This is fun. I ran across the word, “googling,” in Finnegans Wake, this morning. Apparently “goog” (according to Roland McHugh in Annotations of Finnegans Wake) is slang for “egg.” Who knew?

Eileen got her “hairs” cut yesterday. She has been looking forward to shedding her locks. I like her hair long, but I also like it short. Here are the before and after pics I put up on Facebooger.

Before:

After

Speaking of Facebooger, I saw a link go by yesterday that I kept thinking about. I couldn’t remember the name of the author but knew it was posted by one of the pages I follow. After many minutes this morning, I found it.

Michael Faraday on Mental Discipline and How to Cure Our Propensity for Self-Deception

This is one of those silly aggregate type Facebook pages (Brain Picking) that goes by my in my feed. Usually they put stuff up that I’m familiar with or not that interested in. But self-deception is something I think about quite a bit and I haven’t heard of Faraday.

The link has some interesting quotes which might be tough to pull out of Faraday’s larger work (at least from the linked ebooks).

“Among those points of self-education which take up the form of mental discipline, there is one of great importance, and, moreover, difficult to deal with, because it involves an internal conflict, and equally touches our vanity and our ease. It consists in the tendency to deceive ourselves regarding all we wish for, and the necessity of resistance to these desires. It is impossible for any one who has not been constrained, by the course of his occupation and thoughts, to a habit of continual how to order valium from mexico self-correction, to be aware of the amount of error in relation to judgment arising from this tendency.” Michael Faraday

There’s more on the web page linked and of course you always run his stuff down.

My friend, Rhonda, just stopped by to return some music and we had a nice chat. I showed her some of the music I chose yesterday. I was planning on choosing piano music at least for the prelude for a week from Sunday and an easy postlude since we will be out of town Thursday through Saturday and I might not be able to get access to an organ for that time.

But I found two for organ settings that I think are attractive.

This one by Distler from his Opus 8/3 is one I have performed before. I find that Distler usually requires a lot of preparation, his quirkiness which I admire is not terribly intuitive.

However, when I played through this piece yesterday, my fingers and ears remembered it well. It won’t take much to get it ready for a week from Sunday.

Then I found this unusual setting by Pepping from his Grosses Orgelbuch III. Most of Pepping is a bit on the tart/bristly side but this one is quite lyrical. And easy.

So I guess I’m playing organ in the prelude and postlude a week from Sunday. Maybe I’ll rattle some cages and see if there is an organ near my brother’s house I can practice on while visiting him next week.

I have been thinking about Schumann’s Toccata, Opus 7. I am reading slowly through a bunch of Schmann’s piano music and recently arrived at this one.

Organists have to learn a bunch of romantic organ music. It’s mostly but not all by 19th century and early 20th century French composers. For most of my life I have not been that attracted to the Romantic aesthetic.

At this point I have to say that I spend a lot of time with romantic music on the piano. Mendelssohn is a favorite of mine. Also Brahms and Schumann. These guys are very pianistic.

So when I stumbled on Schumann’s Toccata, I was very curious about how he would approach the form. Schumann like all composers in Western Civ after Bach, was well aware of Bach.

I think Schuman’s Toccata is a beautiful work of high art. In my opinion it outstrips any toccata in the French romantic organ school. It does what I think many of those composers wanted to , which is write a piece of compexity which shows off the technique of the player (the “touch” as it were, which is what the word, “toccata,” means) and at the same time exploit a more orchestral approach to the organ (or in Schumann’s case, the piano).

I am tempted to make an organ version of Schumann’s piece. Since the lowest voice moves slowly throughout most of the piece, it would sit naturally on the organ.

I put out a feeler about this piece on the Facebooger Organist page yesterday, but as of last night I had no response.

Also some random googling didn’t produce much information.

Speaking of googling, I am thinking seriously of doing more research about treadmills. I am wondering what a treadmill without electricity would be like.

If possible, I would like to try one out. Eileen and I are making plans to visit exercise equipment shops both here in Holland and in Grand Rapids.

Yesterday was my first treadmill-less day. After work, Eileen and I walked to my Mom’s nursing home for our daily visit.

Then Eileen walked me to church and went home while I practiced. Then I walked home. I’m hoping all this walking offsets not having a treadmill. Yesterday counting my walk back and forth to work I was walking for almost two hours of the day.

Also, the building which houses the Dance department of Hope College (where I work) is actually the college pool and has several exercise rooms. I asked the departmental secretary about using college equipment (they own several treadmills and other machines). She told me that I had full access to the entire building as long as I stayed clear of classes being held (I think this is mostly in the swimming pool).

So I have some options.

Margaret Atwood, Digital Deep-Diver, Writes ‘The Heart Goes Last’ – 

Yay, a new book by Atwood!

My treadmill died last night. About half way through my exercise time, it began acting erratically and then I could smell the little motor burning. I guess that’s that. Eileen and I have been talking about replacing it anyway. I went to the library Saturday and photocopied a page from Consumer’s Reports rating treadmills.

All of them are really out of our price range. We have now purchased three treadmills and I have run everyone of them into the ground. Maybe we can find one of the higher rated treadmills used.

I nailed the organ music yesterday which was no mean feat. I played the chorale and four variations from William Albright’s “Chorale Partita in an Old Style on ‘Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten’ After I finished playing the fourth one a choir member leaned over and told me he wanted to hear this piece on the new organ. “Me, too,” I replied.

I find this piece interesting because most of Albright’s opus was more experimental. Also, I like the way he uses the “old style” of the baroque. He puts enough of a twist on his ideas that he has made something worthwhile for its own sake.

When I was filing the piece after church I noticed that I own his Organbook II.

I brought it home to look at. I’m not much into the squiggles and indeterminate notation of some 20th century composers. By the time I decipher it, I usually find it sort of boring or relying on the quality my own improvisatory ideas.

But since I liked his ideas in the piece I performed for the prelude and postlude, I thought I would take a look.

There are three pieces in his book II: Night Procession, Toccata Satanique, and Last Rights (with tape).

I don’t own the tape so I guess  “Last Rights” is out. Toccata Satanique is probably not appropriate for church (although I could do it on a recital at Grace I am sure).

That leaves “Night Procession.” Which doesn’t look that interesting. Ah well, it was worth a gander.

I pissed off a friend of friend on Facebooger yesterday. He is obviously conservative. He thought that a meme I had shared was hateful and informed me conservatives are not bigots.

This is a meaner meme than I usually post. I apologized but told him that not all conservatives are as civil as he and linked in this video.

I finished the first section of Finnegans Wake this morning (Book I). This is cause for celebration. I have recently also read Book IV. This means I only have two major sections left in the book.

Since I have finished The Evangelical Conversion Narrative by Hindmarsh, I decided to dip into Burgess’s book on Joyce: Here Comes Everybody: An Introduction to James Joyce for the Ordinary Reader.

“The ordinary reader,” that would definitely be me. I’m approaching Burgess’s book on Joyce with renewed appreciation since learning that all of Joyce’s work is one large inter related opus. This is the way Burgess approaches him. And while Joyce is probably bigger and more interesting than any of his explicators, it definitely helps this ordinary reader to consult them.

So Burgess sent me to the dictionary (as he and Joyce often do) this morning.

He used the word “phatic” attributing it to its coiner, Bronislaw Malinowski.

Joyce’s books are about human society, and most social speech is ‘phatic’ to use Malinowski’s useful term. It concerns itself less with conveying information, intention or need than with establishing or maintaining contact—mere comfortable noises in the dark. Irish town speech is the most phatic of the entire English-speaking world: it is all color, rhythm and gesture. It is the very voice of charming apathy and shiftlessness, a deadly Siren trap for the author who is concerned with strong plot and dramatic action, for the creation of Irish characters within the structure of a plot must either lead to the destruction of the plot or the falsifying of those who enact it.” Burgess, p. 46

Burgess defines the word above, but I went to the OED and sure enough it attributed the coinage to Malinowski. I doubled checked the meme below in the OED and the quote is accurate.

What’s interesting  is that it’s from the book, The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism which was co-authored by  C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards in 1923. Malinowski wrote a supplementary essay to it in which presumably he coined the term.

I definitely want to check this book out. Isn’t it cool that a word used by Burgess about Joyce led me to a new book? I like that.

The American Idea and Today’s G.O.P. – The New York Times

David Brooks makes some good points about the GOP.

Dewey, Cheatem & Howe – The New York Times

Paul Krugman argues that since business is only interested in its own bottom line we need to regulate them.

The Supreme Court’s Secret Power – The New York Times

The secret power is choosing which cases to hear. This author calls for disclosure of how they vote on this (it’s secret now).

Ralph Nader’s Tort Law Museum Seeks to Keep His Crusade Evergreen – 

A museum for tort law. It actually sounds interesting.

For some weird reason I posted today’s music on Facebooger. Might as well do the same thing here.

Music for Today at Grace Episcopal Church, Holland

Prelude: Chorale and Variations I – IV from “Chorale Partita in an Old Style on ‘Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten’ (If thou but trust in God to guide thee)” by William Albright

Opening Hymn: Before thy throne, O God, we kneel (St. Petersburg)

Gloria from Jenkins Jazz Mass

Psalm 124 changed by congregation to tone C. Hilton Stewart

Sequence: Is There Anybody Here Who Loves My Jesus?

Offertory: God be in my head” by Richard Shephard (b. 1949)

Holy, Holy and Fraction Anthem from Jenkins Jazz Mass

Communion: Jesus, name above all names by Naida Hearn
Circle the table by Mary Nelson Keithahn and John D. Horman

Closing Hymn: If thou but trust in God to guide thee (Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten)

Postlude: Variation V from “Chorale Partita in an Old Style on ‘Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten’ (If thou but trust in God to guide thee) ” by William Albright

Music Notes Today’s opening hymn, “Before thy throne, O God, we kneel” (The Hymnal 1982 no. 574) is described by the Hymnal Companion as a “series of petitions” in which “the depth of human sinfulness is probed with vivid clarity.” In the third stanza we ask for forgiveness for catching “the simple unaware.” This could be the kind of stumbling block Jesus had in mind in today’s gospel when he says “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” Our sequence hymn, “Is there anybody here,who loves my Jesus?” is taken from the Episcopal African American Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing II. It can put us in mind of the conversation at the beginning of today’s gospel in which the disciples wonder about others who are preaching in Christ’s name. Jesus expands their notions of discipleship to include anyone who is not “against us.” Both of today’s communion hymns are taken from the Episcopal resource, Voices Found. Today’s organ music is by the composer, William Albright (1944-1998). He had this to say about it “This set of variations, composed at the age of 18, was intended to be as much an homage to the beauties of the chorale tune employed as a tribute to the Baroque composers whose style I attempted to emulate. It is perhaps appropriate that it should be published at a time [1971] when more and more composers are rejecting the necessity of a ‘linear’ progression of musical language. As George Rochberg states, ‘It no longer matters what “style” a work is+ (or was) composed in so long as it is music.’”

As is my wont after finishing a library copy of book, I spent a good amount of time typing my reading notes into a google doc this morning.

The book is The Evangelical Conversion Narrative: Spiritual Autobiography in Early Modern England by D. Bruce Hindmarsh (Oxford 2005).

I can envision my readers instantly being bored by the topic of this book despite the fact it is very well written, readable and researched. But I had a personal reason to read it. I have wondered since I was in my early teens about the Christian church especially the way I experienced it in the first 14 or so years of my life.

As an adult, I have studied enough history to realize that the eventual emergence of a “personal relationship to Jesus via a conversion experience” is something that took hold beginning in the 17th century or so. It is an anomaly in the story of Christianity but it is the story of my family of origin and immediate ancestors.

After having sat through so many altar calls in my life and the fact that so many people in my family thought in terms of conversion not sacrament, I am curious about the whole concept especially as it relates to my own experience.

Plus as they said about James Joyce: I left Christianity but it never left me.

There have been stories of religious conversion since Biblical times and before, (Prodigal Son, St. Augustine) but the idea that there was a movement for all Christians to experience an awakening of sorts  is what is different and interesting to me.

Anyway, I finished the book and am about half way through typing up my notes.

Hindmarsh puts his argument in very modern terms of the construction of self and the origin of public autobiography and the modern novel. He cites Michel Foucault when he discusses a converat as a possible example of the “anthropological sleep of the modern self, quietly and blissfully eliding the contribution that others had made to his identity and the extent to which his autobiography was his own function.”

These ideas come from Foucault’s book, The Order of Things. They put me in mind of the low information people in the United States right now that I run across on Facebooger and elsewhere.

Ignoring their debt to the context of history and  community, their stories seem to be situated in an understanding of self which they themselves have invented almost magically. Many seem blissfully unaware of little things like facts and clear thinking.

Whew. That sounds bitter and maybe I am.

I also have to look in the mirror and ask questions. I know that I myself might have done a lot of this kind of constructing of self without the help of a community. But I have almost convinced myself that I have a community in ideas, music, beauty, books, and poetry.

Granted I may have tentatively come to this conclusion when I have watched people in my life who are dear to me turn away from me and shun me. Of course not many people have done this to me, but enough to make me wonder about it.

But I am more than consoled with the companionship of my wife and my arts.

It still feels like my life is lucky and blessed.

I used some of my birthday money this morning (Thank you again Mark and Leigh). I decided that Cynthia Macdonald is a poet I like and want to think about and read more. So I ordered a used copy of the library book I am reading: Amputations. 

Isn’t this a great pic? It’s Macdonald in the center, presumably to the right is her husband. I don’t know about the lion. MacDonald died recently and I read her obit and was intrigued. She was two years younger than my Mom. She had an entire career as a musician before turning to poetry in the mid 1960s. She was a trained singer. Amputations is her first book of poetry.

Here’s one of the many poems in it I like.

                         

Coupling

We are not conceited,
Not at all like those couples who  marry
Images of themselves; so when you try to say
The baby looks just like ….
You realize just like both.
We’re completely different:
We won’t ever look alike however many
Years we gnarl and wrinkle together
And face each other’s faces. Unlike
Inside too, but sitting here
Under this tree which makes a sky of
White flowers over us
I lose my ability to enumerate
And trace the outline of your mouth
With my finger. We make love
On the spread-out Sunday Times
Because the ground is wet
And afterwards find semen on the President’s face.

Richard Howard in his excellent “note” at the beginning of Amputations says this:

“[Macdonald’s] page is the arena, the circus, the stage.

The work of Cynthia Macdonald figures itself out, there, as the barker’s pitch, leaves from the sibyl’s cookbook, the diva’s farewell—undertaken by necessity, overtaken by prowess—the vaudeville turn, earthworks, the lazzo of Commedia dell-Arte,

and—I hope I have got the right sow by the ear—the commentary for a suburban chatauqua travelogue (splendors of Iowa); out of these unlikely numbers, which is after all the old name for poetry, she has made up her sum, which is after all the old name for a result reached by coming out on top, at the summit (the Romans counted upward), as well as a Latin word meaning what all poetry means: I am.“

I couldn’t verify any of this. But notice Macdonald’s use of the word, enumerate, in the poem. I do like the poetry of Howard’s prose.

He says this in another part of the “note”:

The unconscious is exciting , as we know from our dreams, but not interesting, as we know from other people’s dreams.

The conscious is interesting, as we know from other people’s words, but it is not exciting, as we know from our own. What is both interesting and exciting is the passage from dreams to words, from the unconscious to the conscious.

Plus I think Howard nailed something about music performance.

“[B]y becoming a musician, a singer, a professional performer…. [s]he learned … the shape of a made thing not of her own making, yet which had to be produced or made over by her as if it were her own.”

And this.

“There is not starting [in poetry], there is only coming out, coming up, reaching the surface  from somewhere which is not the surface—subcutaneous, ventral, deep; nor is there an end, poems are not finished but excused…”

And this is all just in the note Howard writes. It’s hard to write intelligently when writing something about poetry. I like Howard’s stuff. I googled him and it looks like he is still alive but in the generation of Macdonald. He would be worth checking out as well.

In 1986, Cynthia Macdonald became a trained psychoanalyst. She specialized in people how had writer’s block. Isn’t that cool?

I received the above picture in an email from Martin Pasi (the guy building the organ for Grace). I find it flattering that he took the time to take my picture and pass it on to me. He is a great guy.

Don’t stop me now by Freddy Mercury (pdf)

Matthew (Sarah’s significant other) emailed me yesterday. He is interested in learning the above linked song. I found the sheet music with a little bit of googling. It’s off of this website: Jazz :: Queen Song which seems to be an official Queen site. I listened to this song on YouTube and none of the music I could find online seems to be a correct notation. But the chords look right (Hi Matthew!)

Ashraf Ghani, Afghan President, Vows to Crack Down on Abuse of Boys – NYT

I find this entire story disturbing. It reminds me a bit of the plot of Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

I’m worn out again this morning. Instead of my morning reading I turned to the computer to do some follow up tasks.

Yesterday, Rev Jen helped me log on to the website where we can report hymns we reproduce in our bulletin (Ritesong.org). This morning I wanted to report the usage of “Jesus, name above all names.” Unfortunately, this is one of the hymns NOT downloadable from Ritesong.org hence no automatic usage reporting. Neither is it on our other license website, OneLicense.net. This means we will need to contact Church Hymnal Corporation directly to obtain permission for a one time use. I emailed the secretary with info and asked her to do this. I did it this way because everything is registered under the church’s email and I would probably confuse things by emailing them myself. And it’s too early to call them.

Then I emailed the support staff for Ritesong 2.0. I informed them that the second stanza of “One Small Child” found at number 70 in Voices Found omits a verse in the software version.

THEN I emailed the choir follow up scores, mp3s and links . I promised to do so last night at rehearsal which by the way was very good.

And I just emailed the choir this link:

Practicing Choral Music: Ten ideas for the singer who doesn’t think they can practice

I fear I’m over functioning a bit (doyathink?). When I mentioned to Eileen that many of the people who gave me feedback on my improvisation talk said they appreciated my enthusiasm, she pointed out that it was “enthusiasm,” not “intensity.” I fear that my passion drives people away from me so I am constantly on the lookout for my own over functioning.

Unfortunately I often find it.

It’s not quite 8 AM. I have to pick up my Mom at 9:30 AM to take her to a doctor’s appointment. This is a follow up visit to her hospital stay. So I think I’m going to quit here, put in some pics and links then get a bit of reading and study in before Eileen gets up.

The Republican Attack on Muslims – The New York Times

madness

Sir David Willcocks, Conductor Who Influenced British Choral Music, Dies at 95 

I love this story in this obit:

When he was about 8 he auditioned for the distinguished London choirmaster, Sir Henry Walford Davies. He recalled the audition in a 1990 interview with The New York Times. ““He gave me some ear tests and then played the piano to me for quite a time,” Mr. Willcocks said. “Suddenly he stopped, played a quiet chord and said, ‘Tell me, can you hear God speaking to you in that chord?’ I listened hard, but I couldn’t. However, I thought of my mother outside the room and didn’t want to let her down, so I said, ‘Yes, sir, I think I can.’

The Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead – The New York Times

I think one of the commenters had it right when he/she said the reason ebooks are ebbing is the pricing and that $9.99 was the sweet spot ignored by Amazon and publishers.

The improv workshop went fine. I have some misgivings about it not being quite orthodox American Guild of Organist presentation. But it was a public meeting and the local conservatives were invited and didn’t show.

By conservative I mean musicians who might subscribe to a more classical approach to organ improvisation.  I tried to make it clear last night that my opinions and information are colored by a bias that is inclusive of musical styles, not exclusive.

I was especially happy that people talked. We got started late and I tried to quit at the scheduled time anyway. They stayed another fifteen minutes talking to each other. I hope some members left feeling better about their skills and inspired to improve their improvising.

I came home and finished watching the Netflix special on Keith Richards. Here’s a trailer.

I like this quite a bit. It helped me think about my own understanding of American genius. I mentioned this documentary  last night to the AGO people.

So yesterday took quite a bit out of me and today is my most strenuous work day. I hope I survive okay. My blood pressure has been trending up. Eileen was in a funk when I came home due to the fact that she couldn’t get the new NCIS episode to work. She tried unsuccessfully to pay for using the CBS channel. I found some streaming channels for her but they looked a bit dodgy.

Today I have two classes, a meeting with my boss and the evening choir rehearsal. Last Wednesday, I rested in bed for an hour in the afternoon to build energy for the evening. I haven’t been able to treadmill for two days in a row due to stuff I had to do. Today will probably be my third day in a row.

I have been trying to get my church up to speed with copyright reporting. My boss is a bit confused about my recommendations (garnered from my younger, smarter, better looking brother, Thank  you, Mark!). I asked if we could subscribe to both OneLicense and the RiteSeries online. We have the OneLicense subscription now. Yesterday she re-upped our software subscription thinking I believe that’s what I have been bugging her about. I’ll try again today in our meeting to clarify that if we subscribe to the first two we should be able to very easily get legal with copyrights for the stuff we publish in our bulletin.

I’m feeling a bit deflated this morning. It’s typical for me after doing something like I did last night. One difference is that I find it satisfying to encourage and cheerlead people who are themselves trying to serve others.

Five people filled out the evaluation forms I provided. Four of them were highly positive and rated all my areas 10 out of 10 (was it helpful? informative? clearly organized? useful?). The fifth pointed out that I used terms they found unfamiliar and gave me a 4 out of 10 rating in organization, 6 in informative and helpful and 5 in useful. I wonder if this is the member who mentioned jokingly that I wasn’t very organized and I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

I guess there’s a difference between being organized and giving the appearance of organization. I’ll try to be more obvious next time, but I don’t think this comment was too justified. I followed my outline, moved quickly and quizzed members and got them talking.

But feed back is always helpful.

Unfortunately, no one filled in the “ideas for future programs”slot in the evals.

Here are pdfs of all the handouts last night.

Sept222015handout

ImprovisationBibliography

All of the books on the biblio were laying out on a table.

Evalform

George W. Bush Made Retroactive N.S.A. ‘Fix’ After Hospital Room Showdown – 

This sounds like a suspicious move by Bush as president.

This morning after making coffee I turned to submitting the music for this Sunday’s bulletin. I had prepared this submission in its entirety last week and will prepare the following Sunday’s info today. This makes it easy to get up and send out an email of this stuff to the priests and secretary at work.

I also am trying to get us legal with our copyrights. We have subscribed to OneLicense.net and my boss keeps meaning to also subscribe to the online version of our musical resources: RiteSong. I would like our secretary to do this reporting, but so far I have been exploring how it’s done. It’s really so easy, I could probably add this small task to my weekly submission since I have reduced the amount of time it takes me to prepare this submission by no longer preparing the pointed psalm by hand in Finale.

Then I read a little Finnegans Wake. I decided to continue working a bit on my notes for tonight’s presentation on improvisation.

A few people have indicated on Facebooger they are planning to attend.

I will tailor the presentation to fit the participants. I am prepared to talk about the history of improvisation and pick the brains of people who improvise as well give some hints on how to get going on doing this kind of playing.

Have to get going. More tomorrow.

The 168 Year-Old, One-Eyed Racist That Explains The Rise Of Donald Trump 

Some wild white supremacist history. Facebooger is good for something. I got this off my feed.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Haven’t used yet, but is supposed to be good.

Down the Memory Hole: NYT Erases CIA’s Efforts to Overthrow Syria’s Government — FAIR

I haven’t forgiven the NYT for cheerleading us into the Iraq war. There are still columnists I have difficulty trusting (Thomas Friedman for one).

The case against equality of opportunity – Vox

Haven’t read all the way through yet but the author seems to have a very valid point.

Barbie Wants to Get to Know Your Child – The New York Times

Basically terrifying. Good online comments.

U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies – The New Yor

How is this moral at any level?

Music at church went well yesterday. Today I have to get going on preparing for my workshop in improvisation I am giving tomorrow evening. I have been thinking about it and gathering some reference books to show and share. I have the talk/discussion outlined in my mind. I plan to do at least one hand out and keep the evening brief but full of content.

One thing that has occurred to me is how different my notion of improvisation is from that of many trained organists. The AGO and other organizations hold improvisation contests. I suspect these improvisers are making up music that utilizes strictly organized motives and harmony. I also suspect that much of this kind of music is pretty deadly. At least it might be for my ears.

When I took the AAGO exam I didn’t pass because I failed one section: modulation. This is hilarious because many people have told me they think of me as a good improviser. But I’m sure I did something unorthodox in my modulation which was detected by skilled ears. I did have passing scores, but didn’t get the Associate certificate because of that one section.

They have since made the exams more evenly progressive in difficulty. Judging from the announced requirements over the years, the Associate certificate seems to be a bit easier than it was when I took it. I even received a letter from the AGO after they completely redid the exams urging me to retake it, but I never did so.

In the meantime, I have spent my entire musical life improvising and now have some strong ideas about what makes a good composition and a good improvisation. They have little to do with the strict improvising which has long been expected of organists. But I think I can make some helpful comments tomorrow evening and possibly free some people up or at least encourage them to utilize skills they already have in this area but might not have identified.

Why I Use Trigger Warnings – The New York Times

Thinking about when to prepare people for what’s coming.

Big Tech Has Become Way Too Powerful – The New York Times

Thinking about who influences our lives and our government.

Horror Drove Her From South. 100 Years Later, She Returned. – The New York Times

When I read stories like this I continue to be amazed at low information people who insist injustice is dead in our society.

My Father, the Priest – The New York Times

This writer’s bias is showing throughout this article. The premise that one cannot be the child of a priest means that the only priests are celibate Roman Catholic ones.

I devoted my entire morning reading time this morning to finishing Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman and then typing up my reading notes. Often when I read a library book, I use stickies in place of my usual margin notations. I know that librarians say that the stickies are not very good for the books, but they’re better than writing in the book and less cumbersome than constantly keeping separate notes as I read.

Essentially Berman makes a pretty air tight case that Republicans do not want minorities, students and the elderly to vote. Besides dismantling our Republic in this way, I wonder how long they can keep this up. The white, male majority they are trying desperately to preserve is doomed. The only way they can preserve it in the long run as far as I can see is to continue to pass more and more restrictive voter laws or come up with other creative ways to stop Democrats from voting.

Today is the first Sunday of choir at church and I am feeling weirdly disconnected to Grace. I feel like the addition of new staff has left me a bit in the cold with my ideas about quality programming and thinking. Most of this shit, I just need to let go of like I did the local AGO chapter. The one exception is that I am gradually getting our copyright use more ethical and up to speed. I started reporting our usage this week and will continue to try to train Mary our secretary to do so in the future.

Otherwise I keep reminding myself it’s a part time gig. I’m only responsible for the execution of the music in the worship and I enjoy that immensely. Today should be fun musically. But I’m feeling more and more comfortable with being an atheist in christian context.

Singing in Early Childhood – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

Yesterday at the farmers market I got a hug from a young woman who sang in my children’s choir at the Catholic church north of town. She was busking with a buddy and doing it with skill. Satisfying.

What’s Showing at the Toronto Film Festival? TV – The New York Times

Interesting idea to acknowledge that film is film no matter the intended venue.

Review: The JACK Quartet, With Instruments of Destruction – The New York Times

These kinds of experiments feel a bit dated but still interest me.

Review: ‘Nufonia Must Fall’ Shares the Heart of Kid Koala’s Robot Tale – The New

Not sure about the music, but this graphic novel interests me.

Alexis Tsipras Wields Charm to Appeal to Jaded Greek Voters – The New York Times

This election happens today in Greece. I’m curious how Tsipras will do.

This weekend’s on the media, Facts Schmacts, begins with a quick look at the lies told in the Republican debate on Wednesday called “The Audacity of Moderation.” Besides quickly point out lies, it also challenges journalists and moderators to do their job and challenge bad information.  It’s entertaining in a sick way (something this radio show does well). The segment ends with the music of “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies” subtly playing in the background. At least that’s what I thought I heard. Replaying it just now I couldn’t quite make it out.

In the third segment, “Exon responds to Insideclimatenews,” Bob Garfield does a good job of demonstrating how to challenge bad information. He does it with a measure of politeness he doesn’t always use (I quite like that about him).

I admit that this is where I quit listening since my coffee was ready and the kitchen was clean.

After an hour or so of enjoying Finnegans Wake, I turned to Give Us The Ballot. The page where I left off had some startling facts.

“In 2011 and 2012, 180 new voting restrictions were introduced in forty-one states with twenty-seven new laws taking effect in nineteen states, nearly all of them controlled by Republicans. The right to vote had become politicized.” p. 260

I used some of this type of information to make this Facebooger meme.

I don’t think I posted it here.

Here are some more quote that I might cull for future memes.

“As minorities grow in the political process, it’s in the interest of one party to tamp down voter turnout. It’s the same system that other people went through when there were poll taxes and literacy tests. This is just another iteration of that.” Mel Watt, quoted on p. 260

“In 1980, Paul Weyrich, the tart-tongued first director of the Heritage Foundation, convened a gathering of fifteen thousand evangelical Christians for Reagan… He said in his speech [which you can hear below] ‘I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.'” p. 260

Weyrich (now deceased) founded many organizations that are still having a ruinous effect on our country. One of them is ALEC (American Exchange Council).

“In the summer of 2009, ALEC drafted model voter ID legislation based on Indiana’s voter ID law…. Of the sixty-two voter ID bills introduced in thirty-seven states in 2011 and 2012, more than half were sponsored by members of ALEC… The bills were virtually identical.” p. 261

You may have heard of ALEC recently. It was founded over forty years ago. Weyrich was one of the key founders.

“Before 2010, only Indiana, Georgia, and Missouri had passed strict voter ID laws. Nine states controlled by Republicans adopted them following the 2010 election: Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.” p. 260

“Florida required that anyone who registered new voters had to hand in the forms to the state board of elections within forty-eight hours and comply with a barrage of onerous bureaucratic requirements…. The normally mild-mannered League of Women Voters denounced the law as “good old fashioned voter suppression.” p. 261-262 emphasis added

I find all this very troubling, of course. I say that if you are on the side which agrees with the aims of white supremacists, no matter what your rationalization, you yourself are a white supremacist, even if you are Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA.

The GOP War on Voting | Rolling Stone

This is a 2011 article by Berman (the man who wrote Give us the Ballot). It has a lot of disturbing facts about its topic.

Here are several links I ran across about this. Many of them address the 2012 situation, but I don’t think much has changed.

Jim Crow 2.0? Why States Consider and Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies |

This is a League of Women Voters’ link to a PDF of a technical study.

Tentacles of Rage: The Republican propaganda mill, a brief history LEWIS H LAPham

Some background material from 2004 by one of my personal heroes.

Paul Weyrich’s Troika Reunited: ALEC Partners with Republican Study Committee

A 2012 article from Center for Media and Democracy’s PR watch.

Flurry of Voter ID laws tied to conservative group ALEC – Investigation

NBC news report (text) from 2012

Carl E. Schorske, 100, Dies; Pulitzer-Winning Historian Saw Vienna as Pivotal – 

This guy’s magnum opus sounds fascinating. It is interdesciplinary and one of the disciplines is music.

Crazy Talk at the Republican Debate – The New York Times

The editorial board weighs in. Good reading.

Fantasies and Fictions at G.O.P. Debate – The New York Times

Krugman weighs in. I didn’t know he has only been writing for the NYT since 2000.

Review: ‘Beauty Is a Wound,’ an Indonesian Blend of History, Myth and Magic – 

So many books, so little time. This sounds like one I would like.

This morning I thought it might be fun to post the music for the first choir Sunday on Facebooger.

There’s at least one possible musician reader (Hi Rhonda!) who might be a bit interested in this who doesn’t do much on Facebooger, so I’m cross posting.

First Choir Sunday at Grace
Prelude: Allegro from Kindertrio in G Major, Op. 35. No. 2 by Julius Klengel
Amy Piersma-Hertel, Violin; Dawn Van Ark, Cello
Opening Hymn: “God is Love, let heaven adore him” tune: Abbots Leigh
Gloria from Jenkins Jazz Mass
Psalm 1 – choir and congregation to chant, tone by Frederick A. Gore OuseleySequence Hymn: “One Small Child” words by Shirley Erena Murray, tune by Rusty Edwards
Offertory: “Give Praise to Our God” by J. S. Bach
Adapted from Uns ist ein Kind geboren Cantata BWV 142
English text by Russell Hancock Miles
Amy Piersma-Hertel, Violin; Dawn Van Ark, Cello
Sanctus and Fraction Anthem from Jenkins Jazz Mass
Communion Hymns:
“Do Lord, Remember Me” Negro Spiritual, arr. by John Work
“Lord of All Hopefulness” tune: Slane
Closing Hymn: “Christ for the world we sing!” tune: Moscow
Postlude: Finale from Kindertrio in F, Op. 39, No.1 by Julius Klengel

I think it will be a fun first Choir Sunday.

Did 6 Soldiers Really Die Looking for Bergdahl? Newsweek

I continue to watch people on Facebooger who seem to qualify perfectly for the phrase “low information voter.” I fear they get most of their information on current events from highly biased and inaccurate sources. Rumors abound as well as simple things like the straw man fallacy of talking mostly about what the “other side” is doing wrong.

There is a rumor that Obama ordered the rescue of Bergdahl and was personally responsible for the deaths of soldiers who attempted this. The article linked above  provides some actual reporting which shows this is not quite the whole story.

Sort of related to this, I listened/watched to about an hour of the Sept 16 Republican Presidential Debate yesterday. My friend, Nick Palmer, put up a very wise reaction to this debate in which he set aside the content of the various candidates to examine their performance. I like that, but couldn’t make it all the way through the entire debate.

Nick thought that Carly Fiorina was the brightest of the bunch and spoke in coherent well constructed sentences. Ben Carson the most polite and disturbingly reminiscent of Supreme Court Justice Thomas (I also have thought of this…).  Huckabee, he saw as not unintelligent, but lacking imagination. Rubio, a bit like Huckabee but well coached and exhibiting a tin ear on repetition.

The rest he thought shared narcissistic tendencies and consequently if elected president would sign all Republican legislation.

My take away is that framing has ruined public discourse. There is so much more going on in this process than is apparent.

For example, I was surprised to read about Ted Cruz in Give Us the Ballot. As a 29 year old (he’s 44 now) former law clerk for Rehnquist, he put together G. W. Bush’s legal team regarding the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida. “One of his first calls was to John Roberts [currently the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and enemy of fair voting rights], whom Cruz knew from the close-knit network of former Rehnquist clerks, nicknamed the Cabal.” (p. 210)

Roberts flies down to Tallahassee to help edit legal briefs for the team to submit to the Supreme Court. Roberts was know for his brilliance at such tasks.

Now these two men are very much in the public spotlight with this history largely unknown or ignored.  Cruz is certainly no outsider that’s for certain.

Of course the content of the campaigns of these candidates strikes me as wrong headed and full of willful misrepresentation for the simple purpose of being elected. But it is interesting if frightening to look at them and wonder what their presidency would be like.

I ended my day yesterday with a very pleasant surprise. Every choir member from last year showed up. But more than that, they each exhibited a high level of concentration on some pretty challenging music. How nice.

The long day was challenging. I found the staff meeting unsettling. We spent a long time discussing the new insert in the bulletin and announcements in the bulletin. Maybe I should say I talked a lot about them. The whole meeting left me feeling that I probably had “shared” too much.

Jen attempted to talk about how the staff needs to interact on Sunday mornings. I thought she was so oblique as to be misunderstood, so I directly talked to Christian about the effect his conversation with me about the “Bluegrass Mass” had when delivered around the liturgy.

Once again I felt like I was probably “sharing” in an unhelpful and copious manner. Often Jen and I can kind of team teach in this kind of a situation. But that didn’t happen yesterday. I feel like I’m out of the loop on so much of the stuff like deciding about the bulletin insert, the bulletin announcements, and how the curates and new employees are being asked to function.

It doesn’t matter that much except that it left me more exhausted and feeling isolated.

After staff I wandered around trying to find chairs to put in the choir room. I finally interrupted Jen and Christian’s tete a tete and asked if they knew where the racks to move chairs were. Jen said she would email Thom the janitor and have him move chairs to the choir room.

Unfortunately, the chairs were not there when we arrived. Luckily we came early enough so that Eileen and another soprano moved them up to the room while I worked on making photocopies of the pronunciation guide and translation to “Tu Pauperum” by Josquin.

After my last class and after checking on my Mom (no confirmed diagnosis yet), I went home and lay down and read for an hour. That helped me a bit.

It was a very satisfying and productive first rehearsal of the season. Next project for me is a workshop I have to give next week to the AGO chapter on improvising. That shouldn’t be that big a deal to prepare.

Constitutionally, Slavery Is No National Institution – The New York Time

If you can, I recommend also reading the comments on this article. They balance out its information about the Constitution with perspectives on history and racism. The key idea is that this article is only a technical point about the constitution. Slavery was obviously institutionalized in the United States until the end of the Civil War. Then racism continued its battle that extends to the present day (incarceration of black young men and keeping blacks and other minorities from voting via challenges to the Voting Rights Act and Voter ID laws and other stuff.

As I wrote yesterday, Eileen and I spent from around 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM in the Emergency Room with my Mom. We returned around 5 PM to check on her and drop off her hearing aid charger and a book. She was sleeping soundly in her room.

Eileen and I had to don protective clothing to enter her room. She was suspected of having C. diff. C. diff or Clostridium difficile is the name of a bacteria present in the gut which is normally harmless.

But when it gets out of balance it causes potentially life threatening diarrhea. This condition is also apparently highly contagious. I’m expecting to learn more about Mom’s condition this morning when I go over and visit her before my first Ballet class.

Despite the ER trip, I had a very nice birthday.

I got to spend a lot of time with Eileen and did some catching up on my reading while we hung around at the hospital. I met with my violinist who is performing this Sunday at church. She gave me a birthday gift of a bottle of fancy looking vodka. She told me that she doubted if she would be playing violin at this point in life if not for me (and presumably the piano trio). I don’t think she’s right about that, but it’s a nice compliment.

She also told me that she had purchased my gift out of money she had made with her violin. Another nice compliment and one dear to my heart. I love to see musicians get paid.

After this rehearsal I had a very good chat with my boss. We talked about the errors that have been cropping up in the weekly bulletin and also some of my own ambivalence about the extremes of philosophy in Episcopalian church music I have been pondering (See Monday’s blog post). Jen has some good ideas about restoring her control and leadership at Grace which has been a bit looser than she likes.

A workman came yesterday and regrouted sections of our shower. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the grout has to “cure” for 72 hours. That means I have to shower upstairs until then.

Tonight is the first choir rehearsal of the season. I feel reasonably prepared but wish I had had more time yesterday to prep myself for this evening. I have stuff scheduled from 11 AM to 2 PM (Ballet classes and staff meeting). After that I will rest up for this evening.

Both Eileen and I were exhausted after yesterday’s ordeal. I can imagine how hard it was on Mom. I continue to wonder how my energy and health will hold up under my new schedule.

Today’s goal is to live through rehearsal tonight.

Review: In ‘Black Man in a White Coat,’ a Doctor Navigates Bruising Terrain – NYT

The author of this book was on the PBS Newhour last night. I think the book sounds interesting.

The Concert Hall as Refuge in a Restless, Web-Driven World – The New York Time

Observations on attention span and classical music.

Justice Breyer Sees Value in a Global View of Law – The New York Times

Breyer sounds like a very bright judge.

John Lewis: How we won, and are losing, the right to vote – The Washington Post

John Lewis review Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot. He is a major player in the book which I am madly trying to finish before its due date to be returned to the library.

Quick blog late in the day today. I had to take my Mom to the ER this morning and have spent most of the day there. She is okay. She was feeling ill and the nursing home thought she probably was dehydrated and needed an IV. It turns out she didn’t. But her blood oxygen was low and the doctor was curious why, so they kept her over night.

Today is my 64th Birthday. It’s good. Glad to be alive. Tons of birthday wishes on Facebooger. I knew it was good for something. Anyway, more tomorrow.

I had a very full weekend. Saturday was intense due to my conversation with Martin Pasi. Sunday was a long hard day. We went to see my Mom before church because we knew we would have to rush off after church to Whitehall for the celebration of Eileen’s Mom’s  91st.

Saturday left my head spinning.

I am feeling pretty isolated in the way in which I approach church music. It helped me to clarify myself to Pasi that I am a 1979 Prayer Book kind of Episcopalian church musician and that makes me an anomaly (at least I think it does).

Just before church yesterday, Christian the curate informed me that he has permission from Rev Jen to start a Blue Grass Mass at the New Holland Brewery on Saturday mornings. I think his plan is to start with music from local musicians, have a brief music-less Eucharist, and then more music.

Oy.

This is a joint venture between our church and Hope Church, a local RCA community. Christian isn’t trying to involve me so much as seeking my input. I pointed out to him the theological differences between the traditions. As far as I can see, the RCA tradition freely borrows from the liturgical tradition without completely defining and connecting with ritual clarity that is available in the  1979 Prayer book for Episcopalians.

I told Christian that for me, music in prayer is first and foremost the “work of the people.” This is a catch phrase that I expected him to recognize referring to a certain understanding of liturgy.

I see myself between two extremes in my church music philosophy. On the one extreme we have situations like St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle doing its precious compline, NOT from the Prayer book and more from an academic back look at the 19th century (even though they may think it’s “Medieval” it looks more about the Anglican tradition of Cathedral church music than the participatory liturgical tradition that grew out of Vatican II and could possibly flourish in this century).

This extreme feels a bit like a museum dedicated to a certain style of doing church. The other extreme might be represented in the way Christian seems to see prayer and music and people. Christian has mentioned he is uncomfortable with “organ music.” The tastes that he has expressed to me have been limited. He assigned his wife, Jodi, the role of picking music for their ordination. It seemed that the one thing he was interested in for it was the Sufjan Stevens piece that I transcribed and we performed. The pic below is us doing that piece.

If liturgical communities in the Episcopal church head in either of these directions, stuffy or loose, I feel out of touch since I would like to venture into an eclectic mix of interesting stuff with an emphasis on participation. I’m hoping that my boss has the wisdom to gently ease me out of my gig if I become less in touch with the needs of my community.

Yesterday had a fun moment. The prelude was three variations on the tune of the opening hymn, “Earth and All Stars.” I was intent in my concentration since I didn’t practice as much as I would have if my organ had an Ab in the pedal before Friday. When I glanced up after the last variation, I saw that the congregation was standing as though the prelude were the introduction for the opening hymn.

Last time this happened they launched into the opening hymn without me and I was forced to join in on the organ. This time, they didn’t do that. So I went on and did a hymn intro.

Whew. I am feeling my age this morning.

Thank God my first ballet class isn’t until 11 AM.

U.S. Drops Charges That Professor Shared Technology With China – NYT

I didn’t have time to treadmill this weekend, so I’m still catching up with reading the paper. This story blew me away. The FBI didn’t vet its charges for this guy with any kind of efficiency. They raided his home with guns drawn. Wow.

Eastern Bloc’s Resistance to Refugees Highlights Europe’s Cultural and Political Divisions – The New York Times

Lech Walesa back in the news. What a disheartening story.

Review: The Broad Is an Old-Fashioned Museum for a New Gilded Age – 

The NYT art critic has an interesting take on this museum and at the same time is expressing a specific view about the art of our time.

Body Blow on Texas Referee Shakes School and Sport – The New York Times

So much for sports building character, eh? My brother-in-law Dave remarked on how fanatical sports people could be as we sat in a sports bar yesterday and people were yelling and cheering. Now I wonder if he had read about this story as well.

I had an interesting day yesterday. In the morning I went to church and rehearsed today’s organ music. I practiced more intensely than usual since most of the week I didn’t have an Ab in the pedal. I’m hopeful with a little more this morning before church I can play pretty well.

Then in the afternoon, Eileen and I returned and she assisted me in preparing folders for Wednesday’s first choir rehearsal of the season. We were hanging around doing this because I was to make sure Martin Pasi, the organ builder, could get access to the building in the afternoon.

He was visiting in Chicago and made time to come up and do some preliminary measurements and take stock of the situation.

He is a soft spoken man with a gentle German accent. I tried to make sure he had what he needed in order to proceed and not bug him too much while he was working. Before he arrived I had made legal copies of three new anthems for this season. Eileen stuffed them and I posted hymns, then rehearsed the psalm for this morning.

My organ practice didn’t seem to bother Martin Pasi. He engaged me a big in conversation about the organ and church music. Later, when my friend Rhonda had not dropped by, I phoned her and made arrangements for us to drive to her church so that she and Pasi could meet.

After he left to return to Chicago I realized that once again I had probably left a confused impression in a professional.

However we had a good discussion about eclecticism and the art of church and church music.

Pasi is an artist and craftsman of the first order. But talking to him I could feel myself grappling to explain my understanding of what is hopeful about the art of church music in this century in America.

I’m sure he saw me as passionate and eccentric. In that he is correct. In the course of our conversation he mentioned with approbation an ongoing weekly Compline service at St. Mark’s in Seattle near where he lives.

Since we discussed the disaster that occurred recently at the Church of the Ascension in Chicago where a new enthusiastic pastor had fired two highly competent (but probably strictly classical) musicians, I was curious to look at the Compline service he mentioned after I came home.

Pasi said that this service draws a weekly large crowd and is followed by a short organ concert. At least I think that’s what he said. I didn’t respond to him that my understanding of Compline is that is the last thing on a day’s agenda nor question the appropriateness of following it with a short concert.

You can see what he was talking about for yourself  if you click on this link.

I was surprised by the “preciousness” of the situation.

It looks like the service is sung mostly by a men’s chorus. The sound while good reminded me of barbershop quartet sound. The order for the service is not drawn from the 1979 Prayer Book but from the 1949 order from an organization called The Plainsong & Mediæval Music Society.

I’m still processing my conversation with this man. The Compline practice seems to have been instituted by the previous (well known) music director, Peter Hallock. I listened to a bit of the service from Aug 30th. They used a choral setting by Hallock for the Psalm.

I can’t help but wonder what Pasi made of my passion for eclecticism which I outlined for him in some detail so that he wouldn’t make the academic mistake of thinking I was only talking about contemporary pop music additions to liturgy.

I also wondered what he would make of my setting of service music which I call the Jenkins Jazz mass. I didn’t have the courage (chutzpah?) to show it to him.

On another note, his description of the instrument he intended to build for us left me keenly anticipating its arrival. Although I won’t be in the line of Hallock or other Anglican musicians I think it will be fun (and even excellent) to have a decent instrument to lead my congregation and perform on.

My organ was fixed yesterday by the time I arrived mid-morning. I practiced but not before nailing down a final list of choral pieces to learn and perform between now and Advent II (Dec 6).

Eileen took advantage of the cooler weather and made Sweet and Sour Pickles. We both love these. I regularly buy them at the grocery store. But there’s nothing like home made food. She was surprised to discover that we still had one jar from her canning last year.

You’ll notice the window is closed. It was cool yesterday and is still very cool this morning so we closed the windows.

I gave my student his piano lesson yesterday. I keep trying to disabuse him of his sheepishness about wanting to learn some Liszt. We figured out that he is four years younger than my Mom. Great guy. I stopped at the bank on the way home and cashed the check so Eileen could have cash for the Farmers Market if she goes today.

I am monitoring our bank account online daily. I wonder if I should cease mentioning our money problems since Sarah the daughter confessed that she has been using my Netflix logon and offered to buy her own subscription and share her logon with us. I demurred. Financial stuff between family is not a good idea unless absolutely necessary.

I carefully refrain from talking to Mom about our financial situation. I know she will tell me to take money out of her account to help us, but I’m dead set against doing stuff like that.

Eileen pointed out that she is in her second year of retirement and that we seem to have enough money if we can just manage it properly.

I share this sentiment. I have to force myself to think like a grown up since I think the whole idea of life as an economic venture has more false about it than true. At least for me.

I continue to spend copious amounts of time playing carefully through Schumann. For some reason this really works for me right now.

I finished Chapter Six of Finnegans Wake this morning. This is taking more time since I am reading larger chunks and then cross referring between the text and my resource books. It’s fun. I try to keep up reading books I have checked out of the library. I’m almost done with Hindmarsh’s book on Evangelical Conversion Narratives.

Hindmarsh account of narratives written in the 18th century about people struggling with their faith outside of the Anglican and other liturgical churches is fascinating. I’m toying with doing further reading about this topic. William James has a chapter on conversion in his Varieties of Religious Experience.

I’m also working on Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman. This work about the recent struggle to make sure black people can vote is riveting. I’m up to the 90s now and still very engaged. I’ve renewed the book once and that’s all one can do at the public library. I’m hoping to finish it so I don’t have to return it and check it out a third time.

I’m also dipping into poetry books I checked out or interlibrary loaned. I’m enjoying Ron Padgett and Cynthia MacDonald’s work. Devin Johnston left me a bit cold, so I’ve stopped reading him. I finished The Lunatic by Charles Simic. It had some good poems in it.

I am also enjoying Essays at Eighty by Donald Hall. I mentioned it to my student, Rudy, yesterday and he was very interested and asked me to email him a link.

Lower Blood Pressure Guidelines Could Be ‘Lifesaving,’ Federal Study Says – NYT

You might’ve seen this news story. I find it tremendously discouraging since I’m trying to keep my own blood pressure below 140/90. It does sometimes fall down into the new low range. This morning it was 127/105 which I think is pretty good but is still above the new guidelines. I don’t know what to make of a high diastolic number like 105. My doctor doesn’t seem too worried about that number.

A Stolen Car Found, With the Help of Cold War Technology – The New York Times

Quick thinking policeman installs a phone app on his phone and finds a stolen car and phone. This article also gives some history of how GPS was developed. Cool beans.

As near as I can tell, my daughter Elizabeth, her husband, Jeremy, and my grand-daughter, Alex, have just arrived in Beijing after a long trip (It’s Friday evening in Beijing). I hope their planes were on time and the trip home wasn’t too grueling. I admire their stamina and appreciate the trouble they take to keep the families connected.

Much to my delight, I discovered the string parts online to the last movement of Bach’s Cantata 142. I counted measures to see how well it fit the anthem I want to have the choir sing on Sept 20th (their first Sunday). It was an exact fit.

I think this unresolved aspect might have been part of the reason I had choir nightmares the night before last.

My violinist was unable to come to our rehearsal yesterday, so Dawn, the cellist, and I went through the music for the 20th.

We decided on two lovely piano trio movements for the prelude and postlude: one by Mozart and one by Haydn. We read through the Haydn in its entirety. They are both pretty doable and shouldn’t require extensive prep.

The missing note on my organ’s pedal board had not been replaced as of yesterday. I hope he gets to it soon. The organ music I scheduled for the weekend needs some rehearsal, but it doesn’t work very well without that note.

I stumbled across a band yesterday. As I sometimes do, I clicked on music that other people are listening to. i can see this list on my Spotify software. A Hope College student who has good taste and is a musician himself was listening to this group.

I was intrigued to see that they not only had done originals, but did a cover of Radiohead (Kid A) and included two classical pieces on their album: Passepied by Debussy and a Scriabin piece.

Later when I was exercising I stopped reading the paper long enough to listen closely to see if they did a straight transcription of Debussy (I was exercising to their music). It’s originally a piano piece and one I like and practice. I was weirdly pleased that they did a straight transcription, albeit loosely and musically played with the melody, counter melodies and accompaniment tossed back and forth  between their different instruments.

See for yourself.

Thinking about anger and distortion on Facebooger, here’s my quote for today.

“The ability to analyze others’ arguments can also serve as a yardstick for when to withdraw from discussion that will most likely be futile.”

Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments,
p. 4,

I have pretty much decided not to argue with angry people on Facebooger but at the same time not to let their misinformation and hate go completely unchallenged. Tricky balance.