Eileen is going to help me with page turns for this morning’s prelude, “Prelude on ‘Land of Rest’ by Leo Sowerby.
As I usually do, I timed it. My first timing was over 10 minutes, the second almost 9 minutes. Yesterday it came in close to 8 minutes. The variable is that some sections in this very sectional piece I need to do a bit slower in order to play the notes more correctly.
Yesterday I only consciously slowed down the last section (of 15). This time it was more for expressive purposes than trying to get all the notes right.
I found that when I made the melody more prominent (mostly by closing the swell box on the accompaniment) I was able to play it correctly every time.
I think when I made the more interesting parts (the stuff that Sowerby added to the tune) louder sometimes my ear got lost in the complexity and I would change the melody a bit, occasionally ending a phrase in a tonal but incorrect way.
Bringing out the melody seemed to help this.
I have bit off a pretty big project by scheduling this piece. It’s long and there are canons in every section plus accompanying descants or harmonies. I practiced yesterday until I was too tired to continue. It will probably go okay today.
I spent a bit of time yesterday working on editing the recording of the church service where my friend Rhonda performed my “Little Recessional Dance.” The program (Audacity) kept freezing when I tried to save the file.
I probably need to upgrade the version I am using.
Also my computer (the desktop) is getting slower and slower. I should probably delete all programs that I’m not using and look at my register file and start up file. Sigh.
This morning I got up and cleaned the kitchen, filled the dishwasher and listened to “On The Media.”
I didn’t get to my project of cleaning out the side room yesterday. Maybe today. On Monday I meet with the committee planning the “renovation” of the choir room at church. Part of this “renovation” will be giving me permission to move some of my filing cabinets from home to work and fill them with my collection of organ music.
This is more motivation to continue cleaning out the side room.
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A 5-Ring Circus – Olympic Opening Is Oddly, Confidently British – NYTimes.com
My daughter Sarah Jenkins and her partner Matthew Locke were present at the opening ceremony.
I like this from the article above:
A quixotic exercise in self-branding, during which the then-Labour government thought to unite the country by coming up with what it called a British “statement of values,” devolved into near-farce a few years ago when the public greeted it with ridicule rather than enthusiasm. The Times of London mischievously sponsored a motto-writing contest; the winner was “No Motto Please, We’re British.”
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Where’s the Outrage? – NYTimes.com
It is no coincidence that some of the people least likely to have proper IDs to vote are the ones that generally vote Democratic and were strong supporters of Obama last election: young people, the poor and minorities.
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