schama – NYTimes.com
‘Overwhelmed,’ by Brigid Schulte – NYTimes.com
On Sundays I always try to read the Magazine and the Book Review as well as other sections. These are two reviews I bookmarked to read later.