Still ill

Yesterday I had high hopes of having a day of decent energy. I started out very well. Eileen and I went and voted then took Mom to the doctor. The doctor’s appointment was long. We had lots of waiting. But the good news is that Dr. Fuentes thinks Mom is in pretty good shape for her age. They gave her a cognition test (she had to draw a clock face with all the numbers on it). When Fuentes came in the room she asked me if I had helped Mom. I hadn’t even looked at it.  It was accurate. This evidence to me that Mom is still in there processing, not mention her ability to muster impeccable manners.

I mentioned to Fuentes that Aunt Ella had recently died. If I factor that in, Mom is doing pretty spectacularly. She thanked me several times for taking her to the doctor. Also, she wanted to stop at Wendy’s for her ritual small chocolate Frosty to which she added a small cheeseburger.

Fuentes decided that she did not need to see Mom for another 12 months. This is good.

After we dropped off Mom, Eileen and I went to Panera for food. I began to fade energy wise around then. I became aware that I felt lousy.

We came home. I rested for a bit. Then practiced piano. Then went to church feeling awful to practice organ and choose some more organ music.

I feel ill right now. I’m ready for this to be over.

Election thoughts

I am shocked but not completely surprised by Trumps election. Like so many weird things it remains to be seen what this will mean for our country and the world. Historically so many leaders have not shown how they will govern before being elected. For my part, I plan to stay as respectful as I can of the elected president.

It’s a conservative time, has been for a while in the USA. The odd thing is that conservatives have won so many battles but continue to appeal to a victimized mindset. Without a black dude or a woman to hate how will they propel themselves? I think it’s impossible to predict how Trump will act as President since he has been so erratic as a candidate.

It was a close election. It is shocking that so many people could bring themselves to support Trump. But as I listen to how news reports describe him as having never held public office it occurs to me that this is, of course, his biggest selling point. Or at leas his most logical one to me.

I have suspected for a while that old polling techniques are not working as well because of the changing relationship people have to their phones. It used to be that when you called a number you would reach a location, now you reach a phone. More than that, the person receiving the call can often tell who is calling. I don’t pick up the phone usually unless it identifies the person calling.

I know people who are on both extremes of the presidential choice. It was inevitable that there would be hysteria after this election. Hopefully since the haters won there will be less hate in the losers. But this remains to be seen.

prepping to vote

I skipped studying Greek this morning to do some last minute homework about voting today. When I looked at the ballot a few days ago, I admit that I decided I could only put my little x next to Democrats in all partisan elections. Usually I research more, but this year I am personally very unhappy with Republicans (and actually all the other parties).

So that left only a few local races. I am very encouraged at how well the information can be found about people these days online. The League of Women Voters put a video of the candidates running for the Holland Public School Board on YouTube. How cool is that?

As I have watched newspapers struggle to deal with financial problems and then the internet, I have witness an increasing difficulty of getting good local news. It seems to me that news providers in Michigan (especially the public radio stations) have attempted to improve this. Although U of M’s stupid stupid approach of changing their slogans (Your State, Your Stories to which I always think back: not MY stories), I do think that they are making an institutional effort to fill a void.

I listened to about 25 minutes of the video linked above as I researched the candidates.

I now have a good idea of how they might function in this job. I will check Eileen’s choices if she’ll share with me because I think she has a good handle on education.

last piano lesson

Yesterday I gave my last piano lesson to my last student. I have been teaching him for years. He is about 85 years old and I love our time together. However, this past summer he has not practiced at all. When I asked him about the half of the year that he spends in Washington D. C. studying with a different teacher if he practices. He said he did.

I suggested to him that what we were doing was not really lessons, but that I enjoyed it. In the spring, I suggested, we could still meeting in a weekly structure but it would more about playing duets together and chatting. No charge. I assured him if he had musical questions, I would be glad to address them with that sort of forum.

He wasn’t happy about this, of course. The money’s  no problem, he told me. I told him that it was a problem for me to take his money and not exactly teach him piano. We have pieces with technical problems that I have outlined numerous solutions for him to rectify. He has trouble keeping track of my comments and does not usually follow my suggestions. Consequently, many pieces I have been listening to him make the same mistakes for years. Time for a change.

I love the dude and value our times together. I hope we can continue meeting next spring. But I have no intention of taking this man’s money if he doesn’t practice.

skipped the concert last night

I feel a little bad about not going to the concert last night. I was feeling poorly. I probably could have forced  myself to attend, but when 5 PM rolled around I chose instead to have a martini and rest.

I actually dreamed that I was sitting with the conductor from last night’s concert (someone I do know in real life) and talking to him about it afterwards. He was discouraged. I told him it had come off well and that it was a big work.

I do know that a lot of my motivation to go was to support him and my friend Rhonda. Eileen told me she thought I needed to get out more (that’s the truth!), but maybe I was too ill to go. She also said that having a drink never helped her when she was ill. Again, the truth.

scylla and charybdis

I finished the second essay in Baroque  Music by Peter Walls this morning. It was written by Frank Hubbard. Hubbard is harpsichord guy.  His essay was called “Reconstructing the Harpsichord” and was originally published in 1984. In it, it talks about how he became someone interested in building harpsichords. He talks about meeting and working for Arnold Dolmetsch in England and then returning to America to set up a shop in Boston.

I have read some Dolmestch. Reading Hubbard’s story filled in some of the next steps in how harpsichords made a come back in the 20th century.

Peter Walls quoted this essay in his introduction: “One is always maneuvering between the Scylla of the mindless rationalization of everything for which one can find authority and the Charybdis of an arbitrary subjective judgment.”

Once they have passed the Sirens’ island, Odysseus and his men must navigate the straits between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is a six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow the entire ship. As instructed by Circe, Odysseus holds his course tight against the cliffs of Scylla’s lair. As he and his men stare at Charybdis on the other side of the strait, the heads of Scylla swoop down and gobble up six of the sailors.

from Sparknotes 

In other words between two equally horrible choices.

Hubbard points out the mistakes Dolmetsch made. Then he points out mistakes he, himself, made as he tried to make instruments that more reflected the way they were made originally.

I find it fascinating to learn about how the “authenticity” movement evolved. Walls calls it the HIP (Historically informed performance). This is funny because his big book that he has written on the subject is called History, Imagination, and the Performance of Music (2003). This also has the initials HIP but “Informed” is replaced by “Imagination.” I like that.

At another point, Hubbard says something that struck me. Speaking of over fastidiousness in craftsmanship he says: “In morality it is much easier to be correct than just, and in workmanship nothing is more difficult to recapture than that sort of secure and rapid expression given their concepts by old makers.”

I heard in that a small amount of sympathy for someone like myself struggling to make my old harpsichord workable again.

I also find it ironic that reading him inspired me to spend time with Bach suites on my harpsichord stop this morning. It’s hard for me to imagine him being sympathetic with that.

jupe’s musical self image

Today’s Writer’s Almanac poem for the day is 1960 by Billy Collins. It seems to be about making noise while music is being played. During my difficult little prelude yesterday by Francis Jackson, there was lots of noise and movement while I performed. This is not unusual at my church.

My reaction is to work myself deeper into the music if I can. I was able to do this yesterday and, of course, it helped. The piece is kind of big one and it ends loud (and wonderfully I think).

Here’s a recording in you’re interested.

Oops. This is not the entire piece. But anyway you get a taste of it. I think the writing in it is spectacular. Jackson weaves an entire piece out of the materials of the melody and throws in a dash of “At the name of Jesus” as well.

After I finished the piece I was in a stunned space and became vaguely aware that someone was clapping. I only wonder how they could hear the whole thing.

3quarksdaily: Democratic Rehab

An excellent article about how to improve our public discourse.

Facing the music: Yo-Yo Ma | Music | The Guardian

A short little interview.

It looks like visits to my blog are falling.

22 visits yesterday.

I’m blogging on Sunday afternoon. Even with an extra hour via the time change this morning I didn’t have time to blog before church.

I’m still ill.

I nailed the difficult Francis Jackson prelude for church.

The rest of the service went well. We had four absences in the choir. We only have thirteen members so that many absences can hit us hard. I’m proud of the people who showed up today. I thought it sounded good.

I sort of killed the postlude. Ah well.

There’s a concert I really should go to this evening. My friends Nick Palmer and Rhonda Edgington are involved.

Maybe it’s just because I’m ill, but I’m feeling the same way about the upcoming election as I did when we invaded Iraq in 2003. I remember watching the advancing lines of US troops, fearing that any minute those “weapons of mass destruction” would reign down on them.

I fear for my country this week. I do know that no matter what happens there will be good in our future. Somehow. But this has a been a very destructive election season.

Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa talk music, art and creativity | Books | The Guardian

This looks like a fun read.

Burrowing into new resources

I thought I would quickly write a blog before I get too engrossed in reading and running down new resources.

My interlibrary loaned copy of Peter Walls’ Baroque Music arrived in Holland yesterday. I immediately fell in love with this collection of essays edited by Mr. Walls. Unfortunately, I think I will be reading the library copy for a while since this book retails for over $200.

This book is one of four volumes on performance practices. They are divided up by conventional musical eras: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and one volume for Classical and Romantic eras.

Reading scholarship often sends me scurrying to the internet to see what i can find. This morning I found that the first chapter in this book, a far sighted lecture given by Camille Saint Saens in 1915, is easily accessed online.

Although I’m still reading Mr. Wall’s introduction to his volume, I looked ahead and noticed that the Saint Saens lecture is reproduced in a charming early 20th century type, presumably reflecting it’s publication.  This is the way it appears via the link above as well.

It doesn’t surprise me that Saint Saens was hip to good editions at this time. My edition of Francois Couperin is actually a Dover reprint of one which Brahms helped edit. It is exemplary in its faithfulness to the original music.

Falling in love with Dello Joio’s piano music

Since I’m itching to get back to reading Mr. Walls tome, I will only add this section to inform readers of my growing passion for Dello Joio. This morning I finished reading most of his Piano Sonata No. 3. I am finding it beautiful. I read in an introduction to his collected piano works, that his teacher, Paul Hindemith, urged him to stay true to his gift of lyricism. I think he did. But don’t take my word for it, listen to this wonderful rendition of the first movement of the sonata.

This piece inspires me in more than one ways. Note the theme sounds like the beginning of the hymn tune Truro.

I think it would be cool to use some of these variations and juxtapose them with good pieces based on this tune. This gets back to my ideas about programming  I have talked about here before.

No matter what, I am sure I will be performing some Dello Joio on piano at church when the organ is gone for a while and probably other times thereafter. I do like this guy. He is going on the list of my passions along with performance practices.

Amy and Dawn approve

I took my synth to my weekly piano trio rehearsal yesterday. I usually begin separately with either Dawn the cellist or Amy the violinist. Then the missing person joins us. We play trios. Then the first person leaves and I play solo literature with whoever’s left.

Yesterday I went over early to set up my synth, stands and electrical cords for the lights and synth. We had shifted our rehearsal earlier to allow me to take my Mom to the hearing aid place. This meant that I was scheduled to meet Dawn at 12:15. I went to church to set up and to practice organ. Then home for a quick lunch with Eileen and back to meet Dawn.

Dawn and I played through all of the Frescobaldi sonatas for bass instrument. I think probably organ would be a tad more appropriate than harpsichord.

However, when I pointed this out to Dawn, she said that she was enjoying the harpsichord sound. The music is charming and works on a harpsichord sound. I like both of these renditions I have embedded here.

After we had played a bit, I asked Dawn she thought of the sound. She said it was “impressive.” When Amy arrived we switched to Bach violin sonatas which would involve al of us, the cello playing along with harpsichord. We played these for a while. Actually when Amy came in we were playing Frescobaldi. She said it sounded great.

I am glad that these two don’t mind the electric sound. After Dawn left, Amy and I played Mozart Violin sonatas. These pieces never fail to amaze Amy and me. Mozart is at his most imaginative in them. I don’t think there’s a dud there.

I enjoy these sessions tremendously as do Amy and Dawn. Do I have to say it? My life is good.

Fun fact about Norman Dello Joio

We chat quite a bit during our piano trio rehearsals. After Dawn left, I asked Amy if she had ever heard of the composer, Norman Dello Joio. She said she had not only heard of him, but had met him when he stayed in their home when she was a child. Wow! We agreed that his music was wonderful. I mentioned his violin piece. She said she knew it and that it was incredibly hard. She didn’t say why he visited her home. Possibly he came to Hope or something….

Several volumes of his work arrived at the library for me yesterday. I did interlibrary loan the violin piece, “Colloquies.”

I had to interlibrary loan the piano score and the violin part separately,. For some reason, the violin part interlibrary loan did not go through. I do have the piano score. Amy did not seem that interested in learning it. When I pointed out that she had learned difficult works as a student, she demurred. She felt that she needed an instructor to walk her through the process of learning something this difficult. I disagreed. But maybe it’s not something she wants to take on. It is a beautiful piece.

My Mom decided she didn’t feel well enough to go to the hearing aid place. I canceled her appointment. By the time I got home I wasn’t feeling great. I felt a little worse than Wednesday. I think I over did it a bit  on Wednesday and consequently my cold worsened instead of improved on Thursday.

I did have the energy to sit down and play completely through Dello Joio’s “Simple Sketches” which are quite nice.

This is one of those goofy digest type articles that pop up on my Fecesbooger feed. However, I thought I would read it sometime.

Tired Thursday

As usual I’m tired today. I’m also not feeling 100 %. I’m fighting a sore throat and a bit of a cold. That made rehearsal last night difficult, but I think I did okay. I spent the morning writing a bulletin article. Here’s a link to it if you’re interested. Comments welcome,  but I did have Eileen proof it already.  I think it’s a good one.

Eileen was a big help to me yesterday. She pulled the new anthems and stuffed them in the folders. Afterwards she said to me that if I had to do all I did yesterday plus what she did by myself that my job really was like a full time job. I know that I have made this part time church gigs full time work my whole life. But it was good to have her help.

Surprise for my piano trio

I can put this here because I don’t think Dawn or Amy reads my blog. We had to adjust our meeting time today to accommodate me so that I can take my Mom to the hearing aid place. It’s a bit of a racket, but they ask Mom to come in regularly to adjust her hearing aids. She does need them adjusted this time.

My surprise for my trio is that I’m planning on taking my fifty dollar synth to rehearsal today. I’m very curious to see what these two fine musicians make of the harpsichord stop. I purchased a cool Frescobaldi piece for solo bass instrument and keyboard. Dawn and I will go through that with the synth. Plus we have several Bach pieces that we are working on together.

Maintaining equilibrium

Eileen and I had date night last night.

During the course of the meal I mentioned to Eileen that I am working harder at not being cantankerous. But since as I age I seem to be getting more cantankerous, so she probably can’t tell the difference. She smiled.

Short blog today?

I need to keep this brief. I would like to write a bulletin article for this weekend and I haven’t begun it yet. I need to get working on it and I slept in a bit this morning.  Yesterday I chose organ music for a week from this Sunday. I was able to find acceptable pieces for the beginning and closing hymn. The opening hymn will be “Signs of endings all around us,” by Dean W. Nelson sung to the sturdy tune TON-Y-BOTEL. I found a Charles Ore setting I can stand. I like Ore’s work. It’s often a bit irregular rhythmically and that appeals to me.

Closing hymn will be “Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth” by Walter Russell Bowie sung to MIT FRUEDEN ZART. I found a neat little setting by Ernst Pepping to learn for the postlude.

I have to get all of this into the office today. Mary Miller, the person who puts together the bulletin, is going out of town next week and has asked for this information.

Choosing Choral Music

I spent another hour yesterday working on choosing upcoming choral anthems. I’m seriously considering singing most of our Christmas Eve anthems out of one collection, Carols for Choirs.

I would find that satisfying on more than one level. I purchased our copies of this book for fifty cents a piece at a local thrift shop.  They currently retail at $19 a volume. I’m looking at singing some lovely stuff out of it, including works by Vaughan Williams and William Walton. These two are a bit more work. I have to narrow down my choices today so we can get to work tonight.

Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton on the issues – Washington Post

Eileen thought this was biased against Trump. I still think it’s interesting.

Justice Thomas, Reticent on the Bench, Is Effusive About His Time There – The New York Times

I’m not a fan, but I did find this interview interesting.

 Should We Be Scared of Butter? – The New York Times

I’ve been eating more butter, mayo, egg yolks and avocados, yet my cholesterol went down a bit.

Pumpkin adventures

So when we went grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon (!), one way I motivated myself to do something when i was tired was that we didn’t have pumpkins for Halloween yet. Damn. No pumpkins at Meijer. Plenty of Christmas stuff, though. I was too tired to look further, so on Monday I went looking for pumpkins.

Aldi to the rescue! But they only had pie pumpkins and four larger ones. I bought two of the larger ones. Then we made our jack-o-lanterns. Here’s mine without his mouth.

I almost left it like that. I sort of had in mind an owl face. But I thought it needed a devilish smile.

Here’s Eileen’s jack-o-lantern.

Jupe sells out

It’s ironic that as I resurrect my interest in performance techniques on harpsichord via my synth, I probably have alienated colleagues by posting a recording of myself playing on Facelessbooger. (I tagged Scott Tipton. He’s the dude I bought the synth from). I’ve had a few “likes” but I can’t help but wonder if the harpsichord people on Facebook have noticed. if they have, if they disapprove.

Anyway, the harpsichord stop is good enough to keep drawing me back to practicing music I love. This has included William Byrd’s “The Maydens Song” which I think is quite lovely. It’s in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. I’m too lazy to make a recording of this this morning.

I put the Fitzwilliam Viriginal book volume II in which it is found on my tablet yesterday. Scrolling is an excellent idea for these long pieces in the Fitzwilliam.

I’ve also begun re-examining the French practices via Couperin’s “L’art de touche le clavecin.” This is an important source written by Couperin about how to play French music. I studied several of the preludes he includes under Ray Ferguson.

Soderlund footnotes this edition in her annotated performers edition of Clerambault’s Premier Livre d’Orgue I mentioned yesterday. So I guess it’s still pretty up to date. Here’s what my old copy looks like.

Getting distracted online

I’ve also began casting about to update my knowledge of performance practices. This morning writing this blog I ran across several books and interlibrary loaned thenm this morning.

I’ve linked the Peter Walls book via Amazon in case you want to buy it. I don’t think any of my readers will be buying this one anytime soon. It retails for $193.49.

I’ve looked at Soderlund’s huge book before. It’s another expensive one. Published by Hinshaw, Sheet Music Plus will sell you a copy for $99.99 plus S & H. It’s not available through Amazon.

Soderlund footnotes Stephen E. Hefling’s book on rhythmic alterations in 16th and 17th century music: “for a thorough discussion of inequality and overdotting.” Although, it was published in 1993, I would be curious to see if it has any new info for me.

Why you’ve never really heard the “Moonlight” Sonata.

Here’s something I ran across looking online this morning. it’s about the instruments more than the performance technique. I didn’t finish reading it. I do know that the piano changed radically and rather quickly from being a light instrument not too heavier than a harpsichord to a much more sturdily constructed instrument.

Inside Early Music: Introduction

This is the full introduction to Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers by Bernard D. Sherman.

‘Going Flat’ After Breast Cancer – The New York Times

Important info.

On Clinton Emails, Did the F.B.I. Director Abuse His Power? – The New York Times

So hard to tell what’s going on as the election looms. This article is by Richard W. Painter who has filed a complaint against the F.B.I with the Office of the Special Counsel. He was chief White House ethics lawyer dude under G. W. Bush.

French Classical Music

One of my passions as a college student was the music of the French Classical period, especially music for harpsichord. I have found that while Bach and the English Virginal School can be realized to some extent on the piano, Couperin and his French colleagues do not fair so well.

Another book I purchased from Cramer was Soderlund’s annotated performer’s edition of Clerambault’s First Organ Book. It is an excellent edition with pages and pages of background and explanation.

It reminded me how much I miss French Classical Music.

After church yesterday I felt like I needed to hide. Instead Eileen and I had lunch, went to the grocery store and visited Mom. Needless to say by the time we got home I was exhausted.

Then I began thinking about French Classical music and reading in Soderlund’s Preface to her Clerambault edition. It occurred to me that my new $50 synthesizer would have a harpsichord stop on it. For kicks I began looking at the sounds on this machine.

Hmmm. I didn’t think the harpsichord sound was as bad as I usually think of electronic harpsichord sounds.

Then it also occurred to me that the touch on the synthesizer was more harpsichord friendly than piano. It is, of course, a very flimsy piece of equipment and I’m pretty sure the designers didn’t think too much about the feel for the performer of the keys.

But I began playing through some of my French Classical Music. When I looked up, an hour and a half had past. I was still exhausted, but I felt a small exhilaration to return to this passion.

I’ve also thought that it might be interesting to record myself playing a bit more and use these recordings here to show what I’m doing in the privacy of my little house.

So this morning I was motivated to video me playing some harpsichord music. After several tries, I came up with the one above. I put it here so that you can decide what you think of the sound of my fifty dollar harpsichord stop. I know it’s a bit pathetic, but I don’t think I’m going to be fixing my old broken harpsichord soon and I do sorely miss this music. It has little application to my church work. That’s probably a small part of its attraction, but mostly I have spent a good deal of time thinking about, learning and performing this music. it’s good to get back to practicing it even on a silly little synthesizer.

L’Auguste is the name of this Allemande. It refers to Louis XIV who was very formative on the art of dance and music. Francois Couperin was a court musician. There is little known about him except that he had a prominent career in the French Court and lived roughly at the same time that Bach did.

Bach knew his music. I would love to know how Bach performed this highly stylized music. Bach played with French bands in North Germany as a young man. Did they show him how to do their music?

Anyway, I plan to be practicing this stuff on my fifty dollar synth. Maybe I’ll put up more recordings. At least the synth is a bit better tune than my old piano.

Cruising Through The Louvre

When I’m in the library, it’s hard not to browse books. Yesterday I ran across David Prudhomme’s Cruising Through the Louvre.

This is an amazing little book. There’s not too much plot. Basically the main character is wandering around the Louvre looking at the people and the paintings and trying to locate his friend, Jeanne.

What I like about this book is how eloquent the visual content is. There is a fun relationship between the people looking at the art exhibits and the art exhibits themselves. Very clever.

This happens gradually. It’s not the case in the first few pages. Also, there is an unforgivable typo at one point where the writer uses the word, “know,” when he means “no.” But this only slightly diminishes the pleasure of the book which takes a surreal turn at the end. I won’t give it away here in case you click on my links to it (thus assuring me of a kick back from Amazon, thank you Jeremy Daum).

At the end there are a few pages of prose in which interesting statistics about the Louvre are given. This is a delightful book, well drawn and well conceived. Recommended.

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

Can you tell that the new book section at my library is not far from the graphic novel section?  This Alan Moore collection came out in 2013. I think Moore is an interesting skilled writer. I couldn’t resist taking this one home to read. So far, I’m enjoying it.

Jupe gets a synth

Ever since I mentioned to Eileen that it would be a convenience to have a little synth with a midi connection she has been vigilant to find one. Recently she did. Yesterday we closed the deal on this. Fifty bucks What a bargain!

It’s very light weight. I haven’t messed with it. I did plug it in and made sure it worked (at Eileen’s insistence). It does.

Dave Brubeck Church Music

I have always had a soft spot for Dave Brubeck. I have played his works in church and coffee shops. So when Craig Cramer was offering this folio of music by him for organ I was curious.

Yesterday I played through the first one in this collection and found it lovely. (Yes, that’s my new synth it’s sitting on in the pic above.)  I came home and listened to some of the original cantata embedded below while I treadmilled for 25 minutes. That was all the energy I had left after my Saturday.

The verdict is out on this music but I am curious about it.

Measure in Florida That Claims to Back Solar Power May Discourage It – The New York Times

So this whole business of “framing” or as I am increasingly thinking of it, “lying,” is ruining our public discourse. Makes me crazy.

Academia, Love Me Back – TIFFANY MARTÍNEZ

So this women’s asshole of a teacher decided she was not using her own words. I was sorely tempted to comment and mention David Foster Wallace searing critique of profs who cannot write much less teach writing.

Jupe’s Friday

My appointment with Dr. Birky went fine. I like him. I had a lot to tell him.  To bring him up to speed I had to talk about my Aunt Ella’s death; a dream I had in England and recorded in my journal; the visit with Sarah, Matthew, and Lucy; jetlag; informing my Mom about her sister’s death; and other stuff I can’t recall right now (Alzheimers).

I drove back to Holland and stopped at church to work on choosing upcoming anthems and practice organ.

Eileen had a headache yesterday. She needed to take it easy. After lunch, she went to bed. So I ended up doing afternoon chores by myself: library trip to pick up some Mom books, visit Mom, and grocery shop. All the while, I kept an eye on my devices to see if the dude who says he’s going to sell me a synthesizer messaged me that he was home and ready for me to come and get it.

I got home around 3 PM. Nothing from the synth guy yet. Eileen was still resting.  I managed to rally myself and get on the treadmill for only the second time since returning from England. Eileen got up. I had my evening martini and we ate pizzas and watched the news.

Troilus and Cressida

So it turns out that Shakespeare wrote a play called Troilus and Cressida.

I am reading Chaucer’s version of the story.

I found out this morning while reading the footnotes to the prologue to Shakespeare’s Henry the VIII. So many things to read, so little time.

Stephanos

I recently ran across the Greek word for crown in my Greek studies. Hey. I knew that Stephen meant Laurel but hadn’t figured out that it was a Greek word. My key translates the word as crown, but Laurel actually makes more sense in the passage where the word occurs. Socrates (Aristophanes’ Socrates) says that a flea that can leap from the eyebrow of fellow sophist, Chairephon, to his own bald head is worth of an Olympic “stephanos.” It seems to me that Olympic winners get “laurels” not “crowns.”

It’s all who you know around here

“It’s all who you know around here,” my friend Rhonda said to me over tea yesterday. She came over to play duets, but first conversation over tea. I was in a free fall mental space, stalled, all day yesterday. When we finally sat down to play, my brain was fried and I couldn’t play well.  Rhonda doesn’t mind, but that’s pretty much how my entire day went: free fall mental space. It was something to do with a busy Wednesday no doubt or as Ronda pointed out yesterday referring to my jet lat problems, “It’s hard when you’re old.”

The Newsboys Comment

“It’s All Who You Know”

Das Kapital by Amiri Baraka

Strangling women in the suburban bush
they bodies laid around rotting while martinis are drunk
the commuters looking for their new yorkers feel a draft
& can get even drunker watching the teevee later on the Ford
replay. There will be streams of them coming, getting off
near where the girls got killed. Two of them strangled by
the maniac.
There are maniacs hidden everywhere cant you see? By the dozens
and double dozens, maniacs by the carload (tho they are
a minority). But they terrorize us uniformly, all over the place
we look at the walls of our houses, the garbage cans parked full
strewn around our defaulting cities, and we cd get scared. A rat
eases past us on his way to a banquet, can you hear the cheers
raised
through the walls, full of rat humor. Blasts of fire,
some woman’s son will stumble
and dies with a pool of blood around his head. But it wont be
the maniac. These old houses
crumble, the unemployed stumble by us straining,
ashy fingered, harassed. The air is cold
winter heaps above us consolidating itself in degrees. We need
a aspirin or something, and
pull our jackets close. The baldhead man on the television set
goes on in a wooden way
His unappetizing ignorance can not be stood, or understood.
The people turn the channel
looking for Good Times and get a negro with a pulldown hat.
Flashes of maniac shadows before
bed, before you pull down the shade you can see the leaves
being blown down the street
too dark now to see the writing on them, the dates, and
amounts we owe. The streets too
will soon be empty, after the church goers go on home having
been saved again from the
Maniac . . . except a closeup of the chief mystic’s face rolling
down to his hands will send
shivers through you, looking for traces of the maniacs life.
Even there among the mythophrenics.

What can you do? It’s time finally to go to bed. The shadows
close around and the room is still.
Most of us know there’s a maniac loose. Our lives a jumble of
frustrations and unfilled
capacities. The dead girls, the rats noise, the flashing somber
lights, the dead voice on
television, was that blood and hair beneath the preacher’s
fingernails? A few other clues

we mull them over as we go to sleep, the skeletons of
dollarbills, traces of dead used up
labor, lead away from the death scene until we remember a
quiet fit that everywhere
is the death scene. Tomorrow you got to hit it sighs through
us like the wind, we got to
hit it, like an old song at radio city, working for the yanqui
dollarrrr, when we were
children, and then we used to think it was not the wind, but
the maniac scratching against
our windows. Who is the maniac, and why everywhere at the
same time . . .

Jupe Comments

“Mythophrenia” is not in the Oxford English Dictionary. The above definition seems reasonable to me.

It interests me that when I read this poem for the first time earlier this morning, I was struck by the lines:

“dollarbills, traces of dead used up
labor”

I love the idea of money being something dead and lifeless compared to the time in our lives. Then it hit me that this poem was title “Das Kapital.” The entire poem is about economics (as well as other stuff no doubt.”

The image of leaves blowing in the street that we see in the darkness as we peer out of our windows:

“too dark now to see the writing on them, the dates, and
amounts we owe”

Baraka has definitely made a poem, not an easy task. His beauty brightens my stalled morning.

Choosing organ music for All Saints

I have decided to repeat an 8 minute piece I learned for All Saints last year. It’s based on Sine Nomine, the tune for “For All the Saints” and is composed by Francis Jackson.

I am highly unmotivated for church work but that does not stop me from doing it as well as I can. I had to drag myself to church yesterday for what I call a “No Thank You Helping” of a rehearsal on this dam piece.

Jupe goes to the shrink

I have an appointment with Dr. Birky today. I’m wondering what we will talk about. I had some weird dreams in England but haven’t thought too much about them since. Maybe I’ll tell him I was “stalled” yesterday. Maybe I’ll wait and see what he thinks we should talk about. I’m in a better space today than yesterday but that’s not saying too much.

Paul Beatty Wins Man Booker Prize With ‘The Sellout’ – The New York Times

Another author to check out. He sounds excellent.

jupe’s facebooger policy

There was a meme that went by recently on facebooger. It was something chiding people for reposting things they hadn’t verified. This wasn’t it, but it’s in the same vein.

It’s very disturbing to me that people and organizations are looking to Facebooger for verified info. I rarely check stuff I repost there. Often people correct me. For that I’m grateful. But it’s hard enough to verify stuff that interests me, much less goofy superficial stuff I find myself reposting.

I am reminded of Neil Postman’s observations on television. Television, in his view, is about entertainment not content.

Facebooger similarly is about tidbits of goofy superficial stuff not complex ideas or even necessarily true ones.

I like seeing what people I know are doing. I like the humorous bits. But I don’t approach social media with large amounts of patience. If someone puts up something too long, I just move on. I’m not looking for long reads.

I do try to avoid reposts that are too negative.  So that even if I agree with a meme’s point of view, if casts aspersions on the opposition (Vote for Hilary you fucks!), I smile but don’t share.

Hollow words

I am becoming more and more convinced that so many people do not consider the echo chamber effect that permeates the entire internet (not just Facebucks). In addition the words they sometimes use seem to be redefined or should I say hollowed out.

In the Oct 31st Issue of the New Yorker, there is a portfolio of photographs of people which tells how they plan to vote and why. (Here’s a link, but I’m not sure it’s not behind a firewall since it logged me on automatically as a subscriber).

I read all the Trump supporters. One 21-year-old man named Peter Lyndon described his rationale in words that seemed hollowed out to me. Here’s an excerpt:

Peter Lyndon: “The thing about the word ‘racist’ is that every time it gets used it loses meaning. For the past decade or two, it’s been used by people on the left as a kill shot. That just kills your argument, no matter what you’re trying to say. You’re a racist and therefore you’re evil and therefore you lose. But I think people are noticing that it doesn’t work that way anymore.”

I thought of this young man and his ideas about racism when I was clicking through the articles in the next section about medical providers dealing routinely with patients bigotry, misogyny, and racism. I feel like so many people clothe their misconceptions in language that is bland and blurs having to understand themselves clearly.

 thinking about how a story gets reported

Below are five links I looked at this morning about a recent study. I was on Google news and trying to find the original source of the story. Often I notice that some news source breaks a story and other news sources basically pass on the same story either giving credit to the prior reporting or sometimes not doing this.

1.Racism in medicine: An ‘open secret’ – CNN.com

2. Researchers explore how physicians can handle discrimination by patients, families | News Center | Stanford Medicine

3.Exploring How Physicians Can Handle Discrimination By Patients | Scope Blog

4.Researchers explore how physicians can handle discrimination by patients, families | EurekAlert! Science News

5.How doctors can respond to discrimination from their patients

So the first link is obviously from CNN. They cite the Stanford report, but do some independent reporting from a couple other sources as well.

The next two come from Stanford Websites where the author of the study is going to school. The fourth link is a publicity release. Both of the people credited at the end of it have standford.edu emails. The last link is an interview and seems to be on some sort of Research online information site.

Google news time stamps these sort of reports. There were six links this morning when I began. As I reloaded the page a seventh one came up. Right now there are nine links on my google news page on my tablet for this story.

I find it interesting to read how professional people are dealing with others bad behavior.

Sometimes on Facebooger people will say they have “researched” something.

It’s hard not suspect that they don’t even go to Google news to search but just use a search engine with a few key words. God knows what they come up with.

Cut to the quick

Sunday night at the Oktoberfest we shared a table with a Hope College prof and his wife. They sat across from us. The room noise was loud.  At one point the prof (who teaches Jazz studies) politely inquired if I was doing any composing. Yikes. Cut to the quick. I replied that at this point I was only working on beating jet lag. He nodded sympathetically.

I have noticed that I do most of my composing when I have a clear final performance in mind or a clear reason to compose. I’ve been this way all my composing life. Before we went to England I was struggling to write a daily compositional sketch. One of my strengths seems to be working daily on stuff. For instance, I spend 45 minutes to an hour most mornings studying Greek. This kind of discipline can pay off.  After being reminded on Sunday evening I think I want to continue to pursue daily compositional work.

But I also have found that if I talk too much about what I’m working on, it short circuits it and I can easily lose interest and motivation. So all I want to say at this point is this morning I managed to do some work in this area, preparing for some more compositional activity. Nuff said.

Norman Dello Joio

I mentioned yesterday that I purchased a couple pieces by Dello Joio and was pleasantly surprised by them. So yesterday I poked around online and found out more about him. He began his musical life as an organist but only seems to have published a couple of organ works: “Five Lyric Pieces for the Young Organist” and “Laudation.”

I requested these and other music by him via interlibrary-loan yesterday. I love my library.

You Want It Darker

I made a playlist of the tunes on Leonard Cohen’s new album on YouTube yesterday. It’s on Spotify but i couldn’t find a play list of it on YouTube despite the fact that all the tunes were there. Here it is.

Scarlatti Sonatas online – legal or not?

 Several years ago I purchased a used set of the complete keyboards sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti from Craig Cramer. It is a very outdated edition. Recently I noticed that Kenneth Gilbert’s fine edition of the Scarlatti sonatas is online at IMSLP.

Unfortunately, it is not in public domain in the United States. When this is the case, you can still access it. But you have to click on something that says you take personal responsibility for any violation of the law.

However, if I access this on my tablet, I don’t actually download it. The music loads in a browser and I can play it from that. My question is does just looking at the music online violate copyright law?

I admit that I sometimes ignore copyright laws and go ahead and use what I can find online. I am excited to be able to use Gilbert’s much much much better edition (no comparison).

Music in the Mail!

Before we went to England, I ordered some used music from Craig Cramer. He sends out periodic emails with lists of used music, books, records, and CDs he is reselling. Usually I write a check for my order and get reimbursed from the church. However, we were a little cash poor so I submitted it to the church and asked them to mail Craig a check. When we returned I was sure a box of music would be sitting somewhere in my house.

But no. I waited a bit more and finally emailed Craig asking if he had a way to track the package since I hadn’t received it yet. He was traveling and promised to look into it when he returned.

Last night in the  middle of a piano lesson I was giving, my boss walked in with a box. “I’ve been meaning to give this to you,” she said. Mystery solved! Craig (or more likely his teaching assistant) mailed the package directly to the church.

What was in the  box?

Although I spent about $130, there was a great deal of music in the box. Most of it was organ music. But some of it was other stuff. There were two piano pieces by Norman Dello Joio. I played through this nocturne this morning. I think it’s lovely.

There was also “Three Sonatas” for four hands by Johann Christian Bach.

I texted Rhonda this morning to ask if she would like to get together and do some piano duets like we have been doing. I’m hoping this might entice her.

Similarly I’m hoping this nice edition of solos for “basso” by Frescobaldi will entice Dawn my cellist.

I also purchased an organ duet. It’s a bit more involved than the J.C. Bach, but I still think Rhonda might at least be interested in knowing about it.

Chaucer’ death day and Women

When I was visiting William Morris’s museum/house in England, I discovered that he and his contemporaries were very interested in Chaucer’s The Legend of the Good Women.

I resolved to come home and read it. I was reminded of this when I learned that today is the date Chaucer died in 1400. I pulled out the collection of his work I have been reading.

Sure enough, there was “The Legend of the Good Women” in it. But I remembered from my reading in England that Chaucer had written this work to atone for his unflattering portrayal of Criseyde in his “Troilus and Criseyde.”

When I turned to this poem in my collection, I discovered that it was exactly where I had left off last time I had read in this book. Thus if I continued with Troilus and Criseyde, I would be reading all of the works in order. So this morning I started reading Albert C. Baugh’s introduction to “Troilus and Criseyde.” I own an independent copy of this work that I might consult.

What The Christian Right Got Wrong About Donald Trump | Huffington Post

My friends Dave/Paul emailed me this link. I say Dave/Paul because my friends Dave Barber and Paul Wizynajtys are a couple and  share one Facelessbook account and probably one email account. I find this confusing, but I guess it’s their choice.

The Books My Dad Won’t Read? Mine – The New York Times

A family story.

Collected Works of a Poet Who Took Her Time – The New York Times

Bookmarked to remember this poet. I found myself more attracted to her work than the person reviewing her.

In Russia’s ‘Frozen Zone,’ a Creeping Border With Georgia – The New York Times

Weird. Russia keeps need a “little more room.”

emptiness of church experience yesterday

By the end of the evening yesterday I was quite disenchanted with all things church. The playlet composed by a vestry member came off fine. But I found myself feeling uncomfortable and out of place for the part of the evening when I wasn’t at the piano accompanying the skit.

I embrace this emptiness. It helps me realize that I don’t need to take stuff so seriously. i can sit at a table with other people from my church and listen, not speak so much.  I still get to come home, have a martini, and watch Louie CK stand-up on Netflix. That definitely helps.

Okay, maybe I should modify some of this since I did get nice comments on my playing for the musical last night, both in person and on Facebooger. My boss’s partner, Beth, even drew me in my costume (see above).

Also, I keep receiving nice comments on the music at church and my bulletin article. Yesterday two people commented on the bulletin article and one woman came up to our table last night and said how good the choir sounded that morning.

malleable or curious jupe?

I am well aware of the fact that I seem to flit from one interest to another. There are some days and today is probably one of them when many things seem interesting to me. Once my attention is caught I am almost unable not to act. Thus if I hear some Schumann on the radio, I find myself spending hours with his wonderful piano pieces.

I have been playing Schumann’s Opus 4 much much more slowly than this wonderful recording for accuracy’s sake. But I can still hear the beauty in a slow version. Curiously, Schumann writes a quote from Goethe’s Faust over a particularly poignant passage in the second intermezzo: “Meine Ruhe ist hin (My peace is gone).” Not sure what to make of that. He was only 22 years old when this was published. He had a couple decades ahead of him before he went mad.

I am easily influenced. This sometimes feels like a sort of vapidity or superficial nature. The blog serves a function in that it allows me a small place to discuss my current passions or curiosities without worrying too much about being boring.

I share the concern for the reader that David Foster Wallace and Charles Garner insist on. I think it is Garner who says you must not assume anything in the reader. You have to be clear,  thorough, and succinct. Thus how you use words is essential.

new  new york public library podcast

This is a brilliant podcast. You have to get past the person who introduces Atwood and Shaw. Then the fun begins. Shaw can rattle off Shakespeare at an amazing speed. Atwood’s mind is so sharp and her experience is so broad that it must not be missed.

This podcast is being taped the week of the third Presidential debate. Atwood slyly points to Bob Dylan’s Pulitizer as a gift to poor America at a hard time. She also manages to work a reference to “pussies” in her comments.

But the best part is watching her mind at word. Amazing stuff.

Also she reads from her new book a section of hip-hop-like adaptation of Shakespeare. Not to be missed.

Atwood’s graphic novel

Atwood is working on a series of graphic novels with Johnnie Christmas (as she says in the podcast, his real name). Who knew?

quote from today’s Writers almanac

Readers of my blog probably know that I listen to Writer’s Almanac almost daily. It’s hard not share stuff from it. Today is Denise Levertov’s birthday. I think she is speaking of writing when she says:

“Strength of feeling, reverence for mystery, and clarity of intellect must be kept in balance with one another. Neither the passive nor the active must dominate, they must work in conjunction, as in a marriage.” 

Finished Seven Good Years

I wasn’t too impressed with this book. Maybe it’s because it’s a translation from the Hebrew.

Trying not to take work too seriously

I have noticed that my daily life is a bit more relaxed if I manage not to take church too seriously. I didn’t get a chance to blog before church this morning. So I thought it might be a good opportunity to see if I could still write a paragraph or two here about not taking work too seriously on a Sunday afternoon.

It is on Sunday afternoon that I am liable to give in to what I have been thinking of as my mild pathology, that is being a tad too quick to blame myself for stuff or feeling like I have failed when in fact I haven’t.

 Lord, we beseech thee

This morning the high point of church for me was the choral anthem. “Lord, We Beseech Thee” by Adrian Battan. The anthem occurred where we usually do it, right after announcements, during the collection. This morning, they plugged the musical we will be doing to night at the Ocktober fest, “Stewardship, the Musical.” They had several of the characters speak in costume. As you can imagine it was kind of a funny moment  with lots of good-natured giggling and laughing..

I was pleased that we pulled the group back into a more meditative mood with a solid performance of this beautiful anthem.

Jupe the old man on Sunday afternoon

So, now I have done a service and a post service rehearsal (of the musical for tonight). I walked  home exhausted. I wonder how I will muster doing Sunday afternoon concerts after we get our organ. Maybe I will need to either rethink offering recitals at this time or make a point to baby myself after church until it’s time to go play.

Designing concerts

I have strong ideas about putting together programs at my church. I want to get away from the stodgy idea that one has to perform all movements of a composition or that different styles of music do not sit well in the same program.

This morning we went right from the lovely anthem into my Jazz mass setting of the Holy Holy. I have been taking more liberties with this music since we have been singing it for a while. I felt the movement from Renaissance to hokey pop worked.

When I played coffee house I often went from “classical” to “folk-rock” to other stuff. It always seemed logical to me. I especially like the idea (which i stole from an organ dude whose recital blew me away) of thinking carefully about the melodies in different (otherwise unrelated) pieces and matching them. This takes some cleverness. But the idea of using hymn materials (as so much instrumental church music does), opens up some possibilities.

Matching music themes

Just thinking randomly, the tune, Westminster Abbey, to which we usually sing “Christ has made the sure foundation,”

moves like the main theme of  Beethoven’s  3rd symphony, the Eroica.

Greek Studies

Part of my Greek study method is to copy over information. This morning I was doing so when I realized I needed to organize the various verb conjugations I have learned. After I did this, I realized that I have learned 16 ways that Greek verbs show their grammatical person and number. Wow. No wonder I have trouble keeping them straight.

HyperNormalisation

For some reason Sarah and Matthew seem to think this is a worthy documentary. Warning! I have embedded the entire two hours and forty minutes here. If you’re interested you might want to go to YouTube and watch it at your leisure. I watched the first fifteen minutes and am skeptical so far, but interested. My skepticism comes from the sweeping generalizations and observations from the omniscient  narrator. My interest comes from wondering if he’s on to something. I will probably ask Eileen if she wants to watch this together sometime.

The Heart Goes Last

It looks like this is my next fiction book to read. It was published last year. I believe Mark gave me my copy. It has been on my list of books to read for a while. I just got to page 31 where the main characters are considering entering what Atwood has dubbed the “Positron Project.” From the blurb and reviews I gather this is a trade off for people who have nowhere to live and no income. If you agree to live in a prison for six months a year, the other six months you can live in a gated community with everything you need provided.

The Seven Good Years

I’m on page 135 (out of 171) on this book. I’m not sure what I think of it. The chapters are a few pages long. It doesn’t seem to hold together as any sort of narrative. Some of the essays are charming, some not so much. At least one of them defied my ability to understand what the heck the writer was trying to say. Salmon Rushdie blurbs this book. But I’m still reserving judgement.

LISTEN TO THIS: Chapter 12 Almost Famous: on the road with the St. Lawrence String Quartet

I’m finally get back to reading Ross. He seems very taken with this string quartet. Ross mentions that they talk to audiences. I like that. They talk on this video after playing.

Thousands: a poem by Leonard Cohen

THOUSANDS

Out of the thousands

who are known,

or who want to be known

as poets,

maybe one or two

are genuine

and the rest are fakes,

hanging around the sacred

precincts

trying to look like the real thing.

Needless to say

I am one of the fakes,

and this is my story

Gatsby’s Theory of Aesthetics (commentary and excerpts)

My morning reading not only included Cohen’s “Thousands,” but also Amiri Baraka’s prose poem “Gatsby’s Theory of Aesthetics.” Both poets seem to be looking in the mirror and thinking about themselves as poets and people. In this essay/poem, Baraka writes “Poetry is not a form but rather a result… Poetry aims at difficult meanings. [It] aims at reviving, say, a sense of meaning, or meaning’s possibility and ubiquitousness.”

I’m very interested in human beings as “meaning makers.”  I do believe it’s one of the things we do, whether in the obvious artistic sense or in the more basic sense of interpreting our lives to ourselves and each other. Baraka goes on: “I write poetry only to enlist the poetic consistently as an apt description of my life. I write poetry only to feel, and that, finally; sensually, all the terms of my life. I write poetry to investigate my self, and my meaning and meanings.”

Writing of any kind can do this. We can use language as a mirror as well as poetry. Organizing our ideas into words and sentences helps us “investigate” our selves, our “meaning,” and our “meanings.” It’s one of the reasons I persist in this silly blogging.

Internet down

Earlier this morning I sat down to do my blog while Eileen was having breakfast with the alto section from the church choir. Suddenly my internet went down. Hmmmm. Yesterday there were outages. Could this be the final take down? I mused. My reaction was to say to myself, Oh well. Then I went and practiced piano technique for a while. I came back and the internet was here. Crisis temporarily averted.

David Foster Wallace on the porn industry

I finished Wallace’s lengthy essay/review of Charles Garner’s A Dictionary of Modern Usage. I thought it was a fun read. It kept sending me to Garner 4th edition and the Oxford English Dictionary. It also kept me laughing.

I thought I would start at the beginning of this collection of essays and just fucking read them all. The first essay in the book is “Big Red Son.” This is a euphemism for the porn movie industry which apparently makes a ton more money than the Hollywood one.

Wallace makes the industry fascinating to read about. He dedicates his essay to “between one and two dozen adult US males [who] are admitted to ERs after having castrated themselves” annually. “In answer to the obvious question, surviving patients most often report that their sexual urges had become a source of intolerable conflict and anxiety.”

Ouch. He explains a few pages later that there’s nothing more deadly than watching a ton of porn movies. “By the end of the Awards weekend, none of us were even having normal biological first-thing-in-the-morning or jouncy-bus-ride-between-hotels erections, and when approached even innocently by members of the opposite sex, we all now recoil as from a hot flame…”

My doctor seemed to think I’m in pretty good shape for an old guy yesterday at my six month checkup. At one point, she was quizzing me. “And you don’t drink, right?” “Well, actually I do. I have a martini every night.” Pause, then my doctor said, “I love martinis!”  Then she proceeded to tell me that she only drinks on vacation in Mexico and that one martini can make her loopy.

i like my doctor. Anyway, my blood pressure was good and she noticed I had gained weight but wasn’t too concerned about it. I will go back in six months.

My friend Rhonda was looking for an organ piece based on on Old Hundredth. I told her I had several including one by Purcell. She liked it but it was in the wrong key. I found some finale files online for a Brass arrangement of it. I downloaded it and used the files to make a Finale copy of the piece in G major. It will be handy to have this. I emailed it to Rhonda this morning. I am considering uploading it to IMSLP where I found the Brass arrangement. I also put it here on my music page. Here’s a link to the pdf.