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Hot diggety damn! My Thursday ballet class just canceled. This means my last college day will be today with two classes this afternoon. Rocknroll! I like this work but I am ready for a mental and physical break.

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I have been practicing William Bolcom’s setting of “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

It’s starting to come together a little bit. He writes lush difficult jazz chords for the organ in it.

As well moving from very very soft to full out fortissimo. The only way to accomplish this is to constantly be changing the stops. And of course there is lots of double pedal parts (one note in each foot). He uses the pedal sort of like a rhythm section: Bass, piano and drums. I like it. But it takes some rehearsal.

I also have been practicing some Gigout. Gigout was a Frenchman man who lived from 1844 – 1925 and wrote in the French romantic organ style.  I learned his Toccata while studying with Ray Ferguson. Later I picked up a volume of his works. This week I have gone through the Toccata again and also read through several of his other pieces.

I’m not a fan of this style. But it is an important organ school of composition and thought. Once in a while I return to it.

While playing through Gigout, I had a thought that often occurs to me. Namely, what a miracle transmission of musical ideas on paper is. Here I am sitting in a little town in 21st century America, pulling musical ideas off a piece of paper and making them into sounds. It’s truly a message in a bottle from the past. Never ceases to amaze me. And it never ceases to make me feel in a small but real sense like I am with the people who made up the music. One is not alone when one is playing someone else’s music.

Finished Dialogues with the Archipelago by Suzanne Gardinier this morning.

I think she is an excellent poet. Rooted in clarity and revolutionary politics as well as classical Western mythology and concepts, she dashes off lovely pieces in this work. She surprises me with her words. Draws me in. Who could ask for more from a poet?

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Infographic: Get More Out Of Google | HackCollege

About Google Scholar

Common Knowledge: Beware of the “You Loop”

fifty seven signals Google uses when you search

Poking around this morning, I found several very interesting and informative articles about using the Internet for research and understanding. I admit I had never heard of Hack College. The first link has some very clear instructions on how to use Google well.  I also haven’t used Google Scholar. I have a feeling it’s probably not too helpful with out some sort of college access. When I played with it this morning I found myself logging on as Hope Staff in order to read the stuff it found (I searched for Suzanne Gardinier for kicks and found an scholarly article by her.)

The third link above is from the Hope College library blog. It draws on the work of Eli Pariser (the fourth link is to a specific paragraph in his book: The Filter Bubble: what the Internet is hiding from you on Google Books). I am aware of his books and ideas, but I find it particularly gratifying that a college library is trying to raise awareness of the pitfalls of using Google.

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Bo Xilai’s Relatives’ Wealth Is Under Scrutiny – NYTimes.com

China Revs Up Propaganda Machine to Disgrace Bo Xilai – NYTimes.comFlash Fiction – Woody Harrington Design

This story just keeps on coming.

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Gorbachev and Other Nobel Laureates Visit Chicago Schools – NYTimes.com

Looking up in a Chicago classroom to see Gorbachev answering questions through an interpreter. Cool beans.

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In Hungary, the Usual Scapegoats – NYTimes.com

Frank Bruni continues to expand my knowledge of the world and what’s happening.

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How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain – NYTimes.com

I totally hope this is true. It’s one of the main reasons I began treadmilling.

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Flash Fiction – Woody Harrington Design

Lou Beach, author of 420 Characters, “shared” this link on Facebook. It’s an art piece that uses his short writings. The artist, Woody Harrington, made little flip match books with Beach’s word pieces in them. They are cool and it is very cool that Beach promoted them instead of suing the artist for copyright violation. Beach is himself a visual artist as well as writer.

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So today I have no specific church or college duties. I usually finalize some Sunday morning music on Tuesday. I will probably do that this morning. I’m still strongly considering playing “Danse” by Debussy as a piano prelude. It’s a great piece and a good one for the Easter season, I think.

I’m down to three more ballet classes this term. One of them (Ballet III) will consist of each of fifteen or so dancers leading the rest of the class through combinations. This will be fun and interesting for me.

Yesterday one of the dancers approached me and asked if I could play Chopin’s Waltz in C# minor or a Chopin nocturne for her combination. I told her I would bring the music. I think it’s nice that a college age dancer would request such music. She told me she had heard me play the nocturne.

Yesterday I was practicing Debussy and William Bolcom between classes. I see it as an added benefit to be able to grab a little practice while I’m waiting for class to start. The classes often start late. I’m usually there early. This sometimes translates into 15 minutes of rehearsal time. It must have been in one of those times the dancer heard me playing Chopin.

Earlier in the day, yesterday, I stopped by to say hi to my Mom at her nursing home.  She got out of bed and chatted with me. I made her bed and straightened up a bit. I mentioned that I wanted to get back home and treadmill before going to work. I encouraged her to exercise and that it benefits both physical and mental health.  As I was leaving, she jumped up and said she would walk with me a bit. We ended up walking all over her floor.  I wondered if she was thinking of my comment. Heh.

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I added two new pieces to my free mostly original sheet music page today:

Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV 695 by J.S. Bach pdf
converted to three stave version with the C. F. alto in pedal

Puer nobis nascitur by J. P. Sweelinck pdf
In my Dover edition, the half notes in most of this piece
are written as black note heads with no stems. I made a version I find easier to read and also created an alternate three stave version of the last movement, putting the tenor C.F. voice in the pedal.

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Advice on moving to Los Angeles | Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers is the man who created and then sold CDBaby. He blogs occasionally. This is a cute one.

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Let the Arizona Law Stand, Then Wither – NYTimes.com

Interesting reason to let this law stand.

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In France, Hollande Camp Tries U.S.-Style Canvassing – NYTimes.com

Analysis: Sarkozy’s odds improve but remain against him | Reuters

Looks like France could move left. Hey. It could happen.

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Charles W. Colson, Watergate Felon Who Became Evangelical Leader, Dies at 80 – NYTimes.com

I don’t mind in fact I approve of the fact that then Florida Governor Jeb Bush restored Colson’s rights to vote and practice law. I do however mind that President GW Bush gave him the frigging Presidential Citizens Medal. Good grief.

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SMART Muni App for San Francisco Transit Goes Unused – NYTimes.com

Not surprising that they can’t afford to add simple easy tech.

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Amazon’s E-Book Pricing a Constant Thorn for Publishers – NYTimes.com

Amazon Pulls Thousands of E-Books in Dispute – NYTimes.com

Sunday Dialogue – Books in a Digital Age – NYTimes.com

I’m not sure what I think about this controversy. I hate to see Amazon bullying publishers and bookstores. On the other hand, the publishers seem to be screaming and kicking their way into an obstinate oblivion.

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I have begun the past two days reading in Suzanne Gardiner’s Dialogue with the Archepelago. I’m about half way through it.

The poems are laid out (as above) with two or more phrases per line separated by a slash. Sometimes they are actually dialogues. The voice of the poem is often the voice of people speaking.

I quite like this one:

Descriptions of some statues/1

On the marble balcony the children study him/This naked white man made of stone
Shod Helmeted Stone cheekpieces/Stone sandals Stone thumbed sword
His face small and calm Gazing at a woman/whose head hangs from his outstretched hand
Her face twice the size of his Distressed/He can’t stop looking at her

The wings on his helmet lean in her direction/He’s young Knotted sandals Knotted drape
Blank innocent knees The museum orchestra/opposite his prominent place
The gray evening pressing at the entrances/The clank of cutlery The children led to look
A little crowd of them with sketch pads/Is she his mother someone says

from Suzanne Gardiner’s Dialogue with the Archepelago

My boss was out of town yesterday. Her new assistant (and a former boss of mine) presided and preached. I did  my work with a combination of pleasure and fatigue.  As I mentioned yesterday, I had some ideas about using handbells if the children’s choir director delivered them in time. She came in about ten minutes before the pregame rehearsal with some of the handbells. I was at the organ doing some last minute prep of my prelude and postlude. I had enough time to pick out some handbells.

We used them on a couple of hymns. I think they add a feeling of depth and acoustic in a pretty dry environment. Eileen actually played along with a couple other members of the choir.

The congregation sang well. I played well. I thought that Sweelinck’s interpretation of the melody of our first hymn was a pretty classy prelude. Not sure if anyone was paying that much attention.  No matter. I do it to do it.

My postlude was kind of a novelty piece. The composer, Johannes Matthias Michel, used the hemiolic rhythms of Bernstein’s “Everything’s fine in America.”

It’s kind of fun to play and not that easy particularly.

There was  a pedal run toward the end that I have been sweating over all week. I managed to execute it accurately and musically in performance.

Several parishioners applauded afterwards.

One choir member remarked that first I did the Widor Toccata and now this piece. I guess they are both kind of novelty pieces.

After church, Eileen and I walked home, had some lunch and then went over to visit Mom. I took her three little books of photographs and a couple of clothes catalogs. I was hoping to gently pull her out of dwelling on her self and her health.

I was startled when she readily identified the people in this photograph as herself, her mom and her sister.

I came home and put several pics on Facebook for the fam.

She also quickly identified this picture of her father:

Eileen says I am now past my ability to function well due to fatigue and burnout.

We both agree that looking forward to some time off is helping a bit. Today is my last four and half hour day of accompanying Ballet classes.  The term ends for me on Thursday, since my Friday class has been canceled (I think).

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A Fair Shot at a Job – NYTimes.com

Did you know it was illegal to exclude people from employment solely on the basis they have a criminal record? One has to have a compelling business reason. Of course in our “classless” society one usually does.

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A Body, a Scandal and China – NYTimes.com

A retelling of the current scandal in China.

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The Tech-Savvy Traveler – NYTimes.com
This has some interesting links and mentions of internet helps for the traveler that I have never heard of, much less used. Maybe next time.

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Michigan Supreme Court tosses case against Holland man – Holland, MI – The Holland Sentinel

I have often wondered if the Blackwater crazy mercenaries cowboys who originate here in Holy Old Holland influence the local policing. While I’m sure we have some good local police,  there are many of them who seem to be a mistaken about what a good local policemen can accomplish in terms of community building and stuff like that.

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While Eileen was at a brunch at the library, I went over to church and practiced organ.

My concentration had returned. Whew. I thought it probably would. In fact, I was so motivated that I not only worked on the music I will play today, I also resumed working on William Bolcom’s piece on “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

I quite like his organ settings and this will be the second one I will probably eventually use. The other was his setting of “Motherless Child” dedicate to Marvin Gaye who was killed by his own father.

I was inspired when I noticed that the new organist at Hope Church recently played this in a local recital. Hey, somebody besides me likes Bolcom or at least performs him. I also played through a couple of his piano rags yesterday.

Eileen and I couldn’t find a movie to go to. Our criteria is usually what looks like we could stand to sit through. I suggested a quick trip to the Meijers Gardens to the Butterfly House.

It’s a good thing we went as it only runs through the end of April. It was relaxing to walk around and look at butterflies and caterpillars. We also walked through the outside plant gardens. These interest Eileen especially because they provide dozens of plants that will survive in Michigan weather.

Deborah Butterfield’s amazing horse sculptures were also on display.

After a nice meal at the Gardens, Eileen drove me back to Holland. We stopped off to see my Mom. She was still acting pretty incoherent. She is very self absorbed and feels that her health is not good. In fact, it seems to be good, but she has bloating and is thinking an awful lot about her ability to go to the bathroom. She agreed that she was uncomfortable when I asked. Also that she was “blue.” I use this language because I think it’s how she thinks.

This month is the anniversary of my Dad’s death. Though she is probably not thinking of this consciously, I suspect it is not helping Mom at this juncture.  It’s hard to believe it was only in 2009 that Dad died. It seems long ago. Thanks to my brother for pointing this anniversary out to me. I now have it on my google page.

When I was at church Friday I looked for the tone chimes. They didn’t seem to be around. Nor did the Hope College handbells. I emailed the children’s choir director about this. Last night around 11 PM she answered my inquiry that she has both of them and will “deliver them before this morning’s choir rehearsal.”  If indeed she walks in with them just before rehearsal, it’s tempting to not use them, since I usually plan this stuff pretty carefully and have thought out exactly which bells to use and have them ready with gloves. I could use them on the opening hymn (Puer Nobis) and the second communion hymn (O Filii et filiae).

In the first case there is actually an Orff instrument arrangement in the accompaniment edition of Hymnal 1982. In the second, I would be able to use a drone of a fifth.

The children’s choir director will probably have them there early enough for me to prepare. I was planning on one last rehearsal of today’s organ music before the choir rehearsal. It will probably all work out.

I am experiencing a lot of fatigue, both mental and physical.

I am planning my vacation in May and that helps. It is difficult to watch cognition and faculties diminishing once again in someone I love. It is a change of gears. In some ways its easier to assume that Mom needs caring for and can’t be held responsible for herself. Now the task is to make sure she is cared for and to hope and watch for signs of returning cognition.

Unfortunately, once again I find myself in the position of hoping with optimism.

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Cadaver by Joumana Hadda – Words Without Borders

Fine poem by a Lebanese poet. I get updates from these people on Facebook.

Joumana Haddad is a Lebanese poet, translator and journalist, born in Beirut in 1970.

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2 Guantánamo Bay Detainees Freed in El Salvador – NYTimes.com

Eileen and I were just discussing yesterday how complex this situation is.  I believe that leaders are not as able to act as they would like around complex issues. Not the least of the complexity is finding countries to accept the released detainees.

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Beethoven’s Shadow (Kindle Single): Jonathan Biss: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

I have this on my possible read list for vacation. The cool thing is I can just purchase it, download it and read it when I decided I actually want to. I love this technology. The author is a pianist recording all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.

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Polar Bears Did Not Descend From Brown Bears, DNA Study Indicates – NYTimes.com

This article points out that the archaeological evidence is meager because Polar Bears live and die on ice.

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Teddy Charles, Jazz Musician Turned Sea Captain, Dies at 84 – NYTimes.com

Excellent quote from this musician/sailor: Speaking of sailing he said “It’s the same in art, not just jazz. There’s no way you can fake it.”

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The Voice of Authority – NYTimes.com

This article points out that contemporary  journalists and politicians do not have the kind of power relationships that Stewart Alsop enjoyed with Lyndon Johnson.

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A Lifelong Catholic Pays Tribute to the Nuns – NYTimes.com

Hopefully this will be my last link on this subject. It continues to trouble me as it does this eloquent letter writer.

Here’s the zinger from the letter:

How can there ever be too much focus on poverty and economic injustice? And how can the Vatican justly rebuke women busy selflessly carrying out Christ’s work caring for the least of our brethren for being silent on abortion and homosexuality, while for decades bishops were silent about grave sins against the innocent in their care?

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I had a disturbing day yesterday. I came to the understanding that my Mom is losing her cognitive functioning. It came to a head during her interview with her GP. She made little sense. She told the doctor  she wasn’t eating. But she had gained weight since her last visit. The doctor was understandably skeptical. Later I  overheard Mom tell the nurse taking her blood that she had skipped breakfast.

I suggested to Mom on the ride home that maybe that was why she had said she had stopped eating. The doctor concluded that Mom wasn’t remembering well. In fact, she made a comment that Mom wasn’t all there today.

This week Mom has visited the hearing aid people, her psychologist and her GP. She has complained repeatedly at being unable to think clearly. At the same time she does seem stronger and more observant of her surroundings. if this continues I will probably call her psychiatrist’s office next week. I did some poking around online and found that there is a connection between anemia (which Mom has definitely been suffering from) and loss of cognitive function.

I hope this is not a permanent development but it may well be.

Mom’s doctor appointment was the first one at our doctor’s new health care complex.

They moved offices this week. The new building has two stories. We were greeted by a host at the door,

ushered into one of several interviewing cubicles.

The woman at the computer did not know if they had free wifi or not (they did).

Mom’s doctor was on the second floor. We went up a few minutes before her scheduled appointment.

It was over a half hour before we were called in to an examination room.

After Mom’s intake exam (weighing, blood pressure, med list update), we again waited for a very long time. They seem to be running over an hour behind.

A nurse came in half way through and apologized. The doctor entered the exam room grimly cheerful and only apologized for the wait at the end of the appointment.

We then went downstairs to the lab so Mom could have blood drawn. In the lab we met the same nurse who drew blood from Mom last week at the old office. She remembered us. On the wall were little stickies that said “picture” and “clock” where presumably these will eventually go. The nurse tripped as she moved around the room. She told me it was the fourth day they had been in the new facilities. And that Monday after her first day her concentration was so rattled that she had difficulty driving home. Oy.

I did manage to get to my 3PM Ballet class on time. I have noticed that my improvs are more interesting this week. I often try to reflect the energy of the dancers and the teacher as I improvise. I think we are all ready for the term to be over.

After class, I went and attempted to practice organ. I found my pieces unraveling no matter how I approached them: slowing down or repeating sections.

Finally I went home and treadmilled. Again – oy.

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Veterans Affairs Dept. Will Increase Mental Health Staffing – NYTimes.com

I admit I didn’t read this article all  the way through. But I do strongly approve.

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Levon Helm, Drummer and Gravel-Throated Singer for the Band, Dies at 71 – NYTimes.com

I love the Band. They seem to have had a long weird ride. Helm definitely didn’t care for Robertson. I think Robertson was probably a genius.

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Jonathan Frid, Ghoulish ‘Dark Shadows’ Star, Dies at 87 – NYTimes.com

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American Nuns, Conscience and the Vatican – NYTimes.com

Highly ironic on the face of it. I avoid reading articles about the Roman Catholic church since I was so immersed in it for so many years in order to earn a living. But I can’t help but notice that many nuns live out the gospel in their care for the poor and the unloved. Fuck that, says the Vactican. You American nuns are too uppity and need to get your thinking straight. Here’s an old celibate cranky guy to help you.

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A Stain That Won’t Wash Away – NYTimes.com

More intelligent thoughts on the BP Gulf disaster.

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‘Tupac’ Live and Onstage – NYTimes.com

Very bizarre. Tech brings dead back performer in recent live performance. Yikes.

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Better Ways to Police Than Stop-and-Frisk – NYTimes.com

Some constructive ideas.

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I was thinking this morning how poetry is a bit of an antidote for living in such a bland little corner of the world.  The quote in the pic is by John Donne. I found it here.

Adrienne Rich’s poetic essays help me remember the real world. The world of racism and death of the trapped and helpless. This morning I finished the lovely and disturbing essay she wrote called “The Hermit’s Scream.” (It’s not online but here’s a link to an essay on it in Google Books that gives you an idea if you’re interested).

Sexton reminds me that madness is sometimes the most real thing about being alive. (See “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME“). Her words trap religion and life and torture it.

Updike’s wry intelligent poems broaden me beyond my local desert where I can find few people who read the books I read.

The arts locally seem to have forgotten or never been informed by art that is honest.

It may be, of course, that I miss the good stuff, the stuff that grabs you and leaves you exhausted and changed. I think this might be why I have been drawn deeper and deeper into what I think is excellent music.

I keep spending time with Prokofiev and Shostakovich at the piano.

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that they themselves were trapped in a love/hate relationship with the monolithic USSR where the arts were usually subordinated to the weirdness and awfulness of the government.

Prokofiev and Shostakovich somehow transformed this into art.  Sometimes they slyly put their figurative finger in the eye of the “authorities.” At other times they lamely sought approval from the “powers that be.”

It is this doubleness in their nature that appeals to me. Seeking profundity in the face of bland fearful mediocrity.

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Open Proceedings at Guantánamo – NYTimes.com

A small flame of hope in the face of this terrible act of America.

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Citigroup’s Chief Rebuffed on Pay by Shareholders – NYTimes.com

Wow. You don’t read articles like this often these days.

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Fang Lizhi, Chinese Physicist and Dissident, Dies at 76 – NYTimes.com

China’s Andrei Sakharov by Orville Schell  Atlance May 1988

Obit and Atlantic essay about this fascinating dissident.

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Booked a flight to New Hampshire yesterday for May. This will be my first time off in a while. I definitely am in need of it.

Going to visit my brother and his wife in Keene. Sorry my wife can’t go with me. But I need to get out of town.

This morning I only managed to read some poetry by Adrienne Rich (have also been working my way through Sexton and Updike collected poems). I spent the rest of my extra morning time trying to learn the music for a waltz from Swan Lake for today’s Ballet class.

The instructor asked me Tuesday if I had this with me. Sheesh. She was annoyed that the anthology I regularly carry to her class only had the main theme from the ballet, not this waltz. I checked out a piano transcription of the entire ballet yesterday.

In church music, I was taught that it’s only polite to give a week’s notice of score prep for event the best musicians.

I have since noticed that many professionals pride themselves on not rehearsing before a gig.

And I have heard many performances that seem to indicate a lack of prep. On the other hand when one does a gig, one tries to do whatever is required.

Anyway, I have been up and practicing this scene.

I just hope she uses it.

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Frenzied Hours for U.S. on Fate of a China Insider – NYTimes.com

Some good background on this evolving story.

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Ted Nugent’s Remarks Reverberate Against Romney – NYTimes.com

Ted Nugent makes me crazy. Go Michigan.

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The Big Spill, Two Years Later – NYTimes.com

Interesting background on this incident. Much credible challenge in the online comments. Check out Dr. Richard Grippo from Arkansas State University. I googled him and he seems for real.

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And the Winner of the Pulitzer Isn’t – NYTimes.com

The nice thing about this is learning about books I don’t know about. It’s a shame the Pulitzer didn’t aware one posthumously to D. F. Wallace. I think he was an excellent writer.

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Chose some interesting music to play this weekend at church. I’m still working on learning “Danse” by Debussy. I can play it. But I’m trying to get a deeper mastery of it for the actual performance. It feels good to dig a bit deeper into it and learn it more thoroughly.

Instead, I’m planning to play 4 variations on the tune of the opening hymn, Puer Nobis Nascitur, by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. It’s kind of funny to play this at this time of year since the tune name refers to its original use around Xmas.

But the words we will sing are “That Easter day with joy was bright.” Interestingly these words in their original anonymous 5th century Latin precede in origin by 1000 years the “ancient” tune that Sweelinck set and we will sing.

I have always wondered why organists who play in the annual Hope College Tulip Time organ recital/marathon don’t play more Sweelinck. Recently a local church has hired an organist who seems to be talented and doing stuff. Since she is also a staff accompanist at Hope maybe she will play more Sweelinck in a Tulip Time recital (if they invite her…. usually it’s just alums). Her name is Rhonda Sider Edgington and here is a link to her web site. She had a recital this past Sunday which I missed. Looking at the Hope Sentinel press release on it, it looks like she played a piece by William Bolcolm.

I have thought about trying to meet her. The best way would be to attend one of her recitals or show up at an AGO meeting. The upcoming meeting on Dutch buy tubs diazepam organ tours looks pretty deadly to me. As my brother recently pointed out, we Jenkins love to stand on the outside and look in and feel excluded. I do feel pretty isolated locally. I suspect that a younger musician who is not pedigreed from Hope College might have a bit of a different flavor than most of the other locals I rub shoulders with (or don’t as the case may be).

At any rate, I want to stop blogging and go practice.

My postlude Sunday is pretty goofy. It’s by the German composer, Johaness Matthias Michel, and is from his collection “Organ, Timbrel, and Dance.”

It’s based on the tune for Sunday’s closing hymn, In Dir ist Freude – words – Day of delight and beauty unbounded by Delores Dufner.

It’s dedicated to Leonard Bernstein and uses the hemiolic dance rhythm of “America” from “West Side Story.”

Hey I said it was goofy.

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For Economists Saez and Piketty, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start – NYTimes.com

These French scholars have been tracking the world economy for two decades. Discouraging that the U.S. is such a leader in inequality.

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Mali – Ancient Books Stolen – NYTimes.com

This stuff always interests me.

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California – Teenager Held to Ensure Testimony in Rape Case Is Released – NYTimes.com

Looks like cooler heads finally prevailed in this.

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Turning the Tables on Russia – NYTimes.com

Interesting little scandal involving U.S. politicians and businessmen trying to expose corruption in Russia. Reading the comments is very fascinating. It looks like the NYT left out some of the connections between the people exposing the scandal and their own self interests. What a mess.

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I recently received a Facebook message from John Adams, a young man who played bass for me for awhile and then ran away to rock and roll. He is booked for a Sept gig locally and asked if I had a band going and would I play on the venue.

As I replied to him begging off, I realized that I haven’t been doing my Bad Paul Simon songs, haven’t been playing guitar, and haven’t been writing in this genre for a few years. Honestly, I don’t miss it. I enjoy what I am doing musically now quite a bit.  I feel that I do what I do from self motivation and that I have a very small audience.

It’s just big enough that I feel I’m not totally self-indulgent or alone when I play at church or any place.

The audience question can be confusing. But I understand myself to do music for the sake of doing it. I only need a few ears to hear what I’m doing to complete the art. I get that at church and in the ballet class right now. I will probably schedule a recital in the next year at my church for myself and my piano trio and whatever else I come up with.

I didn’t mention yesterday that Sunday’s music went very well. Early Sunday morning found me stuffing the last anthem of the season into the choir slots. I played all 15 or 16 sections of Dandrieu’s Noel on O Filii et Filiae for the prelude. It had timed out at 9 minutes but took less time in the performance. I think that I moved more quickly between the various registrations and that was the primary difference. Also, I was much more conscious of the musical pacing of the pause between variations.

I don’t remember ever accompanying the hymn, O Sons and Daughters (O Filii et Filiae), quite the way I did Sunday. I noticed that there were banner carriers preparing to carry in the banners with small bells embedded in them. At previous vigils the banner carriers shook these so vigorously their volume competed with the organ and the full throated singing of the congregation.

Despite this, I had decided to accompany the tune with light flutes due to its chant-like nature. Happy to report this worked out well. The congregation sang, the bells rang but not too over powering, the flutes on the organ sustained the voices nicely. Totally worked.

Saturday after my fam left, I registered (picked out the sounds of the organ pipes to use for) the anthem. The anthem, “Psalm 150” by John Harper, was an example of late 20th century hoary old Anglican mildly dissonant mostly unison anthem.

Definitely written for organ and voices, it required my skill of working out the best sounds both timbre wise and volume wise to fit my singers. It was really quite easy and came together quickly with little preparation for the singers.

The vestigal flowering of the cross took place during the slot where we sing the anthem (the offertory). I say vestigal because I think it’s not that Episcopalian a practice. I know it’s a Roman Catholic practice. Anyway, it’s a lovely harmless devotion. I improvised for most of it since the anthem was short. I used motives from the anthem transposed to C major and played snippets of the hymn, “Lift High the Cross.”

When I indicated to the choir it was time to stand and switch to the anthem, we proceeded with a slight pause. As we began singing I realized it was much slower. I had improvised the motives slowly. But it all worked out. Eileen said she didn’t even notice that it was slower.

The rest of the service went well. I found myself being grateful to work in a church where the music was fun to do and for the most part well executed. Finished off with a respectable rendition of “Christ lag in Todes Banden” by Bach as the postlude.

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California Prosecutors Defend Detention of Teen Rape Victim – NYTimes.com

There has to be a better way to handle this.

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From the Birthplace of Big Brother – NYTimes.com

The U.K. marches into the bright fearful future.

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The Sweet Spot – NYTimes.com

Is there a middle political ground anymore? Bill Keller things so.

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Full Show: An Optimist for Our Times | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com

Video of a recent Bill Moyers interview…. haven’t sat through it yet.

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Europe’s Economic Suicide – NYTimes.com

Common sense continues to be avoided in political rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic.  Shrinking government and turning to austerity despite the clear need for better ideas.

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Africa’s Free Press Problem – NYTimes.com

China and Africa return the press to functioning to aid the government but not protect the public good.

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Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!

Thanks to daughter Elizabeth for pointing out this fascinating piece of history. I especially liked this quote:

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The more I read of the late Adrienne Rich’s poetry, the less attracted I am to it. I have been reading it chronologically in my collections. She is obviously classically adroit and uses many allusions. I love her politics. I am simultaneously working my way through her book of essays, What is Found There. These are wonderful.

The essay I was reading this morning (“The hermit’s scream”), alluded to two people I found interesting.

Rich points out that Nobel Peace Prize winner Alva Myrdal connects the arms race and “its needless excesses of armaments and its aggressive rhetoric” with “an ominous cult of violence in contemporary society.” (link to Myrdal’s 1982 Nobel Lecture, Disarmament, Technology and the Growth in Violence)

We surely are living in a country whose personal violence, fear and anger is on the rise. I think it’s telling to connect this with global war and violence.

I wonder with Rich: “Why do I go as if poetry has any answers to that question [of violence]?” But go on I do.

Then she quotes in full a wonderful poem by Suzanne Gardinier.

It’s called “to Peace” and I can’t find it online. Basically it addresses “Peace” and excoriates it as though it were a enemy. Since Gardinier is a living poet who chooses to keep her poetry offline, I will only quote a bit of it:

Peace I have feared you hated you scuffed dirt
on what little of you I could bear near me
scorned you called you vicious names…

Coward I have watched you buckle under
nightsticks and fire hoses You have
disgusted me slipping flowers in guns
holding hands with yourself singing to bullets
and dogs…

I have just interlibrary-loaned a couple of volumes by this woman.

She impresses me and I would like to know more.

Back to Rich’s poetry.  In my morning reading, both she and Sexton used the noun: “mica.” Since it was serendipitous it caught my attention. I noticed that it nicely contrasted the poets:

Rich:

“Late afternoons the ice
squeaks underfoot like mica,”

from the poem, “Holding Out”

Sexton:

“On this island, Grandfather, made of your stuff,
a rubber squirrel sits on the kitchen table
coughing up mica like phlegm.

I stand in your writing room
with the Atlantic painting its way toward us
and ask why am I left with stuffed fish on the wall,
why am I left with rubber squirrels with mica eyes…”

from the poem “Grandfather, Your Wound”

The two poems in their entirety illustrate to me why as poets I respect Rich but love Sexton.

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Dorset Police Solve Mystery of Invisible Manuscript – NYTimes.com

Blind woman begins to write a novel with a pen with no ink…. police tech to the rescue…

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A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame – NYTimes.com

“For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.”

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I didn’t have time to learn my postlude today (Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV 695 by Bach) with a soloed out melody in the pedals.

I went through it yesterday that way and found a few mistakes in my new version. It’s not really unusual to find mistakes in freshly made copies of music. It’s another reason to have rehearsals before performances.

Then I went through the original manuals version (no pedal part) and discovered it was easier at this point to perform it that way. I will still correct my manuscript, maybe even throw it up here.

I missed my morning poetry reading and blogging time yesterday because I was hosting my brother and his wife. They left after lunch. This morning I have had time to read and am now blogging (after slowly going through “Christ lag” on the electric piano to ensure more accuracy of today’s performance).

I also wrote a little poem. Lately I have found that the poetry I am writing might be painful for my loved ones to read. So I just keep it, emily-dickinson-like, tucked away. Not that I have the effrontery to compare my meager efforts with her opus.

I guess if one keeps reading poetry and learning music, it’s not too weird to keep making up one’s own. At least that has been my life.

I am in dire need of some time off. This need seems to come and go. I haven’t really had much time off since way before Xmas. I am thinking of getting on a plane by myself (Eileen can’t get off) and flying to New Hampshire to visit my brother. I haven’t seen his new digs.

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Sustain Your Mortal Existence Without Facebook – Wired How-To Wiki

Amusing little article. At least it looks like it, I haven’t read the whole thing.

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Connecting Music and Gesture – Interactive Feature – NYTimes.com

I had a buddy when I was young who knew nothing about music technically but loved to pretend to conduct his record player. At this time, I thought it was pretty silly. But now I don’t know. I think of music more and more as aural gesture. In this video there is beauty both in the music and the representations of the conductor’s movements and his verbal descriptions. Worth the eight minutes it takes to watch, in my opinion.

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How to Listen to Music: A Vintage Guide to the 7 Essential Skills | Brain Pickings

Never hurts to think about this stuff.

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Prado Researcher Finds Insights Beneath Copy of Mona Lisa – NYTimes.com

It looks like someone painted a copy of the Mona Lisa simultaneously to Da Vinci creating of it Justice for Trayvon – NYTimes.com

… very cool.

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Justice for Trayvon by Charles M. Blow – NYTimes.com

I am growing very fond of this columnist’s writing.

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Bo Xilai Scandal and the Mysterious Neil Heywood – NYTimes.com

I find many of the reader comments interesting in this article.

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Why Trees Matter – NYTimes.com

Amazing stuff I mostly didn’t know about trees.

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Beware of Faulty Intelligence – NYTimes.com

This seems well reasoned to me.

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Still getting up and doing work instead of relaxing. This morning,  I did manage to read a poem each by Adrienne Rich,

Anne Sexton

and John Updike.

These are the three poets I am reading these days.

Then I settled down to transcribing Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV 695 into a Finale doc. I converted the original two stave version to a three stave version with the alto melody in the pedals.

My brother and my sister-in-law arrive today for an overnight visit. I managed to get our bills done before Eileen needed the computer to finish our taxes.

Yesterday, I started reading in Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Kahneman (along with his recently deceased colleague, Amos Tversky) has spent a lifetime studying how we decide about things.  In his introduction he says he is aiming his book at the kind of conversations that people have around the water-cooler, namely gossip.

This might seem an odd way to approach this for the winner of the Nobel Prize 2002 in Economic Sciences. But it’s actually quite logical. The intuitive way we judge affects our understanding and our opinions. Kahneman thinks that we can begin to see how others are coming to inaccurate conclusions and then we can turn the light on ourselves

Initially he approached experts in many fields with the idea that the way we make decisions and assessments about statistics are often completely inaccurate. He and Tversky would win over experts by showing them how they were coming to false conclusions about facts and statistics.

He would do it like this.

Consider Steve taken from a random sample:

“An individual has been described by a neighbor as follows: ‘Steve is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful but with little interest in people or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure, and a passion for detail.’ Is Steve more likely to be a librarian or a farmer?”

“The resemblance of Steve’s personality to that of a stereotypical librarian strikes everyone immediately, but equally relevant statistical considerations are almost always ignored. Did it occur to you that there are more than 20 male farmers for each male librarian in the United States? Because there are so many more farmers, it is almost certain that more ‘meek and tidy’ souls will be found on tractors than at library information desks.

“However, we found that participants in our experiments ignored the relevant statistical facts and relied exclusively on resemblance. We proposed that they used resemblance as a simplifying heuristic (roughly, rule of thumb) to make a difficult judgment. The reliance on heuristic caused predictable biases (systematic errors) in their predictions.”

Kahneman aims to “improve the ability to identify and understand errors of judgment and choice, in others and eventually in ourselves, by providing a richer and more precise language to discuss them.”

My copy of this book is an inter-library loan one which is due soon. Since other people want to see this book, I am unable to renew it. I read in it yesterday to get a sense of it. Now I’m pretty sure I want to somehow own a copy to read.

Fascinating stuff.

So it turns out Dandrieu wrote two organ pieces (at least) based on the Easter tune, O Filii et Filiae. One is a Noel and one is an Offertoire. I have scheduled the Noel as the prelude this Sunday. I printed off the Offertoire linked in the previous post. It is the Offertoire that is being played in the Youtube video I embedded yesterday. I find an interesting difference in the melody in this pieces.

The Noel begins with the Alleuia phrase, the Offertoire puts the Alleluia phrase at the end of melody.

Both pieces elaborate on the melody in multiple sections. The Offertoire seems a bit more systematic in its variations for the most part getting more and more complex. The Noel however provides more contrasting variations. And it’s shorter.

I am thinking next year I will perform the Offertoire. I wonder if the Noel is incorrectly attributed to Dandrieu as it is not included in the IMSLP version. I will have to do a little research and see if I can find out.

As I prepare Sunday’s postlude, I have been wondering what was in my mind when I scheduled Bach’s lovely little setting of Christ lag in Todes Banden. It seems to be most effective when registered on 4 foot stops (these sound an octave higher than written).

Unfortunately it will probably be drowned out by the congregation’s chatter during a postlude. I may just do it anyway. I have been known to stubbornly play postludes that weren’t very loud.

I am still feeling post Holy Week fatigue. In fact, I think I have been much more tired this week because there was no adrenaline flowing like last week.

Today my Mom goes for a post Hospital visit check up. The only time I could get her in coincided with my ballet class this morning. The ballet department chair was kind enough to let me skip class.

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Briton’s Death Is Thrust to Center of China Scandal Over Bo Xilai – NYTimes.com

Ni Yulan, Rights Advocate, Given Prison Term in China – NYTimes.com

China in the news.

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To Stop the Killing, Deal With Assad – NYTimes.com

Sensible if frustrating solution.

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I chose some organ music for this weekend yesterday.

Dandrieu’s organ pieces based on folk tunes are usually referred to as Noëls.

This is because most of the tunes he uses in them are French Christmas songs. But he did throw in a few other things like the one I plan to play Sunday. It’s based on the tune, O Fili et Filiae (pdf of the music). The Easter hymn sung to this tune is “O Sons and Daughters.”

Unfortunately, my little organ sounds nothing this magnificent one. But it will still sound pretty good and be fun to play.

I just found another online version of the piece which seems to be different from my old Kalmus edition. I linked it in above. Printing it up to examine and possibly use.

For the postlude, I am going to play “Fantasia super Christ lag in Todes Banden” BWV 695 by J. S. Bach.

It is written for manuals. The melody is oddly in the alto. Yesterday I registered it with the melody in the pedals. Listening to recordings of it online today, I am reconsidering. The melody seems to be entirely audible even if it’s not on a separate stop. Hmmm.

I like this Youtube not for the sound but the ease with which one can see the fugue around the melody.

I like this recording better.

Unfortunately, embedding of this particular recording is disabled. Hence the link.

I do enjoy doing good music at church.

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Geriatric Emergency Units Opening at U.S. Hospitals – NYTimes.com

ERs with a more calm approach for us confused old people.

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Caregiving as a ‘Roller-Coaster Ride From Hell’ – NYTimes.com

I love Jane Brody. She wrote this one and it’s worth reading.

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Israel Bars Günter Grass Over Poem – NYTimes.com

Poetry in the news. Here’s a link to a translation of the poem:

Gunter Grass’s Controversial Poem About Israel, Iran, and War, Translated – Heather Horn – International – The Atlantic

I admit I didn’t read it yet.

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Jillian Hessel | Pilates Exercise | DVD – Videos – Books

Yesterday at Ballet class, we watched a video which led us through a floor bar. Afterward I was talking with a visiting prof and she said that Hessel was teaching Alexander Technique like concepts at Julliard. At least I think it was this person.

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I skipped both my morning poetry reading and blogging this morning.

Instead, I put together a list of suggested hymns for the next two weeks for the office at church. As I emailed it, I received an email from my boss with hymns for Sunday. We must both have been working on it at the same time.

This is really the first moment I have had to truly take a breath since Holy Week and even before. I have nothing scheduled for the rest of today. But I do have tasks.

I found this book sitting on the new shelf at the music library at Hope.  It’s a collection of essays. I was surprised by this one: “The bigger picture: Ligeti’s music and the films of Stanley Kubrick.” I first heard of Ligeti through Kubric’s movie, A Space Odyssey. It’s interesting to see scholarly articles about the connection.

It turns out that Kubrick didn’t even secure permission for use beforehand. He used four pieces by Ligeti but only credited three. Ligeti first heard of it from a friend and went saw the movie. Ligeti ends up suing and getting a token payment.

Kubrick later redeemed himself by using Ligeti’s music in other movies (Eyes Wide Shut and The Shining) and, in the words of the article, provided “generous remuneration” this time.

I’m on the emailing subscription list of NPR’s “The Splendid Table.” They usually have some interesting recipes right in the email.

In the middle of Holy Week I received an email from them with two very interesting recipes: “Mexican Corn Tortilla”

and Veggie Burgers (Both are available for a short time at this link).

I was so attracted to these recipes that I’m seriously considering purchasing their source: The Homemade Pantry: 101 foods you can stop buying and start making.

I also ran across Jubilate, Amen!: (Festschrift Series) A Festschrift in Honor of Donald Paul Hustad, by Paul A. Richardson and Timothy W. Sharplast week:

I love festschrifts.  I met Hustad at a Hymn Society Convention, probably in the nineties.

He was teaching people to do white gospel music more literally. His insistence that this was more appropriate than changing rhythms and adding flourishes had a big influence on me. It pulled me away from my own experience of this music as a child and into a larger and more meaningful context. It has influenced the way I play this music ever since.

A little pricey at $50 (used!), but I will still probably buy it.

I have dearly loved Casals’ recording of the Bach cello suites. The subject is enough to tempt me to purchase this book.

The author of this book is an Episcopalian composer whose solidly written service music we find ourselves using at Grace. This book, the Festschrift, the Casals book and  the next book were all in the American Guild of Organist’s mag April column, “The Organist Bookshelf.” It’s a list of books without comments.

Music on the famous Mount Athos. Who knew?

I think I have a pattern that after an intense time of engagement I seek refreshment in looking at new book titles. I often did this when I was going to college. First thing after a term was over, I was hitting the used book stores just to relax.  Now I guess I browse online.

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Banker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – NYTimes.com

I found this history surprising and fascinating. J. Edgar Hoover tracking spies in the government and how it affects our present position with global monetary organizations.

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A congregation of Theological Coherence

This is a religious link. My boss sent it to me and I passed it on on Facebook. I like the idea that my work could actually make sense. Hey. It could happen.

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Yo-Yo Ma was in my mind, yesterday during my musical work. Christian Lane wrote a pretty good article in the April issue of “The American Organist” (“Yo-yo Ma and Performance”). Unfortunately I can’t find it online to link in. The gist of it was to use a recent concert he attended which Ma played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Lane dissects Ma’s ability to take the orchestra and the listeners into the musical phrase despite his own celebrity. He even points out how Ma transcends this obstacle by eye contact with the rest of the players and exhibiting an authentic love of what he is doing as he does it.

A very good reminder for me, since despite my own musical inadequacies (Ma is a musical genius… there is no doubt in my mind), one thing I do attempt is to connect to others through music and help them connect between themselves as humans doing something beautiful and authentic and/or perceiving same.

I think I managed to do a little bit of that throughout Holy Week.

Yesterday, I included some slow playing of the final pages of the Widor in my own personal pregame prep. I also photocopied them and made them a bit larger than the score I used Sat night (which one parishioner pointed out was amazingly small and at the same time offering to page turn for me next time).

It was fun to have an accompanist for the choral anthem. For each choral performance this week I was very conscious of attempting to get a decent sound from my singers. I think I managed to help them do a good job on the anthem yesterday.

Somehow at the end of the service, despite my age and exhaustion, I managed a creditable performance of the Widor. I did think of Ma as I played. He is definitely an inspiration.

Now I’m looking forward to the end of the ballet classes and eventually finding some time off from my silly schedule.

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The Mystery of the Flying Laptop – NYTimes.com

What exactly is the different security risks of the many devices people use and travel with? It’s not clear.

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5 Face Trial After Chinese Teenager Sells Kidney – NYTimes.com

This is a heart breaking, weird story. The teen sold his kidney to buy an Ipad and an Iphone.

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Why the Old-School Music Snob Is the Least Cool Kid on Twitter – NYTimes.com

I have this bookmarked to read.

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It turns out that my energy finally ran out last night in the middle of the Vigil. I’m rationalizing that it was my usual bedtime habits that did me in. We started this service at sundown which was around 8:45 PM last night. Ahem. I am usually prone at that time, if not asleep.

About half way through the service I realized I was feeling fatigued. The only thing this really affected was the postlude. About 90 per cent of the way through the Widor played cleanly, I realized that I had failed to remove my dress coat.

The ending of this piece requires the organist to reach with the left hand and play on an upper manual, thus crossing the hands. Reviewing the ending prior to service I realized that my coat restrained me in this process. I even mentioned to the choir members that I was reminded of the advise of  my teacher, Ray Ferguson, to always rehearse at least once in the clothes you plan to perform in.

I don’t think my dress coat did me in, so much as I got distracted enough that I lost the concentration and needed energy to sustain the perpetuum mobile of Widor’s popular little piece. I had a bad few moments at the ending.

This morning found me searching through Finale files for a descant to this morning’s Baptism hymn, “We know that Christ.” Yesterday I could visualize this descant on the page but couldn’t find copies in the church’s descant drawer.

No luck in my old Finale files. As I waited for my coffee water to boil, I found the descant at another use of the tune in the Hymnal 1982.

I used to wonder what my colleagues were actually so busy with during Holy Week, since my practice was to prepare stuff weeks and weeks before hand.

This past week has found me scrambling with last minute rehearsals and requests of parish musicians (who mostly said no).

Now on Easter Sunday morning I find myself putting a descant into a Finale file and printing it up.

Good grief.

All in all it has been a good Holy Week. My Mom’s anemia was diagnosed and treated. We took her home from the hospital yesterday. I survived the juxtaposition of church and college duties. I even kick started the tax people for Mom’s taxes (unfortunately not quite done, but that’s for tomorrow).

The music went well at all services so far and I expect this morning to be the same. Despite the intransigence of most of the talented people in my congregation, I have managed to involve several people in the music this week.

After church, Eileen and I jump in her Mini and she will drive us to the annual Hatch Easter Egg Hunt. Whew.

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A Free Web & Mobile App for Reading Comfortably — Readability

Found a new app yesterday. Not sure if it will really be something I use. But it seems to save articles in very readable formats and will save them to a Kindle. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it to save them to my Kindle software for my PC. But still it’s kind of cool.

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When Eddie met Haile – FT.com

Article by the insanely funny comic, Eddie Izzard, on his training with the great runner, Haile Gebrselassie.

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“The Errors of Their Ways” by Rachel Giese | The Walrus | April 2012

I bookmarked a bunch of articles to read yesterday (playing with readability.com). This one about fatal hospital mistakes in Canada.

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Two related links about psychology. I love the quote.

How Western Psychology Needs To Rethink Depression | CommonHealth

“You know, we had a lot of trouble with Western mental health workers who came here immediately after the genocide, and we had to ask some of them to leave…They came and their practice did not involve being outside in the sun like what you’re describing – which is, after all, where you begin to feel better. There was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again when you’re depressed and you’re low and you need to have your blood flowing. There was no sense that everyone had taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to joy. There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that could actually be cast out of you again. Instead, they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to get them to leave the country.”

Jerome Kagan: Psychology Is In Crisis | Radio Boston

Transcript (and audio) of interview of author linked in first article.

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A plea for beauty: a manifesto for a new urbanism – Society and Culture – AEI

This article caught my eye. I’m always interested in public spaces and beauty.

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Why The New York Times Will Disappear As We Know It By 2015

Power point slides pointing to causes and the exact moment of the Grey Lady’s demise.

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Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’ – NYTimes.com

There is actually a game on this page which is a gas. You can zap pictures and ads on site with a little rocket that flies around. More fun than reading.

New high score: How the NYT created its “stupid game” » Nieman Journalism Lab

And this is a story about the game.

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Woke up rested and with a bit more perspective this morning. These past few weeks have been crazy. When I anticipated Holy Week, I wondered how I would juggle my church duties and my ballet class. I wondered how my energy would hold up and how well I would do. It has turned out that even though I attempted to anticipate stuff by getting my Mom moved into assisted living completely by last Sunday night, serious shit hit the fan.

So when I add in my Mom being in the hospital (while certainly more of an ordeal for her than me), it’s been an awful lot of stuff and some stress.

And I’ve done well.

I see my Mom’s hospitalization as essentially a positive occurrence, since it ended up probably giving her some strength back as a consequence of raising her hemoglobin level.

And despite my fatigue last night, I look back on the day and see that I am getting a bit of my groove back. I played well. And I managed to get the choir to realize its potential a bit in terms of blend and general musical sound.

So today I have a few things to do, but essentially it’s a leisurely planned day followed by the first Saturday Vigil service my church has done in years.

It’s not as extreme a change as it might be, since they have been doing a vigil as a sunrise service. So the rite is pretty much there. It will be interesting to see how it goes. The music will be fine, I think.

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Robert Simpson (composer) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alex Ross mentioned this composer in a review in the New Yorker. I was surprised I had never heard of him. He is from the U.K., died in late 90s. Composed 11 symphonies. Worked for the BBC. I listened to some of his stuff yesterday. It reminded me of Vaughan Williams.

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Jim Marshall, 88, Maker of Famed Fuzzy Amplifiers, Is Dead – NYTimes.com

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Obama Concedes That Courts Can Review Acts of Congress – NYTimes.com

Obama seems to be mistaken in some of his comments recently. This article cites corrections by Politifact (one of my favorite quick site visits) .

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In Russia, a Watch Vanishes Up Kirill’s Sleeve – NYTimes.com

This article and story has so many hilarious ironies. Can’t pick out my favorite.

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Scottish Leader Pins Hopes for Independence Vote on a 700-Year-Old Fervor – NYTimes.com

Will Scotland become independent of the United Kingdom once again in our lifetime? Sounds like it might.

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This Triduum has been a bit more stressful than usual for me. I found myself worrying about stuff in the wee early hours this morning. Laying in bed I realized that I had told the rector some incorrect information regarding the Easter Sunday bulletin to be printed this morning. I also decided I would call the pianist who consented to accompany the anthem on Easter Sun morning and ask her if she had time for a last minute rehearsal with the two of us before this evening’s post service rehearsal of same.

Good grief. I have already emailed people about this stuff.

Interestingly, I find myself a bit disappointed in my choice of choral music for this week and also my preparation of the singers. Last night we did an arrangement of mine of “Humbly I adore Thee.” I originally wrote the arrangement as a compromise anthem to utilize scant resources. The choir liked it, so I thought I would schedule it.

In retrospect I think it would have been better to schedule an anthem more about the theology of service linked to Eucharist than devotion.

It’s amusing I even care, since right about now my personal faith is dwarfed by any mustard seed I’ve ever seen.

The anthems we have scheduled for this evening, Sat and Sun are all anthems from the choral library at church. The choir likes them and they are fun. But I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pull together as fine a performance as I usually attempt with choral music.

This is probably just Good Friday morning blues when your elderly mom is in the hospital. (See previous posts)

On the upside, I do feel like the organ music I am playing is slightly redeeming. This evening even though the boss pulled the hymn from the service at the last minute, I am playing a lovely set of pieces by Ernst Pepping on “O Sacred Head.” I didn’t protest when she changed things earlier in the week. My reasoning is that now is the time for survival not leisurely discussion about choices.

I did ask her yesterday why she did it. She replied that using a hymn before and after the sermon felt long to her last year. So she dropped a hymn. Makes sense I  guess. If I had known that she was going to do this I would have suggested singing “O Sacred Head” this past Sunday.

Ay yi yi. I know, I know. It just doesn’t matter.

On Easter Sun morning I am performing a lovely little piece by Gerald Near. It’s based on snippets of chant and hymn.

Also doing Widor’s Toccata as the Vigil and East Sun postlude. This is more like the choral music. But I tell myself it’s respectable enough and am practicing it diligently so I can do a decent job of it.

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Ex-New Orleans Officers Sentenced in Post-Katrina Shootings – NYTimes.com

This tragic story (the shooting of innocent people and the cover-up) keeps emerging in the news.

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Men in Black – NYTimes.com

Maureen Dowd gets a bit serious in her takedown of our nakedly political current Supreme Court. Couldn’t agree more. Favorite quote: Could the dream of expanded health care die at the hands of a Kennedy?

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Holder: Obama administration respects the Supreme Court

Interesting interaction between government branches. The letter that the judge ordered the president’s office produce is linked to this article in a PDF. I admit I didn’t click on it.

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Use of Strip Searches – NYTimes.com

Here’s the entire letter to the editor at this link:

The Supreme Court’s latest 5-to-4 ruling debases morality, repudiates privacy and transgresses the sanctity of the Fourth Amendment. The flaw in the majority’s perception of justice lies in the blanket applicability of the decision to arrestees (not convicts), who are clothed in a presumption of innocence.

See the previous indictment of this court by Dowd. What a mess.

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Calling Radicalism by Its Name – NYTimes.com

Since I’m being all partisan, I second this editorial that supports Obama in calling out the extreme nature of his opposition.

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I skipped blogging this morning. Too much to do. Dropped in on my Mom with flowers. While I was there, the nurse came in and said that Mom’s morning blood test had shown her to have low hemoglobin.  She needed to go in to ER. The ambulance had already been called.

I think this blood test was part of Mom’s move from independent living to assisted living quarters.

When I asked Mom if she wanted me to go with her to ER she said if I had time. Since I didn’t have anything specific scheduled until my noon ballet class, I told her I would meet her there.

Ran home and grabbed my netbook and a few books (in case the wifi goes down). Went to the ER to wait and began posting updates on Facebook.

At this point they have diagnosed Mom with MICROCHROMIC MICROCYTIC ANEMIA with a low hemoglobin count of 5.6 (presumably per decaliter). She will have to spend the night in the hospital so they can slowly give her transfusions. The doctor told me that sometimes blood can be given too quickly and that was the reason for the hospitalization.

Mom of course is not thrilled with that. But I’m hoping that bringing her hemoglobin up to snuff will make a difference in her strength and dizziness. She has been showing signs of improvement in her new digs already. Plus they caught this hemoglobin deficiency. Cool beans.

So now I’m sitting in her ER room blogging as she rests.

Polished off Rich’s volume of poetry, An Atlas of the Difficult World, this morning. It’s bound in with a volume of her essays and another larger collection of her poetry.

I find myself admiring her work.

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Rev. Ruth Hawley-Lowry: MLK, Trayvon and Jesus

This woman attends my church.  This is a good article. She is extremely supportive of my work as a church musician and constantly (almost embarrassingly) compliments me.

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Britons Protest Government Eavesdropping Plans – NYTimes.com

Who needs strip searches?

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Respect the Future – NYTimes.com

This is a troubling story of a man who attempted to nurse his wife suffering with Alzheimers and then ended up killing her and himself. The comments are pretty interesting as well on this one.

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Tyler and Trayvon – NYTimes.com

This article expresses reservations about hate crime laws. This is something that has troubled me for ages. Clearly people who break the norms of our society need to be sequestered. But there are already laws against killing and other things. My freedom ends where your nose begins kind of thing….

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Pink Slime Economics – NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman says it’s an insult to Pink Slime to compare it to the Republican House Budget just passed. Conservatives beware. This article will probably piss you off. But I think he makes sense.

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When It Comes to Immigration, Privatization Can Kill – NYTimes.com

More examples of the harm privatization can cause when applied incorrectly.

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Does It Matter if the Orchestra Isn’t in the Pit? – NYTimes.com

Visceral experience of music is definitely enhanced when it doesn’t come via electronic reproduction. Of course, I’m totally biased about this.

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