So Eileen and I took Sarah to the train stations this morning so she could take her train to Chicago where she will take a flight to London.

I hope she enjoyed her visit as much as I did! She let me scan in a couple of her drawings from her recent New York visit:

Sarah was especially interested in the fact that she and Elizabeth both made pictures of the same model at Dr. Sketchy’s.

Here are Elizabeth’s.

I love the fact that both of my daughters keep doing art.

My niece, Emily,  took this pic of me and my Honey Crisp dessert at Cranes on Thursday.

Today is much chillier in Western Michigan. Down to the forties.

On the Media had two very fascinating segments on their show this week.

NEW ONLINE GAME HELPS SOLVE MEDICAL MYSTERIES

Playing games to solve actual scientific problems. Very cool.

Click the pic to go the actual foldit website.

GAMING BACK TO HEALTH

Game designer, Jane McGonigal, designed a game to help her deal with a brain injury. The result is a whole use of gaming to achieve crucial health goals.

Again click on the pic to go to the actual Superbetter website.

Finally, my copy of Ligeti’s Hungarian Rock came in the mail yesterday.

Motivation to get my harpsichord up and running.

Or maybe I’ll learn it on the organ:

Either way, I think it’s a pretty cool piece and look forward to both learning to play it and understand it.

Thursdays are shaping up as a weekly pleasure for me that usually includes meeting with my boss (a pleasure), rehearsing with piano trio (another pleasure) and teaching my piano student (also a pleasure). Not the same as a day off but definitely a good day.

Yesterday I had an excellent Thursday. I met with my boss and piano trio (no piano lesson). My daughter, Sarah, is currently visiting from England. My nephew, Ben, and niece, Emily, and her husband, Jeremy came over from the eastern side of the state to see Sarah.

It was great being with these wonderful people all at once. They had some time to visit with each other. Then in the evening we all met Eileent for a wonderful meal at Citi Vu Bistro which is situated on the top of a little hotel in Holland.

While we were drinking and eating the weather changed dramatically.  A huge blue storm cloud moved over us from the inland toward Lake Michigan. It was quite dramatic. It moved quickly. Then it left millions of droplets on the windows facing the reemerging sun.

This was incredible. Then a rainbow appeared in the west as well.

We managed to get tickets for everyone to go see a performance the River North Dance Chicago.

They were incredible.

What a day!

Today the River North Dance Company gave a master class to all ballet classes so I didn’t have to work! Yay!

Life is good!

*********************************************************************

CAMPAIGN: River North Chicago Dance Company by Erika Dufour and Illustration by Alex Gross – Image Amplified. The Flash and Glam of All Things Pop Culture: Photography, Music, Fashion, Film and Art.

I found some amazing pics at this link.

*********************************************************************

Just Look at What You Did! – NYTimes.com

Another small story of hope and love in the face of incredible obstacles (in Kenya).

**********************************************************************

The Not-So-Green Mountains – NYTimes.com

Wind power versus retaining forests.

*********************************************************************

This Sunday we are performing two very moving pieces by Mendelssohn.

These players do a nice job of the movement from the Mendelssohn piano trio we are planning for the prelude, Sunday.

For the offertory we are singing an English simplified version of “Verlei uns Frieden” which seems to be a posthumous publication of Mendelssohn’s.

Interestingly, the entire score and orchestra parts are available online. When deciding how to perform this piece with only violin, cello and piano Sunday, I emailed off the online parts to my instrumentalists.

Unfortunately, the score begins with a lovely cello duet. This duet persists throughout. The original violin part is very minimal. So I took a bit of time yesterday and transcribed the first cello part for the violin. I am hoping that a cello/violin duet with suffice in this context.

*********************************************************************

Reverie and Invocation by William Carlos Williams

Yesterday’s poem of the day from “The Writer’s Almanac.” Several nice lines in it:

Now we grow old and grey
and all we knew is forgotten
there comes alive in
the ash of today, memory! a god
who revives us!

…

Come back and give us
those days when passion drove us
to break every rule.

********************************************************************

This War Can Still Be Won – NYTimes.com

A glimmer of hope in from a knowledgeable American voice on the ground in Afghanistan.

*********************************************************************

I have one of these little spots on my eye. My daughter, Sarah, was kind enough to teach me the name of them:

Xanthoma (Xanthelasma)

It’s a symptom of all kinds of fun things. Great.
***********************************************************************

Students’ Knowledge of Civil Rights History Has Deteriorated, Study Finds – NYTimes.com

My experience of young adults is that very few of them know much history at all.

*********************************************************************

Having finished reading Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai, I poked around on the web to see if I could find a review or analysis of this book. Everything I read seemed not to talk about the stuff that is most interesting to me in this book.

SPOILER ALERT

So. The bare bones of the plot are that Nanda Kaul is living out her old age in the her mountain home of  Carignano in Kausali. Situated on a ridge, this home looks out on the Himalayas to the north and the plains to the south.

She shuns human contact and even dreads the postman’s visit or the telephone’s ring. Her great-granddaughter Raka (the name apparently means “moon”) is sent to live with her. Raka likewise shuns human contact but in a different way. She is a wild solitary child who loves to explore and watch.  Nanda Kaul and Raka live uneasily with each other. Nanda Kaul begins to recognize herself in the young Raka, but neither can quite bring themselves to accept the other. On her part, Nanda Kaul gradually courts Raka with stories  about her past including wonderful stories of her life with her dead husband. Rake is silently impatient and bored with these overtures and continues to sneak away and explore the village and forest.

In the third section Nanda Kaul’s grotesque life-long friend Ila Das comes to visit for tea despite Nanda Kaul’s reluctance. For me, Ila Das is the fascinating crux of this story. Her voice is shrill and unpleasant.

“It was this cackle, this scream of hers…. that held all the assorted pieces of her life together like a string or chain. It was the motif of her life, unmistakably. Such a voice no human being ought to have had: it was anti-social to possess, to emit such sounds as poor Ila Das made by way of communication.”

Even Ila Das’s walk like her entire life is a series of uncertain and ugly lurches and starts. As we learn her story from her awkward conversation with Nanda Kaul, Ila Das has had a life of tragedy. She has been a victim of circumstances all her life.

Indeed when she arrives at Coragno, she is being followed and tormented by a gang of boys. Sometimes the local monkeys do the same to her.

The reader eavesdrops on the uncomfortable conversation at tea. It becomes apparent that Ila Das, though reduced to poverty having lost her job as a teacher, is at this point in her life a social worker of a sort eking out a very small salary visiting people in her village. She urges them to vaccinate their children and discourages them from marrying their daughters at age 12 or younger in order to procure property and wealth.

Her description of her activities at this time of her life is in contrast with her obviously repellent personality and mannerisms.

Nanda Kaul inwardly considers inviting Ila Das to live with her because she is struggling so. But predictably she does not.

Ila Das leaves Nanda and Raka for the long walk back to her village. She dawdles too long  in markets where she cannot afford to even purchase foods to prepare for her evening meal. One shop keeper feels especially sorry for her. The reader enters his mind and we see him listening to the cursing of the father of one of the families that Ila Das has badgered about marrying off one of their very young daughters.

As she arrives late to her village, this particular father attacks her, rapes her and kills her.

Nanda Kaul receives a phone call from the police who have found her name and phone number on a piece of paper in Ila Das’s bag. They ask her to come identify the body.

At this point Nanda Kaul thinks in shock that what she is hearing on the phone in her hand is a lie.  In fact her own life is a lie. We learn that all the wonderful stories she has been courting Raka with are lies.  Like Ila Das, Nanda Kaul has had a tragic life married to a man who does not love her.  While she is trying to accept this terrible turn of events, Raka quietly comes in and informs her she has set fire to the forest.

The books ends with this disturbing scene.

I love the complexity of the story. The characters are developed to such an extent that they are compelling believable even as we are repelled by their personalities.

All are victims caught in a web. Raka is still weak from typhoid. Raka’s mother, Nanda’s granddaughter, is described early on as “helpless jelly, put away out of sight” by the mistreatment of her husband.  Raka’s descent into mad violence seems inevitable as does the cruel death of Ila Das and the lies and bitter loneliness of Nanda Kaul.

The book is clearly and beautifully written. And there are many secondary details I have not touch on that complete the story such as the presence of a factory, the Pasteur institute, where rabies vaccinations are made and distributed and raids of the gangs of monkeys that torment the villagers.

One reviewer I read said it is a perfect example of “showing not telling.”

I love it when a book leaves me with a riddle that is such a believable echo of real life.

*********************************************************************

Small Fixes – The Simplest Health Solutions? It’s Complicated – NYTimes.com

Bar soap, pill boxes, lists and weight loss. Simple solutions that are not always in fashion at present.

*******************************************************************

In Thailand, an Innovative Fight Against Cervical Cancer – NYTimes.com

Inspiring story of another simple solution….. vinegar turns pre-cancerous spots white so they can be removed. Cheap and effective where pap smears are not feasible.

I especially like the story of Dr. Kobchitt Limpaphayon of the Thailand royal family.

********************************************************************

Medvedev Fires Russian Finance Minister for Insubordination – NYTimes.com

Stuff is happening in Russia.

*******************************************************************

In Britain, a Coalition Government, Increasingly, of the Unwilling – NYTimes.com

Fall is the time the UK parties meet and greet and speechify each other. It seems that politicians are the same the world over.

********************************************************************

‘Diversity Bake Sale’ at Berkeley Is Priced by Race and Sex – NYTimes.com

Though I don’t agree with the Republicans who devised a bitter satire of a bake sale, their opponents seems humorless and needlessly serious. Whippy skippy.

*********************************************************************

Engineers to Rappel Monument – NYTimes.com

Climbing on Washington’s monument to examine it for cracks. Very cool.

********************************************************************

The Wall Street Protest – NYTimes.com

This is a letter that contests NYT reporting on this ongoing stuff.

*********************************************************************

My daughter, Sarah, returned from New York with a bunch of pastels (?) that my other daughter, Elizabeth, had set aside for Eileen and me.

I got up and scanned several. But my new stupid printer made them all one huge tiff file that I can’t seem to easily edit down into separate pictures (besides the one above) even though it asked for a new file name after each scan.  I now have five or six huge files of the same size of all the scans and am unable to access them separately. Technology. Sigh.

Anyway, I love the work of both daughters and wanted to share. Now I’m out of time for scanning. I’ll try to put a few more up in the future.

I had a weird series of emails from the good people at Grand Haven High School. I have been helping out with their pit orchestras for their musicals ever since Greg Maynard came there to be the band director.

Last year Greg hinted that he was being pushed out politically and that it might be his last musical.

Sure enough that turns out to be the case.

This summer the choir director contracted me to play for the auditions for the musical this fall.  Re-reading her emails I see that she was “hoping” to work with me in the fall.

Unfortunately, every year, Greg would email me far in advance with dates and remuneration information.  This year I received no emails from him.

At the same time I noticed that I never really had a full vacation to recuperate this summer. I entered into the fall schedule realizing that I couldn’t really add another commitment even if I wanted to. If Greg emailed me at any time, I was prepared to not take on the work this year.

The new director contacted me this week. The performance is in six weeks and apparently they have already begun rehearsing.  She and the choir director were both surprised that I wasn’t committed to helping them this year in Greg’s absence.

I find this oddly naive. Greg was really the reason I kept doing this even though it strained my energies and time commitment (the school is a half hour drive away). The remuneration was just barely worth the work. Without Greg, I don’t think it would be worth it. Part of my satisfaction was working with this fine musician and inspiring teacher.

For the other teachers to be complicit or abetting in his removal is very distasteful to me.

I tried to tactfully explain why I did not consider myself already hired for this gig this year. The choir director finally gave up attempting to change my mind and seems to blame Greg for not making it clearer to them that they needed to contract with me (Can’t help but wonder about the other adult professionals that Greg would hire to supplement the weaknesses of the current crop of student musicians. Maybe they will just be available at the last minute?).

It was no fun trying to keep myself extricated from such a messy and apparently unethical situation and at the same time write reasonable and calm emails. Sheesh.

********************************************************************

Chris Hedges: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Recalls Obama’s Fall From Grace – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig

Haven’t read this yet. But also haven’t entirely forgiven Obama for ditching Wright.

********************************************************************

Saudi Monarch Grants Women Right to Vote – NYTimes.com

What next? The right to drive? Will wonders ever cease?

***********************************************************************

Mexican Teachers Push Back Against Gangs’ Extortion Attempt – NYTimes.com

Extortion apparently is rampant in Mexico. I am horrified by this report. It makes me grateful to live in a society with more constraints on criminal behavior.

*********************************************************************

For Russia’s Liberals, Putin Announcement Stokes Woes – NYTimes.com

Cynical stuff in Russia. Putin stays on. Sooprise, sooprise. Ron Susskind writes in his book The Way of the World how Bush refused to suspect Putin of lying and would not allow his people to use bugs that were already in place to monitor him. Good grief. Putin is obviously a person determined to hold onto power.

********************************************************************

Church Rebuilds After 2008 Election Night Arson – NYTimes.com

This is a hopeful little story about one triumph over hate and racism. I especially found it moving to read about many other religious organizations chipping in with time and money to rebuild.

********************************************************************

Companies Get Gay-Rights Heat Over Christian Donations – NYTimes.com

Freedom of purchase versus your purchase is your vote.

**********************************************************************

An Indefensible Punishment – NYTimes.com

Until we abolish capital punishment, I will always see us as unable to restrain this barbaric aspect of our country.

*********************************************************************

Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics – NYTimes.com

A little history and analysis on this idea.

*********************************************************************

I performed my two pieces pretty well yesterday despite not feeling 100 %.  Interestingly in each case, there was one small moment when I didn’t play well as I intended.

In the “Nettleton” piece which is quite delicate there was one small lag in my rhythmic confidence barely perceptible but I noticed it.  My understanding of this piece as a performer was still evolving early yesterday morning as I rehearsed it silently on my electric piano with earphones.

Revisiting “Nettleton” was a pleasure because I began to understand how I used an array of rhythmic treatments in ways that satisfy me as a performer. Specifically I realized that I consistently made an irregular larger rhythmic group on beat 2 and 4 in one section.  Thus the emphasis under the melody was either 12+123+12+12 or 12+12+12+123. I don’t remember thinking about this as a composer but I most likely did.

So the piece breaks down like this: Ms. 1 – 16 in 7/8 time with a consistent emphasis of 12+12+123,

Ms. 17 – 42 in 9/8 time with either of two groupings of rhythms (12+123+12+12 or 12+12+12+123 as above),

Ms. 43 – 75 in 5/8 with an emphasis of 123+12  (interrupted 3 times with 3 measures of straight 2/4)

and ending with the 7/8 rhythm.

Once I figured out all of this as a performer the piece was both more coherent to me and easier to perform yesterday morning.

Revisiting “Little Recessional Dance” was a bit more startling as I kept rewriting this piece right up until the day before the performance. It was one of these rewritten measures yesterday that didn’t go well.

But interestingly I did have several comments. One person whispered a compliment on the “Nettleton” in between the prelude and the first hymn. This surprised me because the “Nettleton” piece is quite delicate and quiet. I do play pieces like this, but figure that they are lost on listeners because they are so delicate and quiet at a moment when people are coming in and getting settled.  It seems that we are so used to “in-your-face” artistic statements that the subtle and delicate fly right past us.

Another person came over before I began playing and told me that she and her husband were preparing to leave the state for the winter but that she had enjoyed my work this summer, especially the hymnody, I guess. It’s pleasantly surprising to me when people notice this stuff.

But I think my biggest compliment was when someone “danced” across the choir area while I was playing the postlude. “Little Recessional Dance.” Get it?

************************************************************

Scientists Say Atlas Is Wrong on Greenland’s Glaciers – NYTimes.com

************************************************************

For Billy Beane, Winning Isn’t Everything – NYTimes.com

The rest of the story about the person on which “Moneyball” is based.

*********************************************************************

It Takes a Village by Charles Blow – NYTimes.com

“They have taken the most extreme cases, given them a warm, safe, stable and, yes, beautiful place to live, while treating them with dignity and respect. And the transformations of the adults, and, more important, the outcomes for the children have been incredible.”

*******************************************************************

The humiliation of Barack Obama – Opinion – Al Jazeera English

Very interesting inside look at how diplomacy works.

********************************************************************

So I have been reading Lewis Hyde’s The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.

Hyde writes that the giving of gifts is part of how communities have been created. He demonstrates this with studies about how certain human tribes treat gift and commodity, the scientific community’s exchange of ideas  and the folk wisdom of fairy tales.

Using the “The Elves and The Shoemaker” story, he points out its similarity to how artists develop their gifts. First the shoemaker is starving and only has enough leather to make one last shoe.  The elves come and make wonderful shoes for him. The shoemaker goes from destitution to prosperity because of the wonderful shoes the elves continue to make for him at night.

Eventually he and his wife decide to make clothes (and SHOES) for the naked elves. After they do this the elves dance gleefully away and the shoemaker continues making the wonderful shoes himself.

Creativity is a kind of gift.

It’s like the elves making wonderful shoes in the night for you.

But the next step is to take the art into discipline and become the elves as it were.

So the gift is received and then given back.

This seems like one of the many ways “gift” functions in being human.

I think the language of gift and vocation are part of my Christian heritage that I have not rejected.

Vocation is a calling, a destiny if you will. It seems to me that each human has a destiny or a calling, a passion waiting for them. It’s up to each of us to figure it out and then run with it.

I also feel like the idea of gift is related to the idea that humans flourish when they are helping and connecting with other humans. They seem to shrivel up as people when they become self centered.

I read a disturbing letter to the editor in the NYT yesterday which said that we must choose as a society between generosity and responsibility. This is a false choice to me.  To be fully human I think we need to be both generous and responsible. Generous to others and responsible in our own actions. When we focus on the actions of others, we end up short-changing both them and ourselves.

Creative people know that when they create or “make” something mysteriously flows through them. It’s like waking up and finding elves have made your raw leather talent into something beautiful and amazing. It’s just a first step, but probably a necessary one.

This gift is related to the gift that we give to each other in our selves. When we become selfish or angry something in this stops and we lose the change to become who we are.

Here endeth the sermon.

I started reading Musicking: The Meanings and Performing of  Listening by the late Christopher Small this morning. I interlibrary loaned it. After I read the following section, I went to Amazon and bought the Kindle version with my birthday gift card (Thanks again, Mark & Leigh!).

“There is no such thing as music.

“Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do. The apparent thing ‘music’ is a figment, an abstraction of the action, whose reality vanishes as soon as we examine it closely…..

“This is the trap of reification, and it has been a besetting fault of Western thinking every since Plato…”

Christopher Small,  Musicking

I often say that music is something you do. I will probably write more on this later. I’m still feeling a bit punk even though my ear is better.

Yesterday I tangled with Spotify and Trend Micro (my security software).

They seem to have become mutually exclusive of each other. I kept trying to allow Spotify as an exception to Trend Micro rules. Finally gave up and turned off my security (I know. I know. Not a good idea) so I could listen to music as I groggily treadmilled.

I also had problems with my two organ pieces. I took my new versions to the bench and found mistakes in the scores and further need for re-write. I came home exhausted and ill and put it aside. So I have that to do today as well.

Eileen balanced the checkbook for me this morning (Thank you, dear). That was another dead end for me yesterday when it would balance.

It’s hard to do stuff when you don’t feel well I guess.

I’m hoping I can get through performances of my work tomorrow and the choir rehearsal that follows the service. Maybe I’ll feel better by then.

*********************************************************************

Teenage Brains – Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

***********************************************************************

Allentown: Inside Amazon.com warehouse workers complain of brutal conditions – mcall.com

Amazon. The new Walmart?

*********************************************************************

David Lodge’s “A Man of Parts,” reviewed by Michael Dirda – The Washington Post

Book review.

*********************************************************************

Book Review: That Used to Be Us – WSJ.com

Another book review. This time it rips Thomas Friedman to shreds. Even though I suspect this a bit of ideological writing, I haven’t liked Friedman since he was a cheerleader for the Iraq war. I know. I know. Everybody was except for a few misfits.

*********************************************************************

Gratitude and Forbearance: On Christopher Lasch | The Nation

The long dead Lasch is a very interesting (if conservative) writer I have read.

*********************************************************************

Joseph Heller Catch-22 50th Anniversary: How the Novel Changed America – The Daily Beast

Catch-22. Can’t beat it!

********************************************************************

Davis Execution Leads to Chorus of Outrage in Europe – NYTimes.com

Eileen asked me this morning why this execution went ahead so relentlessly despite doubts of his guilt. I replied, “I don’t know.”

*******************************************************************

Hunger in America, Visible if You Look for It – NYTimes.com

Quotes from an Episcopal priest running a food pantry in Chicago. Yay Episcopalians!
********************************************************************

York: Media bias on display as NBC grills Suskind | Campaign 2012

Seriously thinking of buying Suskind’s new book as an ebook.

I quite liked this one:

********************************************************************

The Power of Flat Out Lies | Mother Jones

Not sure the right has a corner on this, but I do see a lot of public lying.

*********************************************************************

I’m not deaf! At least not as deaf as I was.

My left ear is beginning to get some of its hearing back as my inner ear becomes clearer.

No way to avoid the paranoid dreams (often thought of with a shudder in my life as someone in love with sound and music) of increasing deafness.

I have been rewriting (editing really) both of my compositions I am planning to perform Sunday.  I am making the most radical changes in the “Little Recessional Dance.”

Before:

After:

the effect is to make the melody stand out more. I found this necessary on my little organ because the chords come out muddy. Also making some changes to “Nettleton for Manuals.”

When I finish, I will email copies of the new versions to the two men who I associate with these pieces: Nick Palmer who commissioned “Nettleton” and Peter Kurdziel to whom I dedicated “Little Recessional.”

These are probably the two people who might have interest in these changes (besides yourself, dear read, heh).

I spent my early morning reading Baruda-Skoda’s excellent scholarship and advice on Bach interpretation  and marking copies of my music and playing through pieces by Bach on my electric piano with the headphones.

Life is good.

********************************************************************

Particles recorded moving faster than light – CERN | Reuters

*******************************************************************

2 hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address – Official Gmail Blog

************************************************************************

Amazon’s Kindle to Make Library E-Books Available – NYTimes.com

This makes Eileen happy.

*********************************************************************

Richard Nelson and Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s Takes on 9/11 – NYTimes.com

Two interesting new plays I’ll probably never get to see.

********************************************************************

I had a phone call from my boss recently informing me that the church governing body (the Vestry) had recently voted me a substantial raise to be implemented over 2012 & 2013. The purpose was to bring my wages closer into line with suggested professional standards.  The 2012 increase is to be implemented retroactive to Sept 1, 2011.

This is satisfying on several levels. My boss, Jen, wanted me to know that the Vestry was very appreciative of my work as well as adamant in beginning to establish professional standards for my position.

And I of course could definitely use the money.

Another level that both Pastor Jen and I share is establishing some professional standards in the Episcopal church in Western Michigan.

When I came to this area as a full-time Roman Catholic church musician, very few musicians were being paid fairly by their churches. I witnessed and was part of an attempt to raise awareness about professional standards. This did result (I believe) in the over all raising of wages for Roman Catholic professional church musicians especially in the Grand Rapids area.

Working in the Episcopal church I haven’t really had much contact with other Episcopal church musicians in the area. I believe that the way people are paid varies widely from poorly paid to donating their services. It would be nice to think that raising the standards in my parish would have some affect both on its own future practices and possibly other churches in the area.

Hey. It could happen.

In the meantime this is pretty satisfying.

Speaking of satisfying: I am suffering from a clogged inner (and possibly outer) ear which is making my head feel like a balloon on the end of string. My left ear is my best ear (there is some hearing loss in my right) and it, of course, is the one that is clogged.

This made my ballet class particularly miserable yesterday since the stuffed up ear is accompanied by the usual body cold aches and pains.

In the middle of the first hour, I did an improv that I thought was especially beautiful and coherent. One of the techniques that I use that produces this result is to improvise counterpoint (that, is more than one melody being played at the same time) but not in a stuffy academic way, rather using the language and ideas that seem beautiful and appropriate to me.

This is what I was doing yesterday.

After I finished, the teacher commented on the music. She then proceeded to tell the students how lucky they were to have live, beautiful music to help them dance with expression. Embarrassing but flattering.

For most of the time yesterday (and probably today as well) I was on survival. This means that I’m not trying to be clever with the improvs only clear, accurate and coherent.

This was good thing because my first hour ballet class teacher matter-of-factedly outlined some very unusual phrase groups in her combination instructions to the group (3 measure phrases in one case instead of the usual 4).

*******************************************************************

Rick Wilcox Magic Theater | Wisconsin Dells

I knew this man when he was younger. He was a dexterous and imaginative drummer. It looks like he has put those skills to use.

*********************************************************************

I decided I would play two of my own compositions next Sunday as the prelude and postlude. For the prelude I am going to play “Nettleton” (pdf link).  NETTLETON is the tune for “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” which is Sunday’s opening hymn.

A few years back, a friend of mine, Nick Palmer, was putting together a little pamphlet of local composers for an upcoming convention and invited me to contribute something. My response was this little piece on NETTLETON.

For the postlude I am going to attempt to play my “Little Recessional” (pdf link). Both of these pieces will require some rehearsal. But I am proud of both of them and would like to see them performed occasionally. I don’t think I have submitted them to publishers for consideration, but I think I’ve kind of given up on that due to the fact that I dont’ really have a lot of “commercial appeal” (true of most of my work I think).

Recently received an email from Linda Graham, the chair of the dance department at Hope College, asking me to sign a release form for use of my composition, “Ebb and Flow,” for a possible documentary of the Global Water Dances that happened this past summer.

This made me think about the fact that I did actually sit down and compose a piece this summer and have it performed. I have been wondering about the fact that I’m not doing much writing. But I guess I am doing some, eh?

I think that doing hours and hours of improvisation (at the ballet classes) draws on the part of myself that composes. So it sort of uses it up or at least drains it a bit. Which doesn’t trouble me too much because I enjoy the improvisation and the idea that my music is existing in the moment. I, of course, believe that music is most itself when it is happening in time. So it’s pretty satisfying anyway.

Speaking of dance, I have to grab some breakfast and walk over for my first class.

I have been thinking about strong and weak personalities.

I am drawn to strength in people.

The strength that interests and attracts me is not that obvious.

Here’s a story that Louis Erdich tells Bill Moyers about her inspiration for her novel The Blue Jay’s Dance.

“It was a blue jay’s dance of courage in front of a hawk. I saw it from the window as I was nursing my baby. I kept feeders, and all sorts of birds came down. I saw a blue jay. And then a hawk swooped down on it. The blue jay knew it was doomed, but it started to dance at the hawk. And the hawk was startled. The blue jay was confusing it. This dance of an inferior bird against a superior raptor finally so mortified the hawk that it flew away.” Louis Erdich in Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues

It is a strong image. A nursing mother witnesses a doomed bird that dances its way to freedom despite overwhelming odds.

My wife and my daughters strike me as strong people.  Sarah who is visiting from England and I had a conversation yesterday in which she expressed frustration about many people she sees there who seem to be caught in a vapid and  materialistic approach to life.  She seemed to be wondering  how can she find the people who see life more the way she does? A difficult question for the thinking individual and one I am afraid I have bequeathed to my daughters since it’s definitely one I share.

In the same Moyers book, Nikki Giovanni, the poet, talks about dealing with the fact that Seung-Hui Cho, the English major at Virginia Tech who abruptly killed 32 people and wounded 25 before killing himself was actually a pupil in one of her poetry classes. She was asked to speak at a memorial service for the victims and gave a deeply strong and comforting speech.

“And this thing that happened at Virginia Tech, it was an incredibly sad time for us. The only thing I could do to make sense out of it was to connect these dots. The only thing to connect the dots was love. Because no matter what else is wrong with you, good wine and good sex will make you feel better. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that on this show.

You are granted permission.

Well, good, because you know, sixty-five-year-old women are not finished.”

Nikki Giovanni in Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues

I found both Giovanni’s and Erdich’s interview inspiring examples of strength as I do talking with my daughters and wife.

And as a sixty-year-old man, I like to read about sixty-five-year-old women who are not finished.

******************************************************************

Ron Suskind’s ‘Confidence Men’ Focuses on Obama – Review – NYTimes.com

Suskind is a former Wall Street Journal writer that I admire and read. This book looks interesting.

************************************************************

Senegal Rappers Emerge as Political Force – NYTimes.com

I love the spirit of these musicians.

************************************************************

Economic Bleeding Cure – NYTimes.com

Krugman keeps quietly making sense to me. I have been reading him for years and have followed his transition from economist to political commentator.

************************************************************

Fill In the Blanks – NYTimes.com

Bill Keller has another excellent mind. Here are some intelligent comments about Obama.

***********************************************************

Recipe – Cucumber Kimchi – NYTimes.com

*************************************************************

How Dick Cheney Reined in Presidential Power – NYTimes.com

Cheney is in the news. This is another perspective on his actions in regards to insider struggles in the Bush administration from an insider.

*************************************************************

My daughter Sarah brought me a ton of vinyl stickers she made of my drawing of my face (I sometimes use in my signature) and of my website address.

She makes them with this cool machine where she works:

Very cool. She and my wife sang “Happy Birthday” to me yesterday when she brought her birthday gifts in the room.

Besides the stickers she also gave me a CD.

and some very cool plates.

Church yesterday really took a lot out of me. Preparing the choir with little rehearsal is a bit nerve wracking.  Last week and this week I only had about forty minutes to teach them a piece from scratch for each service. The first week I did an arrangement of a hymn, yesterday I put an easy SAB anthem down a third (!) to make it more singer friendly (I often resist doing this sort of thing, thinking that I should be teaching people how to sing and to utilize their range… unfortunately I had to skip vocaleses in order to just learn the dam notes… oy!).

In addition I performed a Vaughan Williams organ piece (Musette) which I took a lot of pains to register.  In order to do this effectively, I ended up with a delicate and very quiet registration.  I thought maybe it was a bit too subtle but the one organist in the room told me (via her husband) that she quite liked it.  Delicate and quiet is a bit counter cultural these days.

I found a lovely paragraph in The Gift this morning:

Analyzing an early commentator on North Pacific culture, Lewis Hyde writes this in a foot note:

“Barnett’s language, the language of gift exchange, has procreation at its core. Generosity comes from genere (Old Latin: beget, buy valium london uk produce), and the generations are its consequence, as the gens, the clans. At its source in both Greek and Sanskrit, liberality is desire; libido is its modern cousin. Virtue’s root is a sex (vir, the man), and virility is its action. Virtue, like the gift, moves through a person, and has a procreative or healing power (as in the Bible story about the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s garment in the faith that it would heal her: ‘And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him turned about in te press and said, “Who touched my clothes?” ‘).

There’s so much about this paragraph that I admire. I love it when the historical resonance of a word informs a deeper and more rich usage.  I love the idea that virtue has virility as its action, that generosity (of spirit as well as other things) begets the “generations” and the community (the clans).

This thinking stands in such stark contrast to the paltry one-dimensional understanding of life as economic transaction and commodity consumption that predominates in American cultural conversation.

It reminds me of Mozart (and other composers) whose vitality and sheer zest for living breathes throughout their music.  It is the difference between impotent and shallow living and dancing/embracing life.

SPOILER ALERT

I was annoyed by a review of WonderStruck by Selznick by Adam Gopnik in yesterday’s NYT Book section.

He didn’t mention what to me is the most fascinating thing about Selznik’s book. Selznik alternates pages of pictures with pages of prose. The picture stories are about a little girl in the past. The prose stories are about a little boy in 70s. But the cool thing is the immediate relationship between pictures and prose.

Our Saturday movie yesterday was “Contagion.” Eileen and I have decided that it would be fun to try do a movie or something on our weekly Saturday off. Since so many movies kind of suck these days, this necessarily entails trying to find movies we can stand instead of be attracted to.

Contagion was kind of fun. Unfortunately, it was probably as much because of the actors involved: Lawrence Fishburne,

Matt Damon,

Jude Law (who does a fine job as a crazy blogger who captures unwarranted credibility online and becomes a weird leader in interpreting the outbreak of the new disease),

and

Gwyneth Paltrow.

After reading a recent article on the fake science in the movie (The Real Threat of ‘Contagion’ – NYTimes.com), it was fun to see the invented bacteria and realize that it was at least reviewed by real scientists.

It’s a not bad movie. Clever with what seems like an actual story and some pretty good acting. Good entertaining distraction for Eileen and me.

Sarah Jenkins arrived safe if not sound yesterday from England.  Her trip sounds sort of like a nightmare since she was ill during it. She was just pulling out of it as she arrived by train last night in Holland.

Eileen and I gently teased her about the movie we had seen. It involved spreading a disease world wide via plane trips. We told her if she had that disease she would be dead in 72 hours. Welcome home.

*********************************************************************

AccuRadio online radio | Listen to free Internet radio

This web site was mentioned in the Guardian newspaper magazine Sarah brought me last night.  I’ve never heard of it, but it looks kind of interesting. Sort of a Pandora thing I guess.

*********************************************************************

Paris Begins Enforcing Ban on Street Prayer – NYTimes.com

Even though I am deluded atheist, I have mixed feelings about the repression of harmless expressions of religion. It’s not only Amerika that is dealing with public hate, eh?

********************************************************************

Robertson Remarks on Alzheimer’s Stir Passions – NYTimes.com

The Energizer Bunny of Craziness, Pat Robertson, just keeps on going and going. I thought about my Dad’s death in the throes of Lewey Body Dementia reading this article.

*********************************************************************

Pacifist Goshen College Reconsiders the National Anthem – NYTimes.com

Interesting conundrum for the Mennonites. I have come to pretty much abhor nationalism in my old age. My young age to think of it.

*********************************************************************

Learning From Hammarskjold – NYTimes.com

A leader that I grew up admiring. We had his book, Markings, on our shelf when I was a kid.

***********************************************************************

Why I’m Just Saying No to ‘The Help’ and Its Historical Whitewash ( a blog entry by Akiba Solomon)

This blog entry articulates a lot of my own misgivings about The Help movie and book. I read the book. It seems to be unaware of its own patronizing plot of having a white woman rescue a bunch of exploited maids. Very much a book for people who haven’t thought too much about race in the good ol’ USA.

********************************************************************

Brazilian Couple Traverses the Americas on Motorcycle – NYTimes.com

Inspiring story of a man who decides to do some interesting stuff before he dies.

********************************************************************

NASA’s Kepler Telescope Finds Planet Orbiting Two Stars – NYTimes.com

Is this cool or what?

*********************************************************************

I’m breaking pattern and blogging before relaxing this morning. I got up and linked a very cool radio show on the Grace Music Ministry page. It’s called “Civility, History and Hope.” It’s from Krista Tippett’s Civil Conversations project on her “On Being” show.  She interviews Vincent Harding who wrote Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement.

Harding has some great stories and insights including some observations about singing in the Civil Rights movement.

When he puts songs in this context he breathes life back into some old warhorses like “This Little Light of Mine” and “Kumbaya.”

He mentions a NYT article which discusses the derision sometimes associated with the idea of a “Kumbaya” moment.

I experienced this from a priest I worked for. He used to bring this song up in a mocking way. Harding (and the article) put it back into a healthier context. Harding in particular says he cannot bear to hear the song ridiculed with his associations of it being sung by young civil rights workers who were frightened by the murders of their peers.

In addition I think Harding has some very important things to say about getting beyond civility to building a compassionate and “beloved community.”

He talks about connecting the elders with youth in some pretty exciting ways.  I highly recommend this show.

While I’m on this topic I am reminded that recently a “friend” on Facebook accused me of playing the “race card” when I mentioned racism currently in our society.

I think many white people misunderstand the concept of racism as a personal flaw. While I have seen this kind of stuff, I think the racism that pervades our daily lives is much more insidious. I think it links to the hatred and injustice that is part of the fabric of the USA right now.

Here are some examples to ponder from recent links.

************************************************************

Arthur Evans, 68, Leader in Gay Rights Fight, Is Dead – NYTimes.com

Judging from this moving obit, Evans was a brave and witty man who lived combating hatred and discrimination.

************************************************************

The Moral Values of America’s Youth – NYTimes.com

These are letters in reaction to a recent David Brooks indictment of young people.

One young person responded this way:

“We don’t frame our moral commitments in the black-and-white language of previous generations, because we’ve inherited the damage that comes from absolutes, whether partisan politics or fundamentalisms.”

Peter Coyote, the actor, wrote this in his letter:

“When those with the highest social status routinely lie, cheat, exploit their office for personal gain, profit from outrageous conflicts of interest, when they are rewarded for their turpitude with wealth and acclaim, repeating the conservative party line about moral laxity and self-indulgence is disingenuous.”

It seems to me that these voices are chiming in with Vincent Harding about building a better union, building a democracy.

***********************************************************

Free to Die – NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman comments on the lack of compassion that is worn like a badge by many people in America.”[C]ompassion is out of fashion,” he writes,” — indeed, lack of compassion has become a matter of principle.”

I think this is evidence of sickness in our society. When he points to the recent exchange at the Republican Presidential debate where the crowd began cheering letting people die who don’t have insurance, it is a chillingly made point.

***********************************************************

Suit Over Lead Dust Names Kennedy Krieger Institute – NYTimes.com

And if you’re looking for evidence of recent racism, this article makes a case for it.

Not to mention this sad sad story of a death on the street recently of another casualty of the weird public values in our country.

***********************************************************

Lewis Brown, Faded Basketball Prodigy, Dies Homeless – NYTimes.com

*************************************************************

I can see I’m blogging a bit on the serious side this morning so let me end with the wonderful book I finished reading last night.

The book is Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick.

He’s the author of  the wonderful The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

He tells stories with pictures he draws.

In Wonderstruck Selznick explores some fascinating themes of being a deaf young person and seeking out community both in your family and outside it.

I highly recommend it.

I had an amazing number of Facebook friends wish me a happy birthday yesterday. I don’t remember that many from last year.

Born in 1951, 2011 brings me to the beginning of my 61st year.

My day went nicely yesterday. Included my weekly meeting with the boss, my trio rehearsal and ended up going out to eat with my lovely wife (2 evenings in a row! Last night we celebrated her new job which she starts in October!).

*********************************************************************

Sewing Her Way Out of Poverty – NYTimes.com

Inspiring story by Nicholas Kristof.

” [I]f a former prostitute in a Nairobi slum can build a dressmaking business, buy a home in the suburbs and produce over-achievers like Caroline, Anthony and Cynthia, then it’s worth remembering that sheer grit, and a helping hand, can sometimes blaze trails where none seem possible.”

*********************************************************************

Do Individual Acts Help Save the Planet? – NYTimes.com

Letters in reaction to a recent article I linked. I especially liked this response:

“…despite Mr. Wagner’s cold-hearted economic analysis, reducing one’s pollution footprint is simply the right thing to do.”

*********************************************************************

Making New York’s Glass Buildings Safer for Birds – NYTimes.com

Amazing ideas to save birds from banging into buildings.

**********************************************************************

6 Things the Film Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About | Film School Rejects

These just add to my already curmudgeonly take on movies.

********************************************************************

The Other Socrates – The Barnes & Noble Review

Nice blog entry on Loeb classics and Socrates.

*******************************************************************

Laughter Produces Endorphins, Study Finds – NYTimes.com

*******************************************************************

Pre-blog Morning reading today included The Gift by Lewis Hyde as well as more Badura-Skoda on Bach interp.

“I believe that since the 1989 fall of the Soviet Union, the West has undergone a period of remarkable market triumphalism. We’ve witnessed the steady conversation into private property of the art and ideas that earlier generations thought belonged to their cultural commons, and we’ve seen the commodification of things that  a fear tears ago would have seemed beyond the reach of any market. The loyalty of school children, indigenous knowledge, drinking water,the human genome—it’s all for sale.” Lewis Hyde

My daughter, Elizabeth, mailed me The Gift for my birthday. It inspired me to return to this book that I started reading a while back.

“You received gifts  from me; they were accepted.
But you don’t understand how to think about the dead,
The smell of winter apples, of hoarfrost, and of linen,
There are nothing but gifts on this poor, poor earth.”

Czelasaw Milosz

I was pondering my experience yesterday playing for my Mom’s nursing home. Hyde talks about art and music as non-commodities. He talks about the relationships inherent in gift giving and in the arts.

“The artist appeals to that part of our being… which is a gift and not an acquisition—and, therefore, more permanently enduring.” Joseph Conrad

I felt this yesterday as I played and talked with people at Resthaven.  This group sits attentively and listens while I play classical music. Yesterday it was Haydn, Chopin and Bach. Then as I play popular tunes from the past, the group starts humming and singing along.

I encourage them to do this.

I like these old tunes myself.

Then we turn to hymns.

I’m always interested in what hymns people know. So I enjoy this part as well.

Today is my 60th birthday and it’s shaping up like I will have a bit more time to relax today and tomorrow. My biggest birthday gift has been watching Eileen land a new position at the library. Yay!!!! She will be doing more of the stuff she enjoys like working with kids. And she will be getting paid more. One of her co-workers said that she was a no-brainer to land this gig. She has her heart set on it! I’m very glad she got it!

I used a bit of my morning to read and study again this morning. I’m hoping I can make a path to less stress this way. We’ll see.

Speaking of stress, it looks like I am seriously close to living to the age of sixty, since tomorrow is my sixtieth birthday.

I have mentioned before that my Uncle Richard died in his sleep at the age of 57 from heart troubles.  I have a bad ticker as well. So when I past passed (thank you Sarah J for the correction) the age of 57 I felt like I was getting some extra time to live. Still do. Life is good.

With the assistance of the janitor I crawled around in the pipes of my organ yesterday.

John Muller, a Columbus organ builder I have been talking to, and I had a phone conversation regarding the current upgrade project of the organ at my church.

I told him I would send him more concrete info.

You can make some sense of this if you look at this pic:

The organ console (the keyboard) is on the left. New pipes to go to either side of the windows. Present pipes hidden behind wall upper right.

Here are few more pics of the pipes. I got dusty and dirty crawling around taking these crappy pictures, but all in a good cause.

So there you have it. That’s how I spent part of yesterday.

********************************************************************

Christopher Small, Cultural Musicologist, Is Dead at 84 – NYTimes.com

This guy sounds very interesting. I will check out his books.

*********************************************************************

European Union Extends Copyright on Recordings – NYTimes.com

Once again everyone benefits but the creators. Sheesh.

**********************************************************************

Really? The Claim: Fingers Wrinkle Because of Water Absorption – NYTimes.com

Wrinkled wet fingers serve a purpose. Better traction. Who knew?

*********************************************************************

Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause – NYTimes.com

Distinguishing Cognitive Impairment From Normal Aging – NYTimes.com

A couple of recent Jane Brody articles. The second refers to a study about the connection between improved cognitive function and exercise. This is why I started treadmilling.

*********************************************************************

I have been using the beginning calm of my morning to read and think before I sit down and blog a bit. I have noticed that I am more stressed than usual lately. My blood pressure has intermittently been trending higher this summer. I wonder if the fact that I am getting older also means my body is more sensitive to stress. I hope not.

Amazon seems to occasionally make some kind books free for a short period of time. Stress proof your life: 50 brilliant ideas for taking control by Elisabeth Wilson was one of these. I downloaded it free and browsed through it.

Apparently it’s no longer free. Wilson talks about many different sensible strategies for lowering stress in one’s life. Most of what I have read is not new to me but it helps to be reminded to take time to think and reflect each day.

“As a rough rule, every waking hour should have five minutes of pleasure.” Elisabeth Wilson

I quite like that. I know that I get lots of pleasure in my life. I see my self as very lucky to have the companionship of my wife and my passion for music.

But I still stress out. Usually it involves other people. Especially when these people rattle around in my head after an encounter. Which leads me often to think of myself as having an introverted streak, that I do not usually draw energy from contact with others (this excepts Eileen). Rather I am drained. The more deeply I care about others, the more stressed I can be when I watch them go through tough patches.

Wilson is clear to point out the value of stress and its place in our lives:

“We’re designed to get stressed.  It’s how we deal with it that’s the problem…. Coping with stress should be simple. My central message to you can be summarized in one sentence. Get stressed—relax.”

Elisabeth Wilson

I recommend her book for tips on this subject.

A final quote:

“[G]ood health is not just an absence of disease but the ‘presence of emotional and physical well being.” Elisabeth Wilson

This is a bit different than I sometimes think of good health. Worth pondering.

So before sitting down to blog this morning I sipped coffee and finished Badura-Skoda’s chapter 2  “Studies in Rhythm” in his book, Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard.

As a musician I often think about rhythm and tempo. I love music that is rhythmically alive. I think this is part of my attraction to dance.  I also think about tempo quite  a bit. Steady tempo is an important part of accompanying congregational singing. Ensembles of musicians however make beautiful music when they allow tempo to breath.

Of course this entails an equality of respect and listening that is not always present in ensemble playing.

I spend lots of time using my metronome. But at the same time I realize that mechanical adherence to it does not produce music, only improved ability to play steadily or discover which sections one is unintentionally distorting. This is probably my biggest concern.

My piano trio is a great workshop for me to think about tempo and rhythm. The other two players are fine musicians. String players often have a highly developed sense of rubato and rhythm and these two are no exception. It is instructive to play with them and then discuss what was happening to the tempo as we played.

A slight increase in tempo is something we allow as an ensemble sometimes sense the music we are making is a team effort between players equally concerned with making music together as well as performing well individually.

Toward the end of his chapter on rhythm, Badura-Skoda made a couple of comments that stood out to me.

“Anyone who has listened to a half-speed tape recording of evenly played fast runs has made the sobering discovery that what sounded even at a fast tempo sounded quite uneven and uncontrolled, indeed amateurish, when played slowly.” Paul Badura-Skoda

This resonated to me because years ago I heard an inadvertent recording of myself playing drums. In it, I could hear variations in the tempo that I was unaware of. This was indeed a sobering experience for me. I like to think that I learned to think more consciously about tempo by hearing myself play badly on a recording.

Then Badura-Skoda makes this observation on ensemble playing:

“Are we not reminded of a symphony orchestra when a flock of birds, as though informed by one will, moves along steadily in a straight line, draws irregular figures in the air, or lands and flies away simultaneously?”

I find the image of groups of birds flying in ensemble very inspiring and though provoking.

********************************************************************

The Real Threat of ‘Contagion’ – NYTimes.com

Science consultant for the movie talks about his process and recommendations.

So my little anthem worked out well yesterday. I designed it so that it could be done by almost any group of singers that showed up. I took the melody from the hymnal, retained the original bass line, omitted the later composed alto and tenor, added a descant like soprano line.  That way I could omit any line except the melody.

I have added the updated version of the anthem to my free music page.

I was glad to see the usual group of singers yesterday to perform this anthem. It would have been nice if some other singers had taken me up on my usual fall invitations to join.

I also wrote a descant for the opening hymn.

A copy of this is also available on my music page.

I played pretty well yesterday. Prelude and postlude went well. It’s hard to be heard over crowd noise during the postlude. But I prefer the energy to silence.

Finished reading this book on Friday. Pretty good stuff.

Started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman this weekend.

I have been confusing him in my mind with Neil Stephenson.

I’m about half way through Anathem. But Gaiman interests me more right now and my brother, Mark, has graciously given me the ebook to read.

I continue to find Badura-Skoda very helpful. This morning I sat and marked an old copy of Bach keyboard suites and partitas with notations from Badua-Skoda. Seems like there is a musical example I want to remember on almost every page.

I have a newer copy of the dover Bach at work. I have been seriously thinking of purchasing Neue-Bach-Ausgabe versions which reflect better scholarship.

The problem is that they are expensive and I will have to buy several volumes in order to get the suites, partitas, Goldberg and other works I already own.

*********************************************************************

Arguably – Essays — By Christopher Hitchens — Book Review – NYTimes.com

Was sorely tempted to purchase the ebook version of this book this weekend. I resisted, but it’s only a matter of time before I get this book by Hitchens.  I enjoy reading him even though I don’t share all of his conclusions or points of view. A helluva writer and very erudite.

********************************************************************

Japanese Official Resigns Over Radiation Joke – NYTimes.com

“According to Japanese newspaper reports, Mr. Hachiro, who was wearing protective clothing, moved as if to wipe his sleeve against a reporter and jokingly said, “Look out, radiation!”

********************************************************************