First of all, Mount Athos is not just a mountain, it’s an entire semi self autonomous region of Greece that has a secluded monastic haven for men only for centuries.

It came under the protection of Adolf Hitler during WW II.

Due to his generosity, some of the high mucky mucks on Mount Athos referred to him as “High Protector of the Holy Mountain” (German: Hoher Protektor des heiligen Berges). Nice, eh?

I was learning about Mount Athos because the next essay by Merton in his Disputed Questions is about it.

I also learned a bit more about the word, “evangelical.” It comes from Greek that is now pretty recognizable to me: ev = eu  well or good; angelical – angelos messenger, angel, bearer of tidings. So the meaning of the word “gospel” that I was taught as a kid, “good news” is a bit of a literal understanding of the term

The insight for me is to apply this understanding to the Evangelical church in America as I am reading in Hindmarsh’s The Evangelical Conversion Narrative. 

I learned that there are three types of monks in the isolated self governed peninsula of Mount Athos. None of them (presumably) follows an “order” that way Cistercians or Benedictines in the Western tradition do. Instead there seem to be three groups: cenobitic (from the Greek koinos, common) who live in community,

“Greek κοινόβιον life in community, (in eccl. writers) convent, neuter of κοινόβιος living in community, < κοινός common + βίος life, way of living” OED

isorrhythmic monks (from the Greek iso, personal, private, separate; and rythmos

“ancient Greek ῥυθμός measured motion, time, measured flow of words or phrases in prose, measure, proportion, symmetry, arrangement, order < an ablaut variant of the base of ῥεῖν to flow” OED

who can own property and retain income from their labor. The third group is  hermits who basically live alone or in very small groups of two or three.

Finally I learned about a new fantasy sci fi writer from Tony Wesley (my nephew Ben’s significant other and at whose house we are staying).

I read an excerpt last night and then bought the Kindle book for $4.99. I’m always curious what people I know and family are reading. This looks like a bit of different kind of fantasy story from Tony’s description of it. Like so many of the books Tony gets hooked on, it’s one of a series. The first one is the cheapest. I figure it’s like drug addiction, starts out easy and cheap and gradually costs the addict more and more. Nice analogy, eh?

Eileen and I are sitting in a Panera having  breakfast. I spent the morning attempting to find a place to practice today and tomorrow. I have been in contact with several people on Facebooger. The ones that have responded have only recommended places to contact.

I have so far reached out on Facebooger to the organists at First Pres Ann Arbor and First United Methodists. Both places were recommended by an organist on Facebooger. They are nearby and the person who recommended them has had success practicing at their churches.

So far these two musicians have not responded. The rest of the people that have responded have not made specific recommendations.

It doesn’t look at this point that this is going to pan out. Oh well. I tried. My only regret is that I used up my treadmill time at the motel doing this this morning. I’m relatively sure that my Mozart will emerge in shape after missing three days on the organ.

I also managed to leave my credit card at the restaurant where we ate last night. I called them and they said they had it. Whew!

Yessterday Eileen and I visited with my sister-in-law Leigh at the new digs they have bought here in Michigan. It’s an amazing old house and I think will be excellent for both Leigh and my brother Mark. Very cool.

Then we met with my sister-in-law Leigh, nephew Ben, his significant other Tony, niece Emily and her husband, Jeremy for a nice meal at Zola Bistro. That’s where I left my credit card. Ahem.

The rest of today Eileen and I will goof off (we have checked out of our Ann Arbor motel) until Eileen’s weaving supply shop nearby opens in the afternoon.

Then we will stall until it’s late enough to show up at my nephew Ben’s house (5:30).

This time away has been very relaxing so far. Having the devices has been good. I have gotten some Greek and reading in. I think I will return in a much better place, but I look forward to figuring out more time away this summer.

I think it will be a short blog this morning. I’m lazing around in a motel room in Ann Arbor with my beautiful wife. After digesting my breakfast, I’m planning on availing myself of the exercise room here and treadmill some.

I have been doing my morning reading. So far that means Greek and Merton. I then turned to D. Bruce Hindmarsh’s The Evangelical Conversion Narrative: Spiritual Autobiography in Early Modern England.

I can see readers’ eyes glazing over, but Hindmarsh does seem to be one of the brilliant new kind of scholar who can write well and think clearly.

In his preface it becomes clear that he, himself, is a converted type Christian.

He describes the fact that these autobiographies of the converted are by a diverse range of people that more reflects the 21st century: “The very sites that are so problematic in discourse today, race, class, and gender, appeared together in this genre [conversion autobiographies] as black Nova Scotians, women servants in Scotland, and London apprentices wrote alongside university clergy.”

I find that a bit intriguing.

Hindmarsh talks about his own three children, the eldest of which actually helped him “chasing down a few stray articles and books for me. (At 13 years of age, she must be the youngest faculty assistant to hold a library card from the University of British Columbia).”

He then expresses the hope that all of his children will learn something about conversion in their life and something of the truths expressed in his chosen epigraphs.

One of these is Psalm 19: 7, quoted thus in the King James Version: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

Handy that. The use of the verb, converting. Other translations give a different slant.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” Book of Common Prayer 1979 translation

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.” New International Version

Fascinating to me how the different words put a bit of spin on the whole concept.

I have put up a message on Facebooger seeking to come up with a practice instrument in this area while I’m around. I have committed myself to learning that Mozart F major thing and would like to continue to practice it diligently.

My acquaintance, Stephen White, pointed me to a couple of local yokels whom I have Facebooger messaged. One of them, Michael Canates, has already responded. I think he might be out of town right now and this might not work out. But it is encouraging to get some response.

I think I could survive skipping three days on Mozart, but would prefer not to.

My lovely wife Eileen says, “You are going to do some relaxing as well, aren’t you?”

Grim History Traced in Sunken Slave Ship Found Off South Africa – NYTimes.com

It’s amazing that this history is not better documented. In the meantime, it’s fascinating how they go about it. Today they are holding a memorial service for 212 people who drowned and are putting soil from their home country, Mozambique, on the underwater site.

Ex-FIFA Official Cites Satirical Article From The Onion in His Self-Defense – NYT

I know NPR picked up on this. Hilarious stuff.

Man oh man! My congregation sang lustily yesterday. So much fun when that is the case. This was the first Sunday without a formal choir (although I did see members there). The prelude was a series of variations on Nicea (Holy, holy, holy) by Piet Post. This was the tune for the opening hymn. During the last variation of the prelude which begins with a vigorous statement that sounds very much like the hymn, the congregation stood.

I flopped around and grabbed the hymnal and transformed Post’s lovely last variation into a full fledged introduction. From the first, the congregation sang loudly and happily. Wow.

I was a little concerned that Rev Jen had chosen a canticle for that morning that we haven’t sung in ages. No problem. They sang it well.

The whole service went like this. Afterwards, I asked a Hope College husband and wife team who recently spent time in Africa if they would find it fun to play drums on “Alleluia, we sing your praises,” an African tune we are singing next week.

They agreed. As did several other parishioners. That will be fun. My boss’s significant other recently donated three drums (two of which are Djembes). I own several drums including my congas. So we will have plenty of drums to play.

This morning I did my usual morning reading in MacCulloch. This involves cross referring between his book on Silence and history of Christianity. I have read the latter and am reading the former for the first time.

I spend lots of time rereading sections of the history now that I own the books and can cross refer by page. The section I was working on this morning was about the Pietist movement in Germany.

My first aha moment came when I ran across this book cited in one of the footnotes.

Bruce Hindmarsh is writing about something that I sometimes wonder about. Mainly how did Christians come up with the notion of conversion that is so firmly implanted in so many Amuurican Christian churches. For my way of thinking, sudden conversion is rare in humans. I think it occurs. But in the church I was raised, it was de rigor for all members to have a conversion experience in order to be “saved.”

So I checked out Bruce Hindmarsh and found a lovely article by him on one of my favorite hymns, “Come Down, O Love Divine.” (Link to his web site and a link to download the pdf of the article).

I returned to MacCulloch and discovered that he soon began discussing the Pietist hymn,  Sei Lob und Ehr’ dem höchsten Gut.  This hymn was written about ten years before Bach was born. MacCulloch mentions that Bach although a pious Lutheran struggled with aspects of the Pietism movement.

I thought MacCulloch’s comments on the hymn were interesting enough that I should make a note in my hymn reference book of choice: The Hymnal 1982 Companion. Imagine my satisfaction in finding it already noted from my first read of this history in a Kindle Book. Now I was able to add the page reference.

I noticed in my The Hymnal 1982 Companion that I had also cross referred this hymn to a classic study  on English hymns by J. R. Watson I have read (The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study). In the margin in my hymnal companion I had noted that I found Watson’s citation of a verse of the hymn confusing. By referring to MacCulloch I was able to figure out that Watson cited a verse that The Hymnal 1982 unfortunately omitted.

I say unfortunately because it has a 17th century image of God as mother:

In the English of the classic Victorian hymn translator, Francis Cox, the omitted verse reads thus:

The Lord is never far away,
but through all grief distressing,
An ever present help and stay,
our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand,
God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.

Too bad they left that one out, eh?

I was very excited yesterday to discover this recording on Spotify. I had spent some of my morning playing through Hugo Distler’s 30 Spielstücke für die Kleinorgel, Op.18 No.1.

As I understand it, Distler wrote this charming little collection of music to be played on home organs. He is very specific that the music was not written for concerts or church use.

I have violated this prescription several times and performed some of these little pieces at church. But mostly I just like playing through them.

I was happy to see that Töppel recorded them on piano. Wow. Cool. I think they sound good on piano. I’m seriously considering living up to my ethical standards and buy the MP3 album of this music even though I can listen to it on Spotify.

I don’t know the piano pieces on the album but like them. They remind me a bit of Bartok’s little pieces for children.

I finished reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson last night. I thought it was okay. A bit too much fundamentalist religion in it for me. The main character who is an elderly dying minister narrates the entire book as a letter to his seven year old son to read when he is an adult. This and he have a certain charm. The story he tells in between talking about theology kept me engaged enough to finish the book. Not sure it’s for everyone. Church people (like me) probably get more out of it than the average reader.

I spotted this book yesterday when I was at the library getting books for my Mom. I checked it out and have read a couple chapters in it. Glass is not my favorite composer particularly. I have listened to and played his music. I do find him an interesting character. His childhood was spent in Baltimore where my father’s family comes from. The prose is a bit stilted. It does make me crazy that I find SO many errors in books these days. But there you are.

Yesterday Eileen and I were at the Tramadult pharmacy attempting once again to purchase tramadol. The young woman who waited on us was very apathetic and creepy. She informed us that my insurance was denied due to non-payment. I told her this had happened several times and each time it was just a glitch. When I threatened to change pharmacies she insolently told me that would be fine, just let them know.

Eileen called our insurance company (she has been handling this stuff) and of course it was closed on Saturday evening. We purchased some other stuff at Meijer.

I toyed with going online and giving the young woman a bad rating for being rude (even though Eileen figured out later that it WAS our insurance companies mistake…. she will fix it Monday).

Then I thought better of it. Even though the young woman was creepy, I didn’t really want to get her in trouble. Fuck it.

Chinese Security Laws Elevate the Party and Stifle Dissent. Mao Would Approve.

I follow this stuff a little bit more because my son-in-law is involved in Chinese law. It’s a tricky subject.

B.B. King Returns to a Mississippi Home, and Its Warm Embrace – NYTimes.com

I found this story about B. B. King’s funeral touching and interesting.

Families Press for Changes in Policy on Hostages – NYTimes.com

Are Democrats More Liberal Now? – NYTimes.com

A couple bookmarked to read.

I spent my usual blogging time wrestling with my tablet this morning. I accidentally set up a default with it that caused it to malfunction when I attempted to download another Vierne piece to analyze using Rollin Smith’s info about the organ roll recording Vierne made (if this is incomprehensible to you and you’re curious see yesterday’s blog).

First it was stuck on a default setting that automatically popped a music file into my ebook reader. Then when I managed to change that in the defaults it didn’t exactly go back to default and kept opening up the ebook reader even though I was “telling” it to do something different.

I finally had to uninstall the ebook reader (which I have been using to read Gilead by Marilyn Robinson) and finally downloaded the Vierne piece. At which time I was so exasperated that I decided to skip the Vierne reading/thinking this morning and do my blog.

I did not, however, skip my morning Greek, Merton and MacCulloch reading.

Merton’s three part essay on Boris Pasternak takes up the first 68 pages of his Disputed Questions.

This morning I learned that Pasternak knew Rilke the poet and Scriabin the composer as a child. He (Pasternak) even entertained the notion of becoming a composer and presumably studying with Scriabin.

This of course inspired me to pull out my Scriabin and play through several pieces.

My piano student, Rudy, loves Scriabin so I have collected some of his music and have studied it to help Rudy play it. Rudy spends the winters in Washington DC. I am hoping he will call me again this year for a summer of lessons. He is getting elderly (85?) as am I (63) but fut the whuck.

Switzerland: Scientists Find the Secret to the Holes in Swiss Cheese: Hay Dust – 

Goofy but kind of interesting.

Another Huge Statue in Russia? Not Rare, but Hugely Divisive – NYTimes.com

St. Vladimir and Vladimir Putin. A coincidence?

Selling Off Apache Holy Land – NYTimes.com

Bookmarked to read.

Regular readers of this blog may or may not remember that I am slogging my way through Hope College Library’s copy of Rollin Smith’s huge and expensive tome on Louis Vierne.

This morning I hit a very interesting and enlightening section. Vierne made some organ rolls of his playing before his death. (Organ rolls like piano rolls)

These reveal very clearly how he interpreted his own work. And boy did he interpret it! An organ roll like this is better than a typical piano roll because accents of course do not come from the weight of the hand as they do on the piano. That means an organ roll is pretty accurate picture of how the piece was played.

This morning I downloaded a copy of Legende by him to my tablet music reader and played through it. Then I read Rollin Smith’s very detailed description of Vierne’s performance on a weird Aeolian organ designed for the purpose of making rolls.

Vierne ignores most of his own manual recommendations. Presumably this might be because the  Aeolian was set up in a much more limited manner than most organs Vierne would play.

However, I found it very satisfying to see him adapting to a smaller, limited instrument and completely changing which keyboards played what.

Vierne startlingly does not lift his hands to make phrases, frequently tieing notes that are not written that way. He lengthens notes beyond their written value just before the ends of phrases.

I’m not exactly sure what implications this has for playing Vierne these days. If one were to render his Legende the way he did, one would surely flunk any AGO test as well offend most classical organ academics (I have actually done both of these things but not out of integrity particularly).

At the very least, the next time I perform some Vierne on my little organ at work I will have some idea about how to go about adapting it to a bad small instrument… mostly I’m thinking of registration not changing tempo.

Review: In ‘Disclaimer,’ by Renée Knight, Secrets Wind Up in Print – NYTimes.com

This review of a murder mystery inspired me to put it in my Amazon queue (not to purchase particularly but at least to remember).

Obamacare and ‘the State’ – NYTimes.com

This letter to the editor writer makes a very good point about the current case before the Supreme Court. The word, “state,” can mean government in general not just a state. I love it.

Sister Megan Rice, Freed From Prison, Looks Ahead to More Anti-Nuclear Activist

Inspiring old lady.

Armed With Google and YouTube, Analysts Gauge Russia’s Presence in Ukraine –

This is a good example of careful use of publicly available information. Turning data and noise into actual information and knowledge. Admirable.

Ten Rules of Writing ‹ Literary Hub

Excerpt from another possible book to read.

So last night was my first free Wednesday evening in quite a while. Eileen and I elected to go out to eat. We returned home and I was actually in bed a little after 7 PM the normal starting time of our weekly choir rehearsal during the season. That was nice and restful.

This morning I figured out I can simultaneously use my Kindle software/app on my laptop and my tablet. This is handy when consulting more than one volume of my Greek texts. I own the first edition of these texts in books but in the second edition I only own one of them in books and the other two are only available to me in purchased ebooks. The translation of the text is in a different book than the text itself so it helped me this morning to have the translation up on my laptop while I was reading the text on my tablet.

Spotify detects if you try to stream simultaneously between more than one platform and stops you. I guess that makes sense. But with Kindle you download the books to the platform and it only limits the number of platforms you can license but not their simultaneous use.

I find that the design of  ebooks seems to ignore many of my specific needs as a reader. But they do keep gradually improving them. The footnotes are better than the used to be.

But like sheet  music, it has never occurred to me to only use ebooks. I see both ebooks and emusic read from a tablet as an extension of my use of “real” books and sheet music. I find the convenience interesting and exciting, but I  would never abandon my real books and real sheet music.

I have been messing around (practicing) Ralph Vaughan Williams lovely Prelude and Fugue in C Minor for organ. In the music there is a notation that Vaughan Williams has arranged this piece for orchestra. Yesterday while treadmilling I played various recordings of the piece, both for orchestra and organ.

As I walked on the treadmill I followed the organ score. Interesting how much more nuance the orchestra wrung from Vaughan Williams composition. Without changing pitches very much, the composer managed to put parts of the composition in stark contrast by assigning different instruments and dynamics.

Ironically I didn’t like the organ version I listened to very  much. The pedal part was rendered in a tubby sound which I associate with a lot of English church music. The sound might work fine in a choral accompaniment. But it annoyed me when I was trying to listen to this composition.

It reminded me of something I read about Vierne the organ teacher.

“He [Vierne} wanted an impeccable body position, hands and feet, in order to obtain a clear and precise execution, and above everything,one that was intelligible.” Léonce de Saint-Martin quoted in Rollin Smith’s book, Louis Vierne: Organist of Notre Dame Cathedral , p. 468

The idea of “intelligibility”  also reminds me of Prokoviev’s predilection for a dry interpretation of his piano music. He apparently wanted it performed with little pedal and little changes in tempo.

There is definitely something that attracts me to clarity in musical performance.

Flannery O’Connor Stamp for Your Southern Gothic Missives

I usually picture O’Connor with her glasses on.

But you can see the startling nature of her personality in the painting and this pic without them.

The painting on the stamp has her looking directly at you. I think that’s part of its charm.

Corrupting the Chinese Language – NYTimes.com

Bookmarked to read.

On Same-Sex Marriage, Catholics Are Leading the Way – NYTimes.com

Two things about this article. First, my experience of people who are Roman Catholic was much different (better) than the public face of that denomination in its leaders. Secondly, historically the Roman Catholic church has been very slow to make changes.

McNeil Robinson II, 72, Organist and Composer, Is Dead – NYTimes.com

I’m not sure what I think when I read about fine musicians running from changes in the church. In many ways, I have embraced the changes I have lived through in the church. I know that I learned a bit about the theology of the changes and that helps me. But even more I know that eclecticism in music is very important to me and using a variety of styles seems to work in the liturgy.

I do wonder about colleagues who abhor all but the most “pure” music in liturgy. God bless them, I guess.

Sephardic Jews Feel Bigotry’s Sting in Turkey and a Pull Back to Spain – NYTime

1492 was not a good year to be Jewish and in Spain. Now 2015 is a bad one to be Jewish and in Turkey.

I have been having some success using my tablet as a music reader. It’s admittedly not too large a page but is clear and easy to read.

Any blurriness above is from my phone cam and is not in the original. Rhonda, if you read this, notice this is the piece you mentioned in yesterday’s comment. Woo hoo!

I found the app via my tablet. It was a free app. I see that one can also purchase it. I will probably do so after I get it working the way I want to.

i think it’s kind of a gas to use this application of tech, since so many musicians do not read music these days. Ironic, n’est pas?

I know it’s set up so that one can turn pages using a blue tooth pedal or other device. I’ll be looking into that. This is something I’ve always wanted to explore. Very cool.

Public Library Portraits of California’s Homeless | PROOF

I love these pictures.

“Libraries are the last bastion of democracy.”

Birds identify good nuts by listening to them | @GrrlScientist | Science | The Guardian

Amazing stuff.

Long Odds in the Game of Life – NYTimes.com

Interesting discussion of college and what good is it by a part time prof and waitress.

More Than 70 Wounded in Bombing of Afghan Government Compound – NYT

Short piece. I link it because I read about incidents like this all over the world that are constantly happening. This stuff happens to real people. We now are so connected that we know about these incidents. It tears me up every time. Also i feel guilt at my own relief that I don’t have to face this kind of stuff in my own daily life. Typical liberal I guess.

The groom for the June 20th wedding emailed me this video yesterday.

He was wondering if I would be able to play it for their recessional presumably instead of the Widor Toccata they had talked about on Saturday.

I couldn’t get my IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) pdf link for this piece to load on my computer so I emailed him back that I didn’t  know this one but would get the music and decide if I had time to learn it. (Weirdly just now it loaded fine on this computer. Who knows why.)

Yesterday afternoon I rifled through my Mozart scores and was unsurprised to find that I didn’t own it. Fortunately, IMSLP liked the church computer and better and I did manage to download a copy of the piece and read through it.

I think it’s a bit weird that the guy in the video omitted the beginning and ending of this piece and just played the fun part. The reason I think it’s weird is that this is a recording of a concert commemorating Mozart’s death. But after listening to it just now it sounds like the recordist decided to only put the middle part in the video.

I told the groom the piece sounded like a handful and indeed it will require some intense prep. On the other hand, I don’t feel pressure to learn it. I could easily say it would take more the time I have. Except, I love the piece and want to learn it. What could be better? I’ll be getting paid to learn some music I like.

Rhonda loaned me some music sent to her from Germany.

I took it along to church and read through it yesterday. I admit that I didn’t notice there were two composers represented, father and son.

I was a bit confused by the dates on the music but was so busy liking it that I didn’t think too much about that.

So as you can see from their web site, Zsolt is the son and Zoltan is the deceased dad. Most of the music in the packet was by the son and I liked it quite a bit.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a German church composer setting a good old Murican hymn tune.

And then there was this.

Hommage to some great American Jazz composers/pianists. Cool.

So many thanks to Rhonda for turning me on to this stuff.

Speaking of Rhonda I stumbled across this video of her playing Barry Jordan’s “Whistling Thirds.”

Rhonda introduced me to Barry when he was visiting her. I stupidly didn’t talk shop with him and now wish I had. Instead he has become a faithful online Scrabble opponent usually playing from Germany or South Africa.

I do dig playing global games of Scrabble. I also have games going with my quasi-son-in-law Matthew who lives in England.

Music went well on Pentecost. Dawn Van Ark and I performed the first two movements of Bach’s Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G major. This is wonderful music. It seemed to be mostly lost on the chattering people around us, but at least one or two choir members were appreciative.

I had six singers on the choir’s last Sunday. I make it my business to keep the morale up of the singers who are present. But it was a bit discouraging to see nine of our fifteen singers absent. I hope this didn’t show.

I was grateful that I had chosen an anthem that worked with such a small group. In fact, “Rejoice in the Lord!” by Augostino Steffani is a little gem of a piece. The arrangement was for SAB. I had two sopranos, one alto and two basses. Dawn played cello on it. I thought it was spectacular.

My boss neglected to acknowledge the choir on its last Sunday. I can hardly blame her since we have been dwindling in numbers.

After church I sought out as many of the singers as possible and thanked them for their work this year. I don’t think they missed being acknowledged but it’s good volunteer work to make sure volunteers feel appreciated. I later put a thank you up on Facebooger tagging as many singers as Facebooger allowed me to.

I had another discouraging moment at communion. I received communion and ran to the choir room to get a second copy of the hymnal I needed for the last hymn. On the way I noticed a family of parishioners lolling in the commons area during the service. The mom and dad are both highly trained musicians and choral conductors. They rarely speak to me.  I offended the mom once by saying  “fuck” in her presence. Our relationship never seemed to recover from that despite my apologies.

Anyway, we said hi back and forth, but I found it discouraging that they seemed to be indifferent to what was happening in the other room. Probably just me being thin skinned on the last choir Sunday.

Our closing hymn on Pentecost is usually “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit” by Doris Akers. I play a gospel piano accompaniment. I was musing that despite my background in a fundamentalist gospel church I actually learned a great deal about the style from musicians of a Chicago parish which visited the local Catholic church here in Holland where I worked for a while.

The sound was in my ears before that off course and I would emulate it. But hearing the singers and musicians from St. Benedict’s Chicago really turned me on to the style.

Despite all the negative energy I woke this morning feeling typically lucky in life. I am married to a wonderful woman. I get to do music. I have books and multiple electronic devices that allow me a breath taking access to information. I have good food to eat and a comfortable bed.

I think I am lucky.

Pope’s Focus on Poor Revives Scorned Theology – NYTimes.com

I spent years serving the Roman Catholics as a musician. I don’t follow their trials and tribulations since quitting this work, but it was startling to read that Gustavo Guitierrez, author of so many books defending the poor had met with the pope recently. I liked this quote in this article:

“It is not liberation theology that is being rehabilitated,” said Michael E. Lee, an associate professor of theology at Fordham University who has written extensively about liberation theology. “It is the church that is being rehabilitated.”

‘Robert Johnson’ photo does not show the blues legend, music experts say 

This quote from the Guardian article linked says it all:

“It’s not about history and it’s not about music,” Wald said. “It’s about money.

I notice that my blog is getting more hits than it used to. Also that a good number of these are from the Holland area. That’s cool. I hope it means I’m getting a few more local readers. As Eileen pointed out, my web site address is on the back of my car, so who knows? Whoever you are, Welcome!

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Doctor Zhivago. It was a very popular movie in the 60s based on a novel by the Russian writer, Boris Pasternak.

I was reading in Thomas Merton’s essay, “The Pasternak Affair,” written probably before the movie came out. He points out that Zhivago is Russian for “life.” So that the main character of the novel (and the movie) is “Doctor Life” in Russian.

Merton inspired me to return to Pasternak’s poetry. The website Poemhunter has over a hundred of them sitting online here. I love the interwebs.

My daughter Sarah has decided that our extended family should monitor their use of screens. She recommended that we all sign up for New Tech City’s monitoring program called Bored and Brilliant.

Many of us in the fam did so. I’m not sure we are a group that needs to work on spacing out, but there you have it. I have the software on my phone and tablet. But of course there isn’t one for Windows so my third screen is unmonitored.

This morning I realized that I was turning to my tablet to access information online because it boots up quicker. Hmmm. I have the Oxford English Dictionary on my home screen there. It’s just easier to get to that way. I wonder what this portends for my future use of my laptop.

I also have been using the Google Talk function on my tablet and phone which transcribes (albeit not always accurately) speech. Easier than typing on a screen for me.

Yesterday went well. I did manage to get over to Hope church an hour before my scheduled time to meet with a bride and her fam. This gave me some time on the Reuter organ there. Although it’s not a great organ, it’s a zillion times better than the one we have at Grace church right now. I found it satisfying how quickly manipulating a bit larger instrument came back to me. It was fun to have more stops and three manuals for an hour or so.

Unfortunately, I screwed up the returning of the church key to Rhonda Edgington, the organist there and my sole local organ colleague (Hi Rhonda!). I was to leave the key on my porch so that Rhonda could stop by any time last night and grab it. Unfortunately, due to the lovely weather we had all the windows open which meant we also had the back screen door latched so the air could come through the house. When we went to bed, I simply locked the back door as usual.

Eileen woke me up later around 8 PM and said Rhonda was calling her phone. She handed her phone to me and I could NOT get the fucking thing to answer the call. I’m still pretty incompetent about phones and  tablets.

I threw on a robe and ran downstairs. Rhonda was waiting patiently outside my locked screen door looking at the envelope in which I had left her key as per instructions. Sheesh.

I don’t think we are going out of town today. Eileen was still pretty ill yesterday. It seems foolish to me to try to vacation at all when she is just recovering from illness. She did sit up and have pizza with me last night, so she is feeling better. I’m not expecting her to go to church this morning, however. She insisted last night that we should pick up the vacation this week as soon as she feels better. I would rather wait and get a few more days away in, but of course will do what my better half wants.

I am feeling less burned out as the spring goes on. Today is the last choir Sunday. The weather is beautiful here in Western Michigan this morning. Life is good.

I have been very busy the last few days. Eileen has been bedridden and I have had a lot to do. We are planning to get out of town tomorrow evening, but this may not happen if Eileen is not entirely well.

This fund drive is still ongoing. However, it appears now that Steph Ray is not going to need a liver transplant for certain. But, of course, $5,000 (the goal of the fund drive) would be very handy when suffering from a life threatening disease.

As of this morning at 9:10 Am local time, the fund is up to $1,350.  Click here to help

I have a busy afternoon planned. I’m meeting with a bride and her entourage around 1 PM. Then playing a garden wedding with a string quartet at 4 PM.

Yesterday, I prepped for tomorrow morning at church. I usually post hymns, put out stuff for the choir, write information for the day on the wipe board …. stuff like that. Also rehearse my own stuff like organ music.

I have my organ shoes and music at home and am planning to sneak in a bit of rehearsal at Hope Church before the bride shows.

Ind.ie — The Camera Panopticon

My friend, Mark Edgington, emailed me this link. It’s a bit of a rant about privacy from the perspective of the business/enconomic point of view with a slight nod toward saving the world.

I always find it annoying when a site uses a video interface that doesn’t tell you how long the video is up front and doesn’t allow embedding or sharing. But that’s not important.

I posted it on Facebooger. It doesn’t look like anyone reacted to it there. It’s quite hard on Facebook so I imagine it’s not high in people’s feeds there. Heh.

I don’t really trust the presenter more than the people he is criticizing. I like his solutions (HOPE = Hierarchy of Product Ethics= the three Rs of design: human Rights, Respect human effort and respect the human experience) but think they will gain no more traction than other good ideas at a time of corporate domination of life everywhere.

Secrets, the C.I.A. and The New York Times – NYTimes.com

This is the public editor’s column for tomorrow, I think. Insights into how decisions, good and bad, were and are being made. I have never forgiven pundits like Thomas Friedman for cheering on the Iraq war. I still have to hold my nose to read them.

What To Read If You Loved AMERICANAH

Interesting list I picked up somewhere. I recognize one of them but for the most part will put them on my list to check out.

12:50 PM update

A woman in my church is having some real health problems. Her liver failed this week. A friend of hers is trying to raise $5K to help with her liver transplant.

 Click here to help

I have been watching a documentary the last two evenings. Eileen is ill so I’m watching by myself.

The movie, “Monk with a Camera,” kept reminding me of a 21st century Thomas Merton.  Nicholas Vreeland the subject of this story is a complex man. Like Merton he tried to give up his art for religion. Like Merton, he ends up helplessly continuing to be an artist as he embraces the discipline of spiritual life.

I find him convincing  in this film not the least because his pictures attract me.

The movie is on Netflix. Several uploads of it on YouTube have been “terminated.”

I love the Dalai Lama in this movie.

I couldn’t find any pics of it online, but he spends most of the time on camera laughing. He seems genuine amused and happy while others are immersed in the seriousness of the moment. That was worth the price of admission. And then there’s Richard Gere.

He’s in it, too.

Finished Raids on the Unspeakable by Thomas Merton this morning.

I was thinking of reading his Disputed Questions next. I rummaged around and found my copy. It has an essay in it that was very important to me for many years: “Absurdity in Sacred Decoration.”

“In an age of concentration camps and atomic bombs, religious and artistic sincerity will certainly exclude  all “prettiness” or shallow sentimentality.” Thomas Merton, Disputed Questions p. 164

Just yesterday I was talking to my violinist friend about my own conviction that church music should include the best music.

She was saying that the Mozart violin sonata we rehearsing and thinking about learning for a prelude soon was too “party” in its atmosphere.

I told her it was “joy de vivre” and that Christians needed to party.

She could think of it as a Jesus party if she wanted.

I pointed out to her how annoying it was to me when artists change gears when they come inside a church and capitulate entirely to the mediocre.

I heard John Boody say that “prayer deserves quiet” referring to the sound of our air conditioner at church which intermittently wheezes loudly day or night when it’s warm outside..

Prayer also deserves some Mozart.

Or said another way:

“Bach sits at the left hand of God. Beethoven sits at the right hand of God. Mozart sits in God’s lap!” Unknown

I appreciate the comments from Rhonda and Sarah yesterday.  The occasional comment helps me remember that someone is actually reading this from time to time.

I think of this as public writing, but like busking mostly ignored.

Yesterday I was a bit startled when the young curate, Christian, accosted me in the copy room at church. He wanted to know how I would react to the comments of his Calvinist friend about the word, “wicked(ness)” and the phrase, “enemy of God.”

His friend perplexed him.

Although living a life of gentleness and kindness, like many Calvinists (and others), Christian’s friend saw himself as basically wicked and unworthy.

This is so sad and fucked up. Christian said that he tries to imagine how I would react to that sort of thing. I said probably just like you.  Christian and I share a fundamentalist upbringing which resurfaces in our work, he as a priest, me as a church musician.

When I look at the people I grew up with as a child in East Tennessee I see much of their Christianity is also sad and fucked up (not to mention the face that they were white racists). But I try to find a way to realize that despite this, they were good people.

Or as good as people get.

All people seem to have some area where they are off balance and wrong, myself included of course.

The trick is to love the “sinner” and not the “sin,” as the Christians say.

Or maybe to keep one’s wits about oneself and keep imagining what its like to be someone else. Or at least attempting to do so.

When I am trying to figure someone out I always insist to myself that they make sense to themselves.

As I do to myself.

Jes sayin

So I’m learning to use my tablet. There are, of course, ways to access news stories with it. As a result I have a couple of NPR links which is unusual for me. But here they are.

‘My Fair Lady’ Couldn’t Actually Dance All Night, So These Songs Had To Go : NPR

Someone at the choir party last night mentioned they had heard this report and that it talked about several songs omitted from the original “My Fair Lady.” I clicked on the above report on my tablet to learn more. Unfortunately, it’s not that informative about the songs. i was hoping to listen to them all in their entirety. Silly fucking me.

Why A Chinese Government Think Tank Attacked American Scholars : NPR

History. This article quotes Orwell: “Those who control the past, control the present.” Ain’t it the truf.

Yesterday I was in a rather long meeting. It was about the organ installation at our church. Rev Jen gathered the architect, the sound system people, the acoustic consultant and some parishioners who have been involved this project. It was interesting to be present. The most striking thing was the difference between the vision of the sound system people (who are quite good) and the acoustic consultant.

When I first met the sound system guy he said that organists give him trouble. In essence he sees reverberation as an enemy to intelligibility and sound reproduction.

You can’t blame him. I envision that the ideal in the minds of many in his line of work is the sound studio, where vibrations are the enemy and are ideally sucked up by absorbent surfaces so that the sound can be completely controlled.

Thank goodness for our acoustic consultant, Dawn Schuette.

As Jen later pointed out, she was the only person in the room who was truly cross disciplined and spoke the language of all present.

She gently led the sound people into what we need from them (I think).

The next step will be very interesting. All three people will be conferring and creating computer models of our building. This is necessary for their work. I’m hoping that this will also enable us to create materials to help the community understand the inevitable changes to the worship area.

We have about two years to do this, since the organ arrives in late 2016.

Here’s an older article about Hope’s upcoming installation:

There was an article in the Holland Sentinel yesterday in which David Roossien and Huw Lewis were quoted extensively about the impending installation of an organ in a new building at Hope.

I can’t get the article to load this morning. The Sentinel has decided I have reached my limit of articles I can read online. Weird.

Apparently there  have been some problems in arriving at the decision on which instrument to install in the new Hope building.

The instrument will be weirdly entirely enclosed. In the Sentinel article Lewis talks about an organ that is primarily designed to accompany orchestra and presumably chorus. I have never heard of this sort of thing before this discussion and suspect it is language to deal with an unfortunate compromise.

It’s probably a bit of a mistake. But Lewis (as mentioned in the article) recently traveled to the organ workshop and played the new instrument. He told his students  who told me (he doesn’t really talk to me) that he was happy with the quality of the sounds.

This is good news.

I wonder though how Hope will continue to attract organ faculty of the quality of Lewis and his predecessor, Roger Davis, with this installation.

Hey what do I know? I’m just an old rock and roller.

Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers – NYTimes.com

Disturbing statistics about the suicide of children.

Episcopal Church Fonts – Progressive Solemnity

Geeky blog post about fonts. My boss passed this one along on Facebooger.

My tablet arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon. Eileen left for Muskegon to visit her sister Nancy and her Mom. She was too ill to attend the annual Hatch Mother’s day meal so she wanted to make up for this absence and also wanted to help Nancy mess with the loom she loaned her.

I marked time anticipating the Fed Ex guy delivering my tablet. I threw open the sheer curtains on the porch and in the living room so I wouldn’t miss him while I treadmilled. He arrived after lunch.

I immediately opened it up and obediently plugged it in to finish charging it as per the enclosed instructions (Do not use until fully charged).

In the meantime, I got online and purchased another silly book for my Mom using her credit card. Then I went to the library and turned in her old books and found a few new ones. I supplemented these with a couple of books I ordered for her online and dropped them all off.

I also picked up a hard copy of Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré. I ripped the audio book from the library copy and have been listening to it at night. Unfortunately since I fall asleep I have been getting the plot a bit confused.

It’s pretty interesting so I began outlining the hard copy of the book this morning to help me keep things straight. I think the audio book might be edited down a bit since I have run across passages I don’t remember. Or maybe I just slept through them.

Some weird serendipity this morning between my Greek and Thomas Merton.

I managed to use my tablet to work on my Greek this morning. My Kindle versions of the second edition look quite good on the tablet App.

This morning I was quite excited because I managed to push my translation for the day up to a quote from Homer: “All strangers are under the protection of Zeus.”

Then this morning, in Merton’s essay “The Early Legend: notes for a cosmic meditation,” I came across this: “the stranger is holy.”

This essay reminded me of Herman Hesse, especially The Glass Bead Game.

It’s kind of a poem narrative about a ritual. The voice of the essay begins with the voice of a holy man.

You get the idea. At the back of Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game, he includes what he calls “lives.” These are supposedly the creation of the main character, Joseph Knecht. They are exercises in meditation and may describe previous lives of Knecht.

Parts of this Merton essay are like this.

Then I ran across this.

“Take time to compose yourself.” On Tuesdays on my Google Calendar I have kept the reminder: “Steve composes himself.” This is to help me to remember to thing about composing each week. Today this probably won’t work since I have a 10 AM meeting at church. But still it’s kind of cool to run across this in Merton.

I am enjoying this collection of essays immensely. They surprise me with the way I can relate to them so intimately. It has to be a combination of being influenced by Merton (and frankly the radical Christ of the New Testament) and coincidence.

My last example of this in this essay is two mantras Merton develops. First:

“I made myself a black man so as not to be one of them.” Merton, The Early Legend

I was shocked when I read this line. I think of myself as an “outsider” who identifies strongly with the weak. Merton repeats this notion several times in the essay.

The second mantra-like notion is found on this page.

“Neither sacred nor secular.” “The Lord of Songs,” “The live maize,” and on the previous page, “the live quail.”

Another little intimate resonance for me since I have difficulty with the distinction of sacred and secular.

It’s a beautiful day in Holland Michigan. As I took the garbage to the curb this morning a gentle breeze was blowing. Birds singing. Life is good.

I played my first Gwyneth Walker organ piece at church yesterday. I have mixed feelings about this composer. I find myself only attracted to her instrumental music not her choral work. Also many of her instrumental pieces seem a bit glib in their use of sentimentality. It feels like she is working on being accessible.

I couldn’t find my score to the piano trio I purchased by her. But yesterday after church rummaging around for the umpteenth time I FOUND it in a folder I had marked “PIano trio.”

I came home and started practicing it. On the inside cover was a pretty unfriendly notice.

Something like “Purchasing this music does not give you permission to perform it in public. To do so one must contact ASCAP.”

I went on ASCAP’s web site but there was nothing obvious about getting permission to perform music only solicitations to join the dang thing (ASCAP = American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers).

So I went on Gwyneth Walker’s web site and found an email from the subsidiary publisher who publishes this piece and emailed them.

I just checked my email and there was no reply yet. This makes sense since I emailed them on Sunday and it’s early Monday morning.

If there is a charge to perform this fucking piece of music, I am seriously considering NOT doing so and emailing the publisher’s rep and Gwyneth Walker herself complaining.

On the other hand, I might just give up and pay the stupid fee.

I received one comment yesterday about her organ piece. Mostly I noticed while I was playing my heart out on it (I quite like it) that people were in conversation both to  my left in the choir and to my right on the floor in front of the organ. Sigh.

Only one more Sunday of choir. Thank God. I am two clicks past burn out. Poor me.

And it’s a beautiful day.

Episcopal Church Fonts – Progressive Solemnity

Geeky article on fonts.

Migrants in Rome Try to Recover After Ponte Mammolo Camp Is Destroyed – NY

I’m probably just naive but this sort of thing always depresses me.

A Conversation with Victoria Polevá — Music & Literature

Ran across this composer yesterday. Found a pretty cool piece by her on YouTube.

Sent her a “friend” request on Facebooger. She had responded by this morning. I love the interwebs.

With This Many Buskers in Asheville, a Discordant Note Was Inevitable – NYT

I found some of the attitudes in this article off putting. The bit about “less talented buskers” being “little more than panhandlers with musical props” and the one shop owner commenting on whether the smell of performers shouldn’t go further than the sound of the music. She hastily added  she wasn’t speaking of the more professional performers.

that bugs me

I spent all my energy yesterday morning going to the Farmers Market with Eileen, then searching for a book case for my Mom’s room at the nursing home.

Mom has been devouring Christian Amish novels from the library. I keep a list and deliver books to her. Not just the Amish books but also other books that I think she might enjoy reading. Usually they are CHRISTIAN fiction. Which is ironic since I find the entire concept pretty distasteful. But my Mom likes them at this time of life.

Anyway, she’s pretty much read all the ones at the library at least twice. So I have been looking for other books. I have searched the interlibrary loan system and found a few. But Amazon has been the best resource for this small niche genre of Christian Amish novels that my Mom hasn’t read yet.

I have been using her credit card to buy her used copies of these novels. Recently I noticed that they were piling up around in her room. She and I discussed getting her a book case and replacing her TV table with it, which was the goal yesterday.

By the time we had scoured three or four stores and found one, I was exhausted. I had dressed too warmly for the day and Mom’s room was stuffy and warm. Eileen and I went through bags and stacks of stuff to clear away and organize Mom’s room a bit. Only a bit, you understand, since it would be another major project for Jupe to do more.

By the time I arrived at the organ bench in the afternoon for my daily practice I was stiff and exhausted. Later Eileen asked me how my practicing went. Not good, I responded. I discovered that I was taking today’s prelude by Gwyneth Walker a few clicks too slow on the metronome. This was the result of confusion not adaptation (as I sometimes do with music for accuracy’s sake). So that was good. But mostly it was one of those times when I had trouble concentrating and doing well.

I read this article later in the day:

The insults of age: A one-woman assault on condscension by Helen Garner

I am feeling my age. I noticed in pictures of the AGO potluck how older and different I look from the rest of the group. See for yourself.

Then while attending an opening of an presentation of a project called The Human Canvas yesterday, I noticed how invisible I was suddenly when I was unable to get the eye of the presenter. She simply didn’t see me.

Anyway, the article by Helen Garner is probably a guilty pleasure read for an old fart like me. I read parts to Eileen last night.

Toward the end of the article Garner quotes from Marilyn Robinson’s novel Gilead.

I have thought about reading this book. It was recommended by my friend Rhonda. I had unfortunately temporarily filed it under the “too-fucking-Christian-religious” part of my brain.

“On the tram home I thought of the young waiter with a chastened respect. It came to me that to turn the other cheek, as he had done, was not simply to apply an ancient Christian precept but also to engage in a highly sophisticated psychological manoeuvre. When I got home, I picked up Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead where I’d left off and came upon a remark made by Reverend Ames, the stoical Midwestern Calvinist preacher whose character sweetens and strengthens as he approaches death: “It is worth living long enough,” he writes, in a letter to the son born to him in his old age, “to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.” from Helen Garner’s article linked above

I found the novel in my Calibre library in the section of  books my brother has shared with me. Started it. Reading it reminds me very much of my father, brother and grand father all of whom are ministers I love.

The fact that Rev Ames is writing the book as a letter to the his adult son for him to read long after he is dead has some resonance for me since I don’t think I every really knew my own father the minister.

It’s probably a good read for now.

Last night was the AGO potluck which the chapter has every year at the end of the season. I had just about talked myself out of going, when I had a change of heart. I feared that the attendance would be low and my absence would be rude. This turned out to be completely wrong. A good number of members and significant others showed.

I took the opportunity to make a pan of marinara sauce and some fresh hummus to go along with some locally made fresh bread. I do enjoying cooking.

I chatted with some of the younger people (a college junior and recent grad). I was surprised when one of them told me he gets his news primarily from the New York Times online via a discounted student subscription.

I hope I wasn’t too much of an old ghoul but I asked these young people several questions about tech that I wonder about. No, they had never heard of the news source, Vice News. No, they didn’t know much about using Ipads or other tablets to read  music on and facilitate page turns.

They seem impressed with my new Android phone and the fact that I could add a tablet to my subscription for only 10 bucks a month.

Pretty soon I wandered off worrying slightly that I had made them a bit crazy with my intensity. But that’s my life.

I continue to cross compare the two versions of Freidman’s last book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix.

It’s interesting to note when the editorial changes in the later edition changes meaning and when it clarifies convoluted syntax.

This morning I was mulling over Friedman’s notion that differentiation is a life long process. In order to make it work, one has to be dedicated to “continually transforming” one’s self.

It’s a “life long commitment,” Friedman writes.

I especially liked this section (which the ruthless editor of the later edition seems to have cut).

“The effort to ‘differentiate oneself in one’s family of origin’ should not be confused with therapy. This is not about pat concepts such as whether someone had an authoritarian father and therefore has problems with authority figures nor whether unresolved issues with one’s mother have resulted in problems relating to women. The problem with parents is that they had parents. 

Differentiation has more to do with the self-regulation that emerges when individuals can gain more autonomy over their reactive mechanisms as a result of moving toward their families in new (often playful) ways rather than distancing from them.”

Ed Friedman (emphasis added  in the first instance)

It’s helpful to me to have heard Friedman’s voice and seen him speak in person. I hear the book (especially the first version which retains more of his phrases) in his twangy ironic Mr. Natural voice. It helps.

New laws to target radicalisation – BBC News

David Cameron to unveil new limits on extremists’ activities in Queen’s speech | U

It looks like Great Britain may be moving toward some more weird repression. I couldn’t find this story in the US press online yesterday. In fact, I had difficulty running it down after I read it on my phone via the UK paper, The Guardian’s app.

When I went on to the Guardian’s web site I couldn’t access anything but a US version of it. It was only by searching this morning that I found the original article I had read in it.

In the Guardian report, Cameron’s government and the new Conservative manifesto uses language about closing Mosques and “cracking down” on people. Hmmm. I would love to hear Alan Moore’s take on this.