My “Lobe den Herren Dances for Organ” is finally done. You can see the final versions here or click on the link at the top of this page. I still have a couple movements I would like to write, but I need a break from this work at this point.

Jordan and Rhonda stopped by for tea and conversation yesterday. These two are pleasure to have around. I am looking forward to doing the upcoming May 19 recital with them and my string people.

I discovered this morning that my semi-annual doctor visit is Monday. Dang. I was hoping to lose some weight for this visit, but obviously that’s not going to happen before Monday. I need to focus on the fact that despite my high blood pressure and obesity, I am a cancer survivor and every day is sweet because of that.

Still my anxiety will probably be up on Monday when I see Dr. Fuentes. I’m hoping she will prescribe a new med to bring my BP down. I also hope that the fact that she hasn’t done so yet is intentional on her part and not an oversight. When I was going through all my problems she asked me to send her my BP readings which I did. They were high but she never responded. I’m hoping that  was on purpose.

Anyway, I’ll know more on Monday.

It’s been a busy week. Tuesday I spent the day designing the upcoming May 19th Grace notes. I was thinking of reviving  a version of “Dead Man’s Pants.” I spent a lot of time on Tuesday sifting through years of compositions both on my computer and real copies. It’s surprising how much music I have written over the years. And it’s all very disorganized. I finally found “Dead Man’s Pants” on my hard drive. It quickly became clear to me that revitalizing it would be a major project both for me as the rearranger and for my players.

“Dead Man’s Pants” is a much denser and more complicated composition than I remembered. This doesn’t fall in line with my idea of having a fun recital both for players and listeners. So I decided to drop it.

I still have a some interesting stuff in mind. I sent out an email to all the musicians with a rough draft of the May recital. Everyone seemed amenable to my plans so far.

Wednesday was spent doing church things primarily. We had a staff luncheon and I met with Jen beforehand. Eileen was kind enough to file all the Easter music for me and then hand out the stuff the choir needs for this Sunday. I practiced organ.

We had an intense but fruitful choir rehearsal. I continue to challenge the group and the people who show up tend to rise to this.

Today I am predictably exhausted. I met with the piano trio and we discussed the May recital and played through some of the material I have in mind. They seemed tired as well but pumped for this gig.

I have decided to end the recital with an old composition called “Drek.” It interests me because I have always been fond of this extremely simple little piece I wrote not long after I began playing in coffee houses after quitting “Our Lady of the Lake” to do just that. I have spent the last hour or so beginning a full score of a transcription of the old piece for this new group of players. I have scored it for Alto Sax, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Marimba.

I haven’t really changed it, except I want to give Jordan and myself a chance to do a little improv in it. I will invite the other players but don’t expect them to jump in since improvising isn’t something they enjoy or do that much.

I’m interested in the Arvo Pärt feel this piece has for me now. it’s so simple that it barely has much musical motion but it is in sync with the minimalist feel. I’m not sure if I had heard any  Pärt when I wrote it. I was aware of Glass, Reich, and Adams but I don’t remember thinking that I was writing in their style at the time.

I will be interested to see how it hits the rest of the players and the audience.

Imagining America in 2024 – The New York Times

The New York Times commissioned 15 playwrights to write very short little pieces about America in the year 2024. I’ve read a  couple and they’r kind of fun. I haven’t taken advantage of all the bells and whistles online (Videos of performances by Nathan Lane and John Lithgow), but I hope to before they go away.

Unseen Clockwork Orange ‘sequel’ by Anthony Burgess unearthed – BBC News

NYTimes: On L.G.B.T. Rights, the Supreme Court Asks the Question

The Mueller Report Was My Tipping Point

Egyptian Koshari Recipe | The Mediterranean Dis

My brother mentioned Koshari on the phone to me. I found this recipe and then adapted it to not use pasta. I loved it but it was a bit spicy for Eileen.

I have been trying to use up all the old flour in the house. 

I have done so with the exception of a huge bag of Instant Corn Masa Mix. As far as I can tell, this is some sort of corn flour treated with hydrated lime (I don’t think that’s the fruit, by the way). It’s used in making tamales. I am thinking I should be able to use it up somehow. This morning I used it in a cornbread recipe. I left it in the oven for the prescribed 25 minutes and it came out too burnt to eat (see the picture of it above).

Oh well.

Eileen bought bread flour this week. I used it to make bread this morning. As you can see it was a success. I’m eating a slice right now so these two loaves don’t look like this any more.

Despite having a couple of important tasks this week I am relaxing today. I’m tired enough that this might be beyond my control anyway.

I spent too much time deciding what to submit for next Sunday’s bulletin. I thought I might be able to come up with a new canticle for the Easter season. We usually sing a metrical Pasha Nostrum to SINE NOMINE (For all the saints). This is a beloved tune of the congregation. But I am conscious of the fact that I will be getting off the bench at the end of Easter and going on vacation. I thought it would be fun to do something else. But I couldn’t find anything to recommend. I don’t have all the books at home that have canticles in them so I will check when I go to church. Probably not today.

Well, hell week is over.  I think it went well. The choir did a splendid job. I’m a bit tired. Tomorrow I have tasks facing me: hand in music for the next bulletin, work on the composition, and think hard about the upcoming May recital.

The last is the most important. I want to design a recital that is not challenging for the players (besides myself…. I’m learning the dang Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach) and it fun for the people who bother to show.

I’m thinking of emphasizing variety. A Corelli trio sonata movement with violin and sax on the upper two parts and cello and harpsichord continuo. That would fun. John Dowland is on my mind a lot these days (as is Henry Purchell). I’m also thinking of pulling “Drek” out again. That way I would have at least one piece I could manage to play marimba on.

Anyway, it was a satisfying week for me. I think it was for the choir as well. Rev Jen announced to this morning’s congregation that the choir is top form or something like that. But I do wonder a little bit about how much of my work is perceived by listeners and congregational singers.  Don’t get me wrong. We get lots of compliments.

But I think my church work is pretty phenomenal.  I know  I make challenges for myself and my musicians when easier stuff would do. I guess I’m learning that doing something this well is best when done mostly for one’s self. And the glory of god of course.

I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I relate to what Dylan Thomas said:

“These poems, with all their crudities, doubts and confusions, are written for the love of man and in Praise of God, and I’d be a damn fool if they weren’t.” Dylan Thomas

I like to take something to write on with me to visit my therapist. This morning, I grabbed a clip board with some blank paper on it. I don’t often write anything down but it helps. to be able to do so if something occurs to me.

As my therapist and I were sitting and talking, I noticed that he also had a clip board. So both of us were sitting, facing each other in comfy chairs holding clip boards.

I pointed it out to him and asked if had ever heard of the movies, Zelig. He hadn’t so I describe how Woody Allan made a movie about a Forest Gump-like character who moved from circle to circle and gradually transformed into the person or people he was near.

I find myself thinking about this movie once in a while.

These are all pics from that movie. The following may be my favorite scene.

It’s tough when people who have had such influence on me like Woody Allen, Garrison Keillor, and Bill Cosby have turned out to be creepy.

I can’t watch Cosby any more. But I listen to Keillor’s daily Writer’s Almanac pod cast and still think about many Woody Allen movies.

  The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

  Our only health is the disease
If we obey the dying nurse
Whose constant care is not to please
But to remind of our, and Adam's curse,
And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.

  The whole earth is our hospital
Endowed by the ruined millionaire,
Wherein, if we do well, we shall
Die of the absolute paternal care
That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.

  The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.

  The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.

T. S. Eliot, East Coker IV, Four Quartets

Last night’s liturgy went well. The choir came early and prepared. Then later in the liturgy they sang “I give you a new commandment” by William Mundy. It was beautiful.

I just looked on YouTube and couldn’t find a recording I thought was as beautiful as we did last night.

Tonight we are going sing Viadana’s “We adore thee O Christ” as the second Anthem for adoration in the Episcopalian Good Friday service. Usually I would do it in Latin, but since it has a liturgical function in this context and was in English in the Oxford Easy Anthem Book we will sing it English.

Here’s a nice version in Latin.

We’re actually singing it a minor third higher than this recording. We don’t know it quite as well as the Mundy but with a solid pregame it should be quite lovely this evening.

I have been finding Spotify’s algorithms surprisingly helpful lately. Most of their ready made lists aren’t that interesting to me, since they just mix up stuff you have listened to. But they have two  lists that have been catching my attention lately. One is “Your Discover Weekly,” the other is “Your Release Radar.” The first track on it was the piece above. I have to say, I love this music. I am a fan of Califax, but it’s sometimes hard to keep up with them. I subscribe to a bunch of their YouTube lists, but missed this release.

This take on Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (called AENEAZZ above) is quite timely. I have been reading in  Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante’s Inferno lately. It supplements my reading of Burgess, T. S. Eliot, and others.  Here’s a link to the info on this release and upcoming concert dates.

Then I was catching up last week’s Sunday New York Times and I found an article on the pulitizer prize winning album, Damn, by Kendrick Lamar. I did not know that this had happened. So I lay and listened to it to drown on the PBS news show last night before choir rehearsal   (I find it a bit much especially when I’m trying to rest up for the evening rehearsal on Wednesdays). This album is growing on me. If you check it out, I recommend finding out exactly what the lyrics are that you are listening to. Still absorbing this but liking it.

After meeting with Rev Jen and prepping for last night’s rehearsal I stopped off at the library to pick up some  books I had requested. One of the requests waiting was for Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection of short stories , In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. I find myself looking for writers that engage me as much as Burgess since he is now back on my radar so much.    Mueenhuddin is an excellent candidate for this. I have read the the first two stories in this collection and am finding them worthwhile.

Mueenuddin has a short story in The Best American Short Stories 2008. It’s the same one as the first story in the other book, but when I discovered that Rushdie was the editor of this collection I instantly requested it. Reading in both of these right now.

I made bread today. One loaf is for the church meal tonight, the other for Eileen and me. The house smells right now.

I have spent most of this day working on my organ composition for the AGO. I have dubbed it “Lob den Herren dances for organ,” that being the name of the tune I have been working with. Jordan VanHemert’s help has been crucial. He sent me an email with comments on all the pieces. Today as I was working on pieces, he and I went back and forth on email talking about them. It satisfies me that he seems to like what I am writing. I have been losing confidence in its appeal to classically trained musicians. Jordan definitely fits that classification. His aesthetic is as close to my own as anyone I know. That helps, I’m sure.

I didn’t have the wherewithal to both practice and exercise today after composing. I chose exercising.  I have been spending hours preparing organ music for the next few weeks so I think that was probably the wise choice.

For what it’s worth, here are updates on my piece.

01 The Lord the Almighty (pdf of score)

02 Life and Breath (pdf of score)

I have decided to title these dances with phrases from the hymn. The title, “Life and Breath,” is especially satisfying because Jordan has helped me remember to think about breathing as I revise and edit.

NYTimes: A Vulgar Term Goes Unmentioned as It Gets Its Day in Court

Always happy to see vulgarity in the news.

When Eileen and I prepared to walk home from church yesterday, we had an unexpected walk through falling snow. It is beautiful but I think we’re all ready for Spring here.

Yesterday’s Palm Sunday service went very well. I decided to have only the choir accompany the congregational singing on the Anglican psalm chant and that worked nicely. For the choral anthem I divided up David Hurd’s lovely melody for “O Sacred Head,” having solo sopranos and a solo tenor set up a kind of call and response between themselves and the rest of the high or low voices. Hurd’s melody surprised me the first time I looked at. It’s quite sophisticated in the way it incorporates gospel and jazz, something I don’t expect from the pen of this writer who is sort of a stalwart Anglican. Although he has done some lovely settings of Negro Spiritual melodies for organ and written at least one good hymn tune.

If you don’t know the melody, this choir does a pretty good job with it. Although I wonder where the accompaniment is coming from since the organ bench  that you can see is unoccupied.

I didn’t have the energy to go back to church to practice last night even though I have quite a few organ pieces coming up that could have used the rehearsal. Instead I sat and did some reading.

This morning when I got up and resisted writing a bulletin article I promised myself I would put together for the Easter Sunday bulletin. Instead I did Greek and my usual poetry/other reading. After that, Eileen was still not up yet so I felt like it was a good time to write the article. I’m pretty happy with the result. You can read it here if you want. I thought it might be helpful to explain why I was using music based on Easter chorales we don’t sing.

I continue to feel the relief of getting close to being done with my recent compositional foray. I’m probably going to take a hiatus from working on it today despite the fact that Jordan emailed me a little bit ago with some excellent suggestions.  It’s flattering that he took my work so seriously but not surprising that he had such insights into what I was trying to do. What a dude!

I’m almost inspired to finish the tango movement which I have barely started. Almost.

Anyway, not today.

About the time Eileen got up I decided to make some weird corn cakes improvising on a Lustig recipe substituting the Masa Corn mix and Oat flour I have sitting around for corn meal and semolina flour. The result was too thick so I watered it down a bit. I loved it. Eileen improved her serving with slices of cheddar cheese from Zingerman.  I tried it and that did improve them.

MartÍn Espada

I finished reading Alabanza: New and Selected Poems (1092-2002) by MartÍn Espada this morning. I like this man’s poetry. Here’s a link to a pdf of a poem near the end of the book that hit me this morning.  The poem is called “The Poet in the Box” and is dedicated to someone named Brandon who is living in a prison and writing poetry there. Halfway through the poem, Espada sets up a nice contrast to Brndon’s dire environment with these lines.

Tonight there are poets
who versify vacations in Tuscany,
the villa on a hill, the light of morning;
poets who stare at computer screens
and imagine cockroach powder
dissolved into the coffee
of the committee that said no to tenure;
poets who drain whiskey bottles
and urinate on the shoes of their disciples;
poets who cannot sleep as they contemplate
the extinction of iambic pentameter;
poets who watch the sky, waiting for a poem
to plunge in a white streak through blackness.

from The Poet in the Box by MartÍn Espada

Anthony Burgess

I also finished Burgess’s The Worm and the Ring recently. I continue to enjoy and admire Burgess’s work. I’m on page 240 (out of 393) of Andrew Biswell’s The Real Life of Anthony Burgess. Biswell also moderates the Facebook page dedicated to Burgess.

I’m sneaking this reading in between obsessive work on my set of organ dances. Here’s some recordings made by Finale if you’re curious what it’s sound like. These are kind of goofy but I find them helpful when composing. Of course, there’s nothing like dragging them to the piano or better yet in this case the organ.

Theme (Llanfair)

Waltz

Peace

Trio

Scores can be found here.

There’s probably going to be one more movement. I have ideas for several more but life goes on and I have to get working on the May recital.

As I said yesterday, I emailed my friend Jordan the first three yesterday. Today when I listened to the trio I decided  can’t figure out if it’s ready or not so sent him a recording and pdf of that one.

I built up my courage to reach out to a couple of people who have helped me in the past but have sort of moved out of my orbit. Bob Hobby was an invaluable critic when he helped me. I learned a lot from him. And I admire Nick Palmer’s abilities. So I sent a link to my Work in Progress page inviting them to give me feedback. I hoped by sending them a link that it would allow them to demur gracefully or even ignore me if they want to.

Jordan noticed I was bemoaning not having colleagues who were composers who could look at me work. He instantly left a comment on this blog saying he would be glad to look at some stuff. That allowed me to feel free to send him stuff and ask for feedback.

I think Eileen is breathing a huge sigh of relief that this project is nearing its end. I haven’t been lots of fun to live with as you can imagine. But she’s had lots of practice and cohabits with me voluntarily (thank god).

Sameer And the Samosas | The New Yorker

This is an article by Daniyal Mueenuddin. He is new to me and I’m interested in his work. I have interlibrary loaned his collection of short stories. He has a new novel coming out that I’m very interested in.

How to Resist Validating President Trump’s View of Sanctuary Cities | The New Yorker

Masha Gessen is worth reading.

Yesterday was a tough day for me compositionally. I worked for several hours on some pieces then took them over to the church to run through them at the organ. I found that all the work I had done on one piece (it’s a kind of Waltz) was all for nought.

By the end of the day I was seriously considering withdrawing from submitting anything my self confidence was so shaken.

This morning I slept in late (7:30 AM), then got up and got to work. I had to go back several versions to get to an acceptable staring place on the worst piece. I found that my original ideas were better than the revisions. So, with just a bit of tweaking of an earlier version I redid the piece that caused me the most grief on Friday.

After that Eileen and I walked over to Evergreen Commons and I exercised for the first time in weeks.

Later I emailed my friend and fellow composer, Jordan VanHemert, copies of three of the movements that are getting very close to being done (this includes the waltz that I reverted to an earlier approach on).  Just for giggles I sent him wave files that Finale can generate of scores. I tend to put together a working score that uses nicer sounds than Final provides for its organ template (oboe, bassoon, flute sounds are so much more acceptable in my software).

I am drained but I realize that I’m basically on schedule with three movements almost finished and a fourth one that is very close. All of this on the day before Palm Sunday (the pieces are due “After Easter” and I don’t think they mean the season.)

This is a bit odd. When i first began working on my current compositional project, I had to work at finding extended time to concentrate on it. But now I’m working at taking time off from it today since I am feeling exhausted and less than inspired.

Not that I need inspiration at this stage of what I am doing. Instead at this point it’s more like chipping away here and there on a sculpture. The draw back is that as this kind of process happens I periodically completely lose confidence in myself and the project.

I’m not quite there today but I am feeling drained and numb.

I got up with my head spinning with thinking about my piece(s). Fortunately (sarcasm) I had a ton of work to do for church. I emailed all the information for the Triduum to the office. Then I emailed a couple of organists who are possible recitalists for the annual Joy Huttar Memorial concert. I’m trying to line up this year and next. I have had conversations with Charles Huttar (the widower) regarding who to ask and then double checked with Rev Jen about the date and the personnel. So now the ball is in the recitalists’ court.

By the time I was fnished with these tasks it was time for breakfast and then piano trio rehearsal.

After trio rehearsal I spent an hour or so rehearsing upcoming organ music. I’m thinking of playing several pieces based on Christ lag in Todes Banden and also Christ ist erstanden. I’m even thinking of writing a music note for Easter Sunday morning explaining my choice to do pieces based on hymn tunes we don’t actually sing much.

The pieces I have been rehearsing are pretty splendiferous. At this point I’m thinking I might do a Böhm setting of Christ lag in Todes Banden and a Bach setting of Christ ist erstanden (verses 3 from the Orgelbüchlein) on Easter Sunday morning.

Then on the following Sunday I want to play Scheidemann’s arrangement of a Hassler choral anthem (Alleluia, Laudem dicite deo nostro). I have been practicing it and I think it is very elegant and fun to play (and hopefully to listen to). I am indebted to Rhonda Edgington for turning me on to this piece and Scheidemann’s other organ arrangements of choral music. He calls them Intabulations and they are lots of fun.   We are singing a Hassler motet on Easter II so it would cool to pair this organ piece with it.

I also have been rehearsing two settings of Bach organ pieces on Christ lag in Todes Banden  (BWV 718 and 695) and plan to perform both of them sometime in the Easter season.

So these pieces are inspiring me right now to practice a bit more. They all sound elegant and beautiful on the Pasi. It is a delight to spend time with such beautiful music and an excellent instrument.

I do have readers who use this blog as a painless way to keep track of me, so since I haven’t written here in a few days I thought I would do a short update.

I have been working on my composition like crazy. I am deep at work on the Trio movement and am getting closer (but no cigar yet). I have an almost complete idea of how one movement will go. I called it Dance 1, but I also had an idea for a 5/4 waltz which I had not started. As Dance 1 continued to evolve I realized that IT was in 5/4. This realization pretty much completes the idea of this movement. I haven’t finished it off but it now goes under the category of busy work.

At my friend Rhonda Edgington’s suggestion I emailed Robin Dinda directly about missing pages in his publication. Within 24 hours he emailed me a PDF of the piece I’m interested in. What a guy!

The choir sounded splendid Sunday. I was glad there was at least one of the choir directors present who attend our church. I thought we sounded great. And I nailed the organ music. Good Sunday.

Tomorrow I plan to skip composing and then return to it on Friday.

Eileen has been a busy little bee. She cleaned the basement and hired some people to come and take away all the crap (like the disassembled shower stall). It is a vast improvement. And then yesterday she had a new contractor come to the house. We still have things that need to be done to our house like insulation and sealing off the windows in the basement. The guy representing this company turned out to be a self described “eco-nerd.” I think he and Eileen hit it off. Anyway, she is very happy and is planning to get these people to do lots of stuff like fix the insulation in the entire house and other grown up stuff.  She is also talking once again to the city of Holland about the discounts and rebates they provide for updating your home in terms of eco-friendly stuff.

Then this morning while I was at work, Eileen walked to a travel agent and booked us for our annual California trip.

Then she came to church in the afternoon and did some filing and handing out of choral stuff for this evening’s rehearsal.

We are doing great, eh?

Christian Smith – Atheist Overreach [Review] | The Englewood Review of Books

This is another book review my brother Mark has had publisehd online. It is satisfying to see him do stuff like this. I haven’t read the whole thing but still recommend it (of course).

After seeing my therapist, I planned time at the organ to go over some of the composition I’m working on as well as other organ pieces. I discovered that one first draft needed to be thoroughly revised. I did that this morning. I’m planning to get over this afternoon and see what my revisions sound like.

Who knew that shrinks were so interested in composition? That was the main topic of my session with Dr. Birky yesterday since that’s what’s occupying most of my time and thinking.

Last night I had a classic anxiety dream. I was the accompanist for a concert (the director was to be Dennis Tini, a teacher I had at Wayne State U and a good conductor). I was away from the city that the concert was to take place. It wasn’t clear where any of this was happening. Just that I was about an hour away from the concert. I discovered that I was already late for the preconcert warm-up which was scheduled for 7 PM. I began madly trying to get going so I could at least arrive for the performance. I found my car need to be reassembled for some reason. I would rent a car instead. By the time I got to the car rental place (which was more of car repair place), I realized that I hadn’t completely put together my new phone. It was made of clear pink plastic and took AA batteries. And of course it didn’t have any of my phone numbers. I thought if I could get to a library maybe I could log on the internet and get the phone numbers somehow or even contact people online. It was at this point that I realized I wasn’t going to make it. I was going to let everyone down.

One person in my dream said something like they hated to tell me this but I was probably going to be subject to legal action regarding missing this event.

I think I’m a little concerned about  my composition and the May recital.

Today I learned

that the Phillipine American war was the bloodiest war of our history dwarfing the deaths in the Civil War and until recently was the longest war in our history. Historian Greg Grandin talks about this other aspects of American Imperialism on today’s segment of On The Media.  

I think that Grandin points out that Phillipinnos were American Nationals (not citizens) at the time of the war which means ALL of the casualties were American. Anyway,the On The Media segment is clearer than the Wikipedia article I linked above.

SOUNDS FROM THE FIELD – Anthony Burgess in Iowa City: How Clockwork Orange’s Author Came to Write a Symphony for the University of Iowa – Rita Benton Music Library Blog

Despite it being Thursday (a day I usually spend exhausted), I spent time this morning with my compositions before piano trio rehearsal. I didn’t do any creative work, just tidying up one movement and putting the other one into Finale. It is coming closer so that’s good.

Easter is beginning to loom a bit. I’ve been playing around with scheduling a couple of Bach organ works based on Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 718 and BWV 695). These two are part of the individually transmitted organ chorales of Bach. This means they weren’t part of any of his collections but were handed down through the hands of his students and sons.

The chorale on which they are based is not one that congregations other than Lutheran ones usually sing. It’s in minor and celebrates the resurrection. I love it. But I don’t think my Episcopalian community needs to learn it. But there is some wonderful music based on it, including a Bach cantata (BWV 4).

The organ piece above (BWV 718) works a little bit like a cantata movement. From my notes, I apparently performed it in 2004 on the harpsichord. This must have been at Peace Lutheran when I worked there for a few years as the music director. I do love the piece and think it would make a lovely prelude or postlude for Easter.

BWV 695 has the melody in the alto line. In the past I have experimented with playing these longer notes on the pedal with a higher set of pipes so they would sound in the correct octave. I have my copy of this marked that way, but I also do not have a notation for a previous performance. This is probably because I have it kind of hard to solo out the alto line unless it’s written in a separate staff preferably the lowest one.

I soloed it out because I could never hear the melody very well on the instruments I was working on. It occurred to me this morning that I should try it on the Pasi. And sure enough, you can clearly hear it since the instrument has a wonderful clarity about the way the pipes sound together. It’s much easier to play this with my hands than try to use the pedal. Also, Bach had wonderful instruments and its likely that he could hear his melody easily as well.

I was looking at some other organ music for Easter. Specifically, Robin Dinda’s “Seasonal Hymn Preludes Vol 7: Easter and  Easter Season.”

I found a nifty little piece based on a tune we will sing for Easter (LLANFAIR). I was playing through it and turned the page. The next page did not continue the piece. It turns out that the publisher omitted pp 19 to 34 which contain the ending pages of the piece I was interested in. Damn.

I was complaining to Eileen about this and she suggested I email them. They might just send me a pdf of the missing pages. I am pretty sure I purchased this volume used so it hadn’t occurred to me to do this. Brilliant idea!

I’ve already sent the email. It would be cool if they were to email me the pdfs in time for me to use this piece for Easter, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

Poetry Trivia

Did you know that Longfellow’s famous poem about Paul Revere’s ride was actually an abolitionist poem probably more about John Brown and his insurrection and hanging? I learned it reading in Jill Lepore’s These Truths: A History of the United States. I’m on page 269 (out of 792! Whew!) and she mentions it in a footnote. Here’s a link to an article Lepore wrote about it for the American Scholar published in 2011.

Also, Longfellow himself abhorred political discourse and had to be talked into writing poems to help the cause by friends who were politicians. I love this sentiment which Lepore quotes in her article and also in her history book.

“Though a strong anti-Slavery man, I am not a member of any society, and fight under no single banner,” Longfellow explained, adding, “Partizan [sic] warfare becomes too violent, too vindictive, for my taste; and I should be found a weak and unworthy champion in public debate.”” Longfellow

Alan Lomax’s Massive Music Archive Is Online

I do love Lomax’s work. This link came sliding by in my Facebook feed and I bookmarked it to check out sometime.

It’s mid-afternoon and I have had another productive day composing. At this point I have completed rough drafts of the Theme, a Dance, Slow movement, and a Trio. In addition I have solid ideas for three other movements that need to be spun out. I seem to be on schedule, however I am still feeling the need to keep at it with as much time and energy as I can muster.

I am learning more details about my compositional process. There are several phases I go through: coming up with initial ideas, developing them enough to put down on paper, spinning out into a draft, rewriting and editing as necessary. The first phase is the most difficult because it’s hard to plan to have ideas. Plus there is part of me that is constantly evaluating at every stage and is ready to trash an idea or even a movement if it suddenly seems iffy.

Tomorrow I have to turn my attention back to church work. I have to pick out organ music for the upcoming weekend. I also need to think about what I’m going to play for Holy Week and Easter. At this point, I am not thinking literature. Instead if I can find some fresh sounding pieces maybe based on Easter hymns that’s what I will schedule.

Also the May recital is waiting for me to pull it together. This will be fun but it has to wait until I feel more confident about this silly organ piece I am writing.

It helped me a great deal to examine other composers’ settings of the melody I am using (Lobe den Herren). I didn’t manage to examine all of the pieces I own based on this melody. I only looked at about ten settings out of twenty. But two composers helped me a great deal: Walcha and A. W. Leupold. Walcha was the teacher of my teacher, Ray Ferguson. I have always had an interest in his work. His craftsmanship is obvious to me and informed by contemporary composition. Leupold (whom I suspect is related to Wayne Leupold) makes music that is more conservative (I think he died in 1940), but I have always found it very solidly written.

Analyzing these two composer’s treatment of the melody I am using was helpful. There is enough distance between their respective aesthetics and my own that there is little danger that they will influence me too much in my specific compositional choices. But since looking at their work I have felt more freedom in the way I am approaching this little set of dances for the organ.

Algorithms CAN be helpful

Usually I resist curation online. Suggestions from people or businesses are usually more about their needs than mine. This is exacerbated by my own highly eccentric orientation to most things in life.

However, recently, there have been two helpful instances of suggestions for me. The first was a Spotify playlist of new music with  my tastes in mind.

It was called “Your Release Radar” and by gosh there were things on it that interested me. Music by Modest Mouse, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Philip Glass, Beethoven, Marvin Gaye and others, many of them musicians I admire and listen to. Also the sound of the different tunes were varied the way I often like listen to music, mixing up extremely different kinds of music. Cool.

Secondly, YouTube suggested a two part documentary on Anthony Burgess made in 1999 for the BBC. (Link to part I, Link to part II). The quality is not very good but I watched them both all the way through with pleasure. I would have been sorry to miss them.

I wondered if my improvisations would be affected yesterday due to the compositional efforts I have been making. In retrospect, it’s difficult to say. I wasn’t very happy with my prelude improvisation. I had planned to improvise on the communion hymn (Hymn 461 in The Hymnal 1982, Lord Jesus Think on Me).

The harmonization in the hymnal confused me. I was expecting something more like the harmony above. I feared that not quite understanding the harmony of this hymn would affect my improvisation on it adversely, so instead I improvised on the Kyrie chant.

Eileen said she thought it was fine but I wasn’t pleased with how I worked it out. However,  I was happier with my postlude improvisation on “Come Thou Fount.”

The choir sang “Lord, for your tender mercy’s sake” a cappella. I thought they sounded pretty good. This anthem is sometimes ascribed to different composers. We have two versions, one ascribed to Hilton which we sang yesterday. The other is ascribed to Farrant.

We stayed after church for the Newcomer’s Brunch. I was over saturated with church after that.

This morning I spent several hours on composing a seventh movement for my set of dances. This was a setting of the theme. I am happy with it as a first draft. I pushed on and finished the entire thing, but decided to rewrite the beginning to be as good as the ending. This reminded me of how sometimes when I’m writing prose, the beginning is rubbish  but helps to get me going. I often go back and cut the beginning which is basically what I did with this musical composition this morning.

Later after lunch I worked on a couple of the other movements. I am finding that composing for a longer period of time in one sitting exhausts me in a unique way. I have been spoiled in most of my life to be able to compose then put a work down for a while and come back to it renewed. It’s different to persist.

But I have decided that it’s time for me to stop working on this for today. I’m hoping to get in some more hours on Tuesday. After that I’ll work sporadically on composing for the rest of the week interspersed with my usual rehearsals (choir and trio). The deadline of just after Easter is looming up at me. I may not have all seven movements in shape for this deadline, but I probably will have enough.

Yesterday was not as productive compositionally as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Nevertheless I worked a couple of hours. This morning was a bit better. I got up and put some ideas down on paper that I had in the night. Then I got silly.

Eileen had suggested I should do a version which treated the alto part (the part she likes  to sing) as the melody or some important part of the piece. Just for kicks I wrote out the alto part of the Hymnal 1982 harmonization of the tune I am working with, LOBE DEN HERREN.

I discovered that I had not thought enough about the basic material I am working with. I was surprised by the irregularity of the phrases. I have been working with this melody intensely ever since deciding to do an organ piece on it. However, I made the mistake of not more thoroughly looking at the hymn tune.

So, this morning I backtracked and began studying the hymn tune. In the Hymnal 1982 Companion,  Robin Leaver lists six versions of it in full. All of these occurred within ten or so years of each other, some with different words. None of the versions so far have regular phrase lengths which is important to me compositionally. It’s hard to explain clearly but irregularity in rhythm grabs my attention and shows compositional possibilities at the outset.

In his book, Let the People Sing: Hymn Tunes in Perspective, which I purchased recently, Paul Westermeyer has a seventh version which is barred differently. This all seems pertinent information for me.

In addition, I neglected another basic step and did not examine in detail other settings of this hymn tune. One of the first steps I usually try to do is to survey what other composers have done in any area I am working.

Eileen is off at an Alto breakfast with our only working car (the Mini’s battery is dead… she tried this morning to take it). I am seriously considering walking over to church and looking at settings of this tune.

Although none of my work so far has really inspired me that much, I’m feeling more on track than yesterday.

Thursdays are days that I am usually recovering from my Wednesday work day. But I still dragged myself out of bed this morning in time to get an hour or two composing done before Eileen got up.

Yesterday was fruitful compositionally. I worked over first drafts of two dances at the organ. I discovered things about them that I will incorporate into their working versions. This morning I deliberately turned to other material. First I worked on an up tempo dance that might end up being the first dance in the set. I discovered that this dance is triple not duple as I had originally thought. I worked from earlier sketches and began to fill in more details.

Next, I decided to look at a sketch I had done of some nice harmonies for a piece. I thought it might be interesting to use these as a basis of a sort of ornamented chorale prelude (ornamented melody, slower moving accompaniment with a pedal bass line). But I heard  the melodic voice as a freer idea and put the melody in the soprano of the slow moving chords of the left hand.

I have been thinking of adding sections to my compositions where the player can improvise. After working on several measures of a melody I remembered this notion. This melody which works like a free improvisation an option but the perform can substitute their improvisation if they choose to do so. I have in mind something similar to those jazz arrangements for high school bands that include a written out improv for sections where the player can play the written improv or make their own.

While I was working my new Anthony Burgess scholarly editions arrived from England. Last night while I was resting up for the evening rehearsal I finished reading A Vision of Battlements. Today, the scholarly edition arrived alone with my new copies of Beard’s Roman Women, Abba Abba, and The Piano  Players. 

I worked both before and after breakfast today. By the time Eileen and I had decided on a late lunch, I was feeling a little woozy from working with my musical ideas. Eileen has been working on a weaving design program while I have been composing. She wasn’t quite through when I was reading to take a break so I drove over to the library.

This trip was also Burgess related because I went to pick up my inter library loaned copy of Burgess’s rare The Worm and the Ring.

It feels almost like cheating that the library system is willing to let me borrow this expensive out of print tome.

The first copy pictured above is a first edition, true, however the generic copy is still $270 bucks.

At the library I ran across several books that I brought home just to look at.

I picked Thomas Brothers’ book on musical collaboration, Help! The Beatles, Duke Ellington and the Magic of Collaboration off the new shelf. This guy almost won the Pulitzer for his Louie Armstrong, Master of Modernism. I read the introduction and this book looks fantastic. It goes on my list to read in the future.

Cookbooks can be works of art these days. The How Not To Die Cookbook sitting on the new shelf seems to be one of them.

Food porn.

My library doesn’t really have a new section of graphic novel/non fiction books. I usually just go the section and browse a bit looking for something that looks interesting. Today I found An Anthology of Graphic Action, Cartoons & True Stories Vol. 2 edited by Ivan Brunetti.

Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up  was with the new art books. This lovely book was put together to accompany a 2018 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is a beautifully made book with many lavish reproductions of her paintings and photographs of her.

I love libraries.

I got up this morning and did the usual BP and weight check (not too bad, but not good yet). I showered, did the dishes, made coffee, and studied Greek. I haven’t done Greek for two days while composing. Today I do not plan to seriously compose, but I will look over the two first drafts at the organ. I don’t have the time I usually like to take between compositional activity. I think of it as a gestation of sorts. But today (and maybe tomorrow) I plan to give my composer brain a bit of a rest.

I was startled last night that when I sat down to do a little playing at the piano I was so discombobulated from writing that I was rubbish. I don’t remember that happening before. No matter. Today I plan to do some serious prep for this evening’s rehearsal. I’m thinking I won’t get too clever in the order for rehearsal and concentrate on being prepared to do my part well or at least better than last week.

I did some poetry reading this morning. I have been rereading T. S. Eliot. This morning I read “Gerontion.”

Somewhere I have a little drawing I did about this poem that probably dates from my teens or early twenties. It’s odd to think how much influence Eliot has had on me. Today here is the line that leaped out at me:

I am an old man.
A dull head among windy spaces.

The poem begins with the description of a boy reading to an old man. When I first read this poem, I was closer in age to the boy but not quite that young. Now I am definitely the old man. Also, it is this poem that gave me the phrase, “Christ the tiger.” My Christology, such as it is for an old atheist, is definitely influenced by the Christ in Gerontion. Jes sayin.

I put in another four hours composing today. I now have two complete first drafts of two movements and some hopeful beginnings to three or four movements. I just printed off the two first drafts to take with me to church tomorrow. Tomorrow is a work day but I’m hoping to find a few minutes to try out these two pieces. I am resisting going over to the church right now. I think this is enough on this for today.

I’m not dazzled by what I have yet. Often when working on a piece there will come a moment when I feel very confident and happy about what I’m putting into it. It’s sort of the “flow” moment. I haven’t had too many of these yet. But I’m operating on the working assumption that if I try to put down compositions that are along the lines of my improvisation, it’s likely that lightning might strike in the process. If not, i don’t have to submit anything at all if i’m not happy with it.

It’s hard to know much at this stage since I need to sit down and play through the pieces on the organ. Even though I can play them on my piano or synth or have Finale play it for me, there is no substitution for trying it live on the organ.

I can see that years of working with music notation software has affected my process. I am likely to cut and paste like I sometimes do when writing prose. As it is, when composing I move back and forth between the computer, an instrument, and just pondering what I’m doing. It probably takes all three for me these days.

I also think that these decades of playing organ music has helped me think more clearly about idiomatic organ writing. My last organ piece was “Mental Floss.” I like it quite a bit. But I think it represents my general tendency to think differently than the usual church organ composer techniques.

I am open to learning from  my colleagues. But first I want to have the pieces solidly composed so it will be more likely to make sense to other composers.

Nick was kind enough to ask me about my piece Sunday when I told him I was taking time off this week to work on it. He said that he is planning to submit a choir and organ piece and had chosen to not base it on a hymn tune for a change. He asked me if what I was doing was a partita. I told him that AGOers would probably think of it that way but for me it was more about writing little dances for the organ, very much the way suites used to be but not following any sort of tradition suite dance movements particularly. I mentioned that I wanted one  of my movements to be a tango. The tango is still in the “hopeful” category as in “I am hopeful I can come up with some more good ideas for a tango.”

I actually spent some of my composing time playing some tangos today. I have written  a piano tango for my daughter-in-law, Cynthia Jenkins. I played through it. Eileen said she liked it. I guess I wouldn’t go that far but it was helpful to look at. I also played through some others. They basically helped me understand what i will have to come up with if i can put together an organ tango.

So I feel like my two days off have given me what I needed for this project. I hope Thursday and Friday will be as productive or even more productive.

It’s unusual for me to write about my composing while I’m in the midst of it. I have found that this can short circuit the process if I’m not careful. But that might just be superstition on my part. I feel like it’s silly not  to write about what’s on my mind here since that’s one of the reasons I blog.