This past Sunday afternoon, the day of David Bowie’s death, Eileen, I and probably many others serrendiptiously were viewing videos of his album, Blackstar.
Although the video above seems to have been released in November of last year, the wikipedia article on the album says it was released Jan 8, 2016. That would be two days before his death. Weird.
The analog converter continues to work.
Yesterday I made an mp3 of a radio show which featured my Dad.
The show is called American Profile.
The episode is from Nov 1968. Since there is now a magazine with this title, the radio show didn’t pop up with a few searches. Nevertheless I think this is very cool.
In Nov 1968, I was a senior high school student at Carman High School. Dad writes about this time in his memoir, Through Many Dangers, Toils and Snares.
In March, 1968, he attended the Urban Training Center in Chicago. He writes, “This helped me discover a new direction for the inner changes which were happening to myself.”
He describes the beginning of this training as “… trainees taking the ‘PLUNGE.’ Living on the street as did the street people with only $1.50 a day for three days… [As a result of the training] I returned to Flint with some drastic new directions.”
He continues, “The Church [West Court Street Church of God in Flint] began to think I was no longer THE PASTOR they had called in 1963… I came back … wearing A CLERICAL COLLAR.”
In this same month of that year, Dad was awarded the Pastor of the Year Award from the Men of the Churches of God in Michigan.
In October, 1968, West Court Street took a “vote of Confidence” on the continuation of Dad as their pastor. He narrowly won: 54% to 47%.
In November, 1968, Dad notes in his memoirs that Nixon was elected president. This radio program also aired that month. Dad resigned the pastorate at West Court Street the next year and moved to Ohio.
This is an excellent article from which every user of social media could benefit. It describes stuff I think about especially regarding myself after having used Facebooger for a few years. It was put up by Nick Palmer on Facebooger. Many thanks.
This blog post from November is linked in the one above. Good stuff.
I plan to keep an eye on this blog. As far as I can tell, to access his different blogs you have to go to the following link and look on the left hand side of the page for recent entries.
So you can see I managed to figure out why my computer wasn’t “hearing” my analog devices. Above is the mp3 I made this morning. It’s a flute duet with six movements. I think it is charming, but don’t know the composer. I don’t think it’s a student composition, but it might be. Comments welcome if anyone recognizes this piece.
I don’t know if you can read this. But there is a box next to the phrase “Listen to this device” on one of these windows. It needed to be checked.
It took me more than an hour to figure that out yesterday afternoon.
I played my little heart yesterday at church. Scheduling a partita for both the prelude and the postlude is quite a bit of music to prepare.
When I told Eileen that I thought the prelude, the Thomson piece based on “Shall We Gather at the River,” was a funny piece. She replied that she thought it was funny as well but wondered if it was supposed to be.
After the usual Richard Proulx Sanctus one of the sopranos wandered over to the piano. I braced myself. Being a choir director is challenging. One never knows what’s coming and often it’s not something good. She leaned over and said to me, “That was cool.” I think she meant that the way I had played the Holy Holy was cool. Out of sheer boredom, I went a little nuts at the piano and improvised a lot of extra stuff. I was surprised and complimented. Weird.
After church, a different soprano said that she loved it when I was in the kind of musical mood I was in that day. I told her I didn’t know what that meant exactly. Still don’t.
This morning I got up and made this Dutch Apple Cake. I plan to eat some of it for breakfast. I also improvised a crustless quiche.
You can see the freshly prepared bacon on Eileen’s side of this quiche. We didn’t have much cheese in the house so I sprinkled it on top instead of mixing it in. Inside are whipped eggs, cooked mushrooms, pepper, onions, corn, ricotta cheese, and some fresh spinach. I added a dash of nutmeg to this. I think that makes it good. Planning on having some of this for breakfast as well after Eileen gets up.
I figured out something yesterday. All last week my body was bothering me. I must have some arthritis in my left hip, as well muscle fatigue in my back and tense legs. Last week was the first time I noticed the hip pain while practicing organ.
But all morning yesterday at work I didn’t notice any arthritis type pain in my hip or muscle fatigue in my back or cramps in my legs (ain’t getting old great?). Adrenaline works wonders.
I’m glad about this. I hope it means I can stay an active musician for a while.
I skipped messing with trying to get my computer to “hear” my tape player and turntable this morning. I haven’t given up, but I just wanted to have a morning for reading and studying.
After Finnegans Wake and Greek, I turned to The History of Western Music by Grout. Although this has gone into another edition, I do own the sixth. After reading a bit, I wondered about getting access to online study materials for this book. A few minutes on the web site showed me that I needed some kind of registration to access all the online learning materials. I couldn’t find an entry through my Hope credentials.
I did however find much of the Greek music referred to in the first chapter on You Tube.
This seems to be recordings of music mentioned in the text that are available on a companion CD. I am fascinated that they think they know how this music sounded. I understood when I was in college that they were much less sure about how it sounded.
I was also amused that a Prof I knew at Notre Dame was cited about Boethius. Boethius was his specialty. His name is Calvin Bower. I remember looking for his doctoral thesis in the Notre Dame library and finding it filed under his first name. I brought it to his attention saying to him that he was so famous that they only used his first name. He was not amused.
I spent a couple hours yesterday preparing for this morning. I got a bit bogged down on the sequence hymn, “Crashing Waters at Creation.” This Sylvia Dunstan text is set to a tune by Sharon Marion Hershey. The tune is pretty good. Hershey’s harmonization, however, doesn’t seem to work very well. It is overly fussy and complicated with a bass line that is not that good. After working on her accompaniment for a while I decided to reharmonize it and make it simpler and easier to sing. I thought maybe this morning I would recopy it so I could easily read it today.
I pulled out my copy of Voices Found, the supplement in which this hymn is found. Lo and behold, I had already reharmonized it and clearly marked it in my own copy. Nice to know I’m at least consistent.
I note that my blood pressure is still doing pretty well. It was toward the end of last semester that it began to hover much higher. I can’t help but wonder if it was the combination of two jobs or that the college job was edging me over into stress territory.
At any rate, I don’t have to work at Hope this semester. And that is a relief both to my mind and apparently my body.
Amazing that so much time and money were spent and no one thought what the reaction would be…. also amazing that the people who put up the statue were so reactive and took it right down. Weird shit number three.
Still having problems getting my computer to pass on the audio that registers from the tape player. I can see that it is hearing the tape player but I cannot hear the sound and presumably my Audacity recorder (with which I made the sound file I put up yesterday) will not either.
I poked around and found some instruction videos about updating sound card drivers and followed the instructions. Still nothing. Another hour or so wasted. I unplugged the tape player (the on/off button seems to be stuck on) and will look at it another day (tomorrow).
I had an attack of good sense yesterday and decided to give myself another week to learn the Böhm organ pieces I want to perform at church. The problem is not these pieces but rather I am spending a lot of time with this weekend’s pieces, especially Virgil Thomson’s variations on “Shall We Gather at the River?”
These have some tricky parts but the challenge for me is moving from variation to variation in a timely coherent manner, leaving enough time for a pause that helps the listener understand what is happening and also changing the registration each time for each variation. I spent a good hour yesterday on this and will work on it again today. It’s cool music and I enjoy rehearsing it, but by the time I’m done working on it, I don’t have another hour just for Böhm pieces.
So I substituted a lovely piece by Naji Hakim that I have been playing. Here’s a recording of him playing it.
Many thanks to Rhonda Edgington for turning me on to this composer. He reminds me of a 21st century Durufle. High praise.
I found an easy “Procession” by Alan Ridout to pair it with as a postlude for a week from Sunday.
While I was diddling with the tape recorder and the computer, Eileen got up and took off for a breakfast with the other two altos from the choir. This is the second or third Saturday morning they have gathered.
I made a successful souffle yesterday morning. I’m finishing the last of it while blogging. It was quite beautiful.
Eileen took a good pic of it and put it up on Facebooger.
Notice the pills peeking out at the top of the pic. Here’s a link to the recipe:
There were a few problems with this recipe. The roux (the mixture of butter and flour) did not have enough butter called for. I wasn’t actually using butter since there was none in the house. But I still had to add some to make this mixture usable.
I also didn’t have enough milk in the house, so I found a can of evaporated milk and used that. I omitted 5 of the 6 egg yolks called for to lower the fat and caloric content. I used the reduced fat mozzerella we had in the fridge instead of the Gruyère called for. I calculate that the entire recipe had around 1175 calories in about 392 in a serving of 1/6 of the entire recipe.
As I was calculating the calories it occurred to me to wonder if food in cooked calories had a different caloric count than raw ones. I found this article which gives me pause.
I was surprised to find the brand name cheese (Cabot light cheddar) at Meijer yesterday.
I also skipped the turkey bacon and bought a center cut bacon instead which was a bit higher in calories and fat from calories. I don’t think Eileen will go for the turkey bacon.
I am thinking of making a veggie version of this for me. Easy enough to do. I will substitute some fakey veggie meat and omit the bacon. I think it will still be tasty.
This is a writer that interests me. I recently heard one of his stories read on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. He sounds just loony enough to appeal to me.
On the Media has a good episode on the gun stuff. It’s madness for the US to continue the way it is but of course our entire election system is broken. Kudos to the President for giving a shit.
I’m thinking seriously of doing some more cooking this morning. Last night while Eileen was visiting a friend and helping her with weaving, I made a lo calorie dish, Better than Classic Stuffed Shells. This morning I am thinking about an egg white dish. Maybe a souffle or a quiche. The trick will be to time it right so that it’s ready around the time Eileen gets up.
So, I’m thinking this will be a short blog.
I noticed that the recording of my clarinet piece (I think it’s my clarinet piece) has bleed through from the other side of the tape. This morning I messed around with the tape player to see if I could eliminate that. Nope.
Anyways, here’s the file. You can still hear the music despite the bleed through.
I then played the rest of the tape to see if I wanted to rip any more of it. It seems to be a recording of a Copland Clarinet Concerto followed by Litanies by Jehan Alain. I didn’t tape them.
I flipped the tape over. I listen to the beginning of the second side. It seems to be a live performance of a flute duet. I’ll probably transfer that to an mp3 tomorrow morning.
Mornings are a good time for this since I am sitting and reading and studying away from the computer.
Speaking of computers the church computer guy couldn’t figure out why my computer shut down spontaneously. I’m supposed to let him know if it happens again.
I think I am experiencing a renewal of interest in learning some organ pieces. Besides the Muhly I found a lovely Carillon by William Mathias I want to learn. Add to that a Bach prelude and fugue (possibly the D minor).
It seems to be quite a relief not to be facing the Hope campus next week.
I spent another hour or so this morning trouble shooting why my computer will not hear my new analog to digital converter. I can’t answer that question exactly even though I have managed to get it working. I tried a bunch of things, but finally I plugged the usb into a different port and it worked.
Then I discovered that the recording I was trying to copy was recorded at a faster playback speed. It took me a while poking around online to figure out that there was a little sleeve I needed to attach to the capstain drive (the thing that moves the tape along) to quicken the speed of playback.
I then transferred a clarinet sonata by myself. I don’t even know where the music for this is at. It’s awful cold on the porch to go find it.
I’ve only read a page of Finnegans Wake so far this morning. No Greek or other reading. Tech sure can suck up the time.
The chair of the Dance Department wrote back to confirm that he understood I wouldn’t be working as an accompanist this semester. He was very gracious and asked for my fall schedule so that he work me in then. I have been feeling very relieved about not having to be present at Hope College. Although the college is one of the reasons that Eileen and I chose to live here, it is, to say the least, a mixed blessing in my life.
I think it’s just too conservative and Christian for me to be continuing to seek to connect with it. Also, the internet continues to improve access to info that I use my staff status to get at. I am finding YouTube alone has an amazing amount of music and information.
By the end of the day yesterday I was exhausted. And that was without any ballet classes. I think it’s time for me to use my energy in other areas, but I’m not closing any doors just yet.
Eileen spent a lot of time preparing snacks for the choir last night. She helped me throw a mini thank you refreshment party after last night’s rehearsal.
The retired law professor (NOT from hope college) presented me with a gift ostensibly from the choir but actually from herself. It’s been a while since I have received an appreciation gift like that. This choir has never done anything like that. Eileen pointed out something recently. The community at Grace overall and in the choir especially is a far less well off group of people than I served at the Roman Catholic church here in town. They are less able to indulge in gestures of appreciation.
I hadn’t thought of that. I have noticed with some relief that these appreciation gifts have dwindled in my life. I’m not the best at figuring out the response to well meaning gestures like that. Janet the law professor gave me a copy of Brian Wren’s Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song. I don’t have a copy. It IS the sort of book I read. I thanked her profusely.
I have once again gone a little nuts and scheduled some music that will need some rehearsing for a week from this Sunday. I love Georg Böhm.
I now have his complete works. I scheduled the one Praeludium in C that I have played before for next Sunday’s postlude. For the prelude I am planning to play his lovely partita on Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht.
The latter tune is not one we know or sing, but it seemed to sort of fit the readings, all that Christ and light shit.
I find the music charming. I know my instrument does a certain violence to this music, but it does that to everything since its sounds are so crappy. I guess I don’t mind.
The author of this article makes the point that cooking at home can reduce calories and the consumption of overly refined, butter laden, foods. That is of course if one doesn’t cook fattening delicious stuff. I like the idea of roasting a whole cauliflower.
My blog hits are once again low. I made the potato kugel recipe this morning.
I finished reading Becoming Madison by Michael Signer yesterday morning. Now I need to type up my reading notes written on stickies throughout the book.
I know that librarians sometimes say this is hard on books, but it’s easiest way for me to take notes while reading a library book.
I emailed the chair of the Dance Department. He replied apologizing that he had not contacted me yet. Then he offered me two classes, both of which occur outside of the time parameter I originally specified last year (8:30 AM and 1:30 PM). I gave myself 24 hours to think about this. After talking with Eileen and giving it some thought I have decided to decline these classes, even though I could conceivably make the times.
I have found NOT having an 8:30 class gives me my morning which I treasure.
And the 1:30 time cuts into my weekly meeting time with Jen. Plus I think that not having to deal with the dance department will significantly lower the stress and extra effort it takes to do this.
I’m also currently doing some composing. The composing energy comes from the same place in my being as the improvising. I put my heart and soul into improvising as I do my composing.
I am gradually moving to a different place in my way of being. I notice that much of what I do goes unrecognized. This is probably inevitable since I have shirked so many normal paths of living out my art and life. I wouldn’t want to do it any differently. I feel very lucky to have daily contact with great art and literature. And actually I am experiencing a new resolve to simply pursue those activities that are most myself like composing, studying and learning music for its own sake and learning music to perform at church or wherever.
Maybe it’s as simple as losing some burnout and acquiring new resolve. I hope so.
Speaking of being lucky, I had a box of music arrive in the mail yesterday. I’m quite excited about it. It contained several choral anthems by Nico Muhly as well as an organ piece and marimba/organ duet by him.
Also organ music by James Woodman and the Canadian composer, Rachel Laurin.
AND a lovely Schott edition of the complete works of Georg Böhm.
This latter volume begins with a piece I learned studying with Ray Ferguson.
Eileen helped me stuff choral music into folders yesterday. We are planning a little surprise Epiphany refreshments tonight for the choir. I’m feeling good about this season, even though I only have anthems chosen through the end of Feb (Lent III?).
I have been ransacking the house looking for an adaptor so that I can use my headphones to see if my reel to reel is playing properly. I finally found one this morning. Now it’s on the list of things to do to bring me closer to continue recording tapes laying around.
I passed on the responsibility of reporting our copyright usage to the church secretary/administrator yesterday. I also asked her to make large print copies of the opening and closing hymn for the choir each week, something I have been doing for a while. And also to make a weekly copy of the psalm for the choir to rehearse from. If she manages to do this (and I don’t see why she shouldn’t) this is a bit more off my shoulders and will allow me to concentrate on other church tasks.
Such as choosing anthems. Which I also did yesterday. I have anthems chosen through February now. I also broke down and scheduled some pretty cool organ music for this Sunday. We are singing the hymn, “Shall We Gather at the River?” and I thought it would be cool to perform Virgil Thomson’s variations on this tune for the prelude. For the postlude I am doing a lovely partita on the closing hymn, “O Love, How Broad, How Deep, How Wise” by Andrew Carter.
Even though it’s doubtful that many listen to the organ music at church, I find that it wasn’t all that satisfying to simply improvise a prelude and postlude like I did last Sunday. Maybe it will be more fun with good organ. But I think I prefer scheduling actual music.
Speaking of schedules, I still haven’t heard from the Hope College Dance Department. I have been thinking about turning them down if they ask me to return. I was amused recently when it occurred to me that I work myself up to a bit of a low grade state of indignation about not being asked more in advance. Maybe they have no plans to ask me…. joke on me again.
Classes begin next Monday and of course I have no idea if they are considering using me or not. Typical stuff.
I have been struggling through the grammar on the second chapter of my Greek text. Finally finished it. Tomorrow I return to daily translation. Thank god. This is a fun look at teaching Greek.
Oddly enough, the number of hits I received on my blog yesterday was even higher than Saturday. At a time when I am feeling low, it is ironic that so many are choosing to at least look briefly at this blog.
I spent a fruitless hour this morning attempting to tape a second reel to reel tape. For some reason my computer was not exactly registering the sound.
I managed to accidentally uninstall all my playback devices (speakers and their configuration) while seeking the cause. When I realized I needed an adapter for my headphones to double check the sound directly in my reel to reel and couldn’t lay my hands quickly on them, I decided to put this project off for at least the morning.
I am planning to spend time at church today, choosing more anthems for the upcoming season and organ music for next Sunday. I have managed to get my 2+ mile walk in the last couple of days. I am discouraged that I have gained weight over the holidays, but at least my blood pressure hasn’t soared.
I also found some body stretches online that helped my tired back yesterday. I think I should put them in my repertoire of physical activity, since today my back is much less tired as is my entire body.
I have been listening to the New Yorker Fiction Podcast. Its sponsor, a web site building consultant of some sorts, keeps annoying me by referring to the result of using them to make websites as creating “beautiful”sites and other inflated descriptions.
Maybe I’m too old for this use of language. For me, beauty is deeper than most things I see on my screen.
This is an unfolding event. I thought this explanation was helpful.
Finishing up the book I have been reading on Madison, the author, Michael Signer, points out that by the end of Patrick Henry’s life, his use of demagoguery and inflated destructive language had made him an unforgivable enemy of reason.
It seems to me that many of our citizens act as enemies of reason. Maybe the notion of “framing” is itself one of reason’s enemies.
Sunday afternoon and I feel like shit. Not unusual. Both physically and mentally I am usually at a low on Sunday afternoon.
For the last two mornings I have made mp3s of a tape of a church service led by my grandfather Benjamin in Broyles Chapel Tennessee. I let the tape run while I read.
I’m not sure these are great recordings but they will do as a preservation of family heritage for a while. I will probably continue making reel to reel tapes into mp3s for a while. I have lots of them to do.
Eileen and I had to rush to get to church on time.
I was to meet with the hand chime ringers and the baritone soloist. We did a clever little arrangement of “Lo, how a rose.” Written by Mark Schweizer, it incorporates a nice little solo singer singing the words of the beginning of the gospel of John over the familiar hymn being sung by the rest of the choir.
I accidentally improvised a prelude way too early. I based it on one of the hymns, “We three kings.” After I realized I had done it too early, I waited a bit and improvised another prelude on the closing hymn, “On this day.” I improvised on Greensleeves (What child is this) for the postlude. It’s a lazy way to do this, but probably warranted on this Sunday.
I ordered a DVD of “The Hours” yesterday. I have been listening and playing Phillip Glass’s score for this movie and was curious how it is used in the movie.
I now have two days (tomorrow and the next day) to come up with a few more choral anthems for the next season. I have in mind possibly scheduling a Nico Muhly piece. I ordered a bunch of his music last month. It depends on whether it arrives in time and is usable in this situation.
Yesterday I had a record 64 hits on this silly blog. I wonder what that was. Eileen says I probably used a key word that people searched for. Could be.
Eileen and I finished shortening the jacks for the harpsichord yesterday. The next step is a big one: voicing the plectra. As I understand it this is a process that might continue for a while even after the job is basically done, continuing to adjust and refine the way the jacks work and the sound they make.
Madison based his constitutional vision for the USA on a presumption of virtue. Virtue in leaders and virtue in the people of the country. The constitution was ratified state by state. In the Virginia state convention for this purpose, Patrick Henry based his violent objection to a Federal government united under a constitution on a view of human nature that could be called Calvinistic if not cynical.
Sadly, looking at our present day mess, it might seem that Henry was more prescient than Madison. Madison maintained that via checks and balances and public elections, the people would rise up against misbehavior in its leaders and government. I have witnessed this process in my lifetime when Nixon was removed from office.
On the other hand, as we begin an election year, the “virtue” of both our leaders and our population is not evident. Goodness knows the term itself has lost currency.
The OED defines the Latin word as an ancestor of the English one this way: ” classical Latin virtūt- , virtus manliness, valour, worth, merit, ability, particular excellence of character or ability, moral excellence, goodness… ”
Character or moral excellence might be a good short definition. Certainly there is some selflessness or disinterested motives involved. Madison himself has a famous quote:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
Madison, Federalist 51
Of course Madison was attempting to build a Federal government and empower it to “control” the states via specific coercive powers. But I think his idea that we should control ourselves as a nation is key.
I fault the general population for not participating more in the process.
I fault those elected for not finding their own better angels or virtue to put the good of the many above the pursuit of their own interests of those who fund their campaigns.
But more than this I am concerned that we have abandoned the Jeffersonian notion that in order to govern ourselves (from either side: the voter or the elected government) we must educate ourselves.
The reasons for this are complex I am sure. Probably beyond my own ken. But I hearken back to Neil Postman’ idea from last century that entertainment has redefined all aspects of our society.
So that reporting of news and discussions about news is continually reduced to its entertaining side. This inevitably leads to the shrinking of the deeper meanings of concepts and words.
I witness daily shrill reductive arguments on social media. It may be that this is not a fair criticism. The social media conversation is stripped of affect and context. We lose both context of history and the context of clearly defined words. Essential meaning is torn away.
This is not to say that we can’t talk to each other any more. According to Shirley Turkle this conversation needs to take place face to face and within an arena of continually educating ourselves.
This may be what social media cannot do because of its own nature.
I discovered that my reel to reel tape player also works through my new Christmas contraption.
I have recordings of my grandfather and father that I really should put in mp3s and share with fam.
I woke up this morning realizing that the introvert me was relieved to have the holidays over. I feel like the person in the Friedman fable whose nervous system is on the outside of his body. Especially when I consider my own behavior in retrospect, I wince. I hope that I am not as obnoxious as the guy in the fable who insists that his wife not come near him or touch his nerves causing him much pain.
Ah well.
From this meditation, i found myself mulling and thinking up something like a poem about social media:
Social media is like a curtain between emergency room cubicles. Isolated and possibly wounded we are not exactly alone, not exactly together. We can hear each rustle, breath, fret. Some of us are hurting, some hysterical. We pass hasty notes and clippings underneath the curtains. Our true selves, our bodies, remain hidden.
Good morning.
Welcome to my browser with hundreds of tabs open.
I was very gratified yesterday to run down some connections between Finnegans Wake and Lewis Carroll. I think I have mentioned here that Joyce has an obvious debt to Lewis Carroll for the idea of “portmanteau words” (Humpty Dumpty’s phrase in Through the Looking Glass).
However before yesterday I had never read this in print. I was reading Gilbert Stuart’s instructive essay, “Prologomena to Work in Progress,” found in the collection of essays, Our Exagmination Round hHis Factification For Incamination of Work in Progress. (more on this essay later)
Stuart mentions both Carroll’s poem, “Twas brillig, and the slithy toves,” and Humpty Dumpty’s later explanation of the poem to Alice.
Eureka!
Even better I pulled out my Annotated Alice and found that Martin Gardiner back referred to Finnegans Wake. There is a lovely circle squared for Jupe!
Stuart, Joyce expert I have long read, turns several nice phrases in his essay.
“The boisterous joviality of certain passages [of] Jaunty Jaun [one of the two sons of HCE] will certainly offend those who hold that gravity should exclude buoyancy in treating of first and last things.”
Stuart is poking a little Joycean hole in overly serious religious people.
He goes on.
“… exclusive seriousness… is a color-blindness of the intellect.”
I know that I find myself blind when being too serious. Like when I am in the throes of an embarrassed introverted meditation on my own past behavior in the presences of others, eh?
I’m blogging earlier today. A lot earlier. I have done the dishes but instead of doing my morning reading I thought I would write here. This way I will be sure get my blogging in at leisure.
The big news for me is that the contraption that Mark recommended and Eileen ordered for me for Christmas arrived and it works!
I’m using it right now to quietly listen to an old vinyl record. This record is so old that Wendy Carlos is still referred to as Walter.
It makes me very happy that I can access my records. Admittedly I only have a small number left from what was once a very large collection. In a moment of silliness I sold off most of my records in a garage sale years ago.
I did retain some of them however and have even added to the collection over the years. It’s hard to resist thumbing through the records in thrift shops.
I enjoyed having company last night. I hope I didn’t drive people too nuts with my usual enthusiasms.
I think I’m going to wrap this up so that I have some time to read and study before people get up.
This offsets the heartwarming story about the president of Turkey who talked down a suicide recently. Good thing the guy attempting suicide wasn’t a journalist, eh?
We needed to run some errands this morning so I skipped my morning blogging. We are expecting company. My brother, his wife, my nephew and his boyfriend are due. Eileen has made a big pork roast (they are all carnivores). My niece is ill and she won’t be coming.
I am dragging mentally today. I think my family is arriving. I’m having trouble getting going on this today anyway.
It’s almost noon and I’m finally getting to blogging. Spent the morning reading and then having breakfast with Eileen. After breakfast we like to play boggle. The version that we like uses more letters and holds my attention better with its challenges.
I finished the book that I gave my grandson Nicholas for Christmas. Although I have some small quibbles with it and did find a couple of errors, I like Greenberg’s overall point: in order to appreciate music one must know something about the context of its creation.
In other words, history counts for something. In fact it counts for a great deal to me and not just music history. I was thinking this morning that I read a decent amount of history depending upon my current interests. Right now I am reading Making Madison by Michael Signer. He does an excellent job of combining scholarship with bringing the people involved to life on the page.
I believe Signer has in mind that we could use some of the genius of Madison today. Madison was not flashy or even good at public speaking. What he did best was strategize, study and prepare arguments. You know. Like writing many of the Federalist Papers.
Plus Madison was battling a demagogue in Patrick Henry who opposed the idea of a strong Constitution and Federal government. Some interesting lessons there for understanding today.
Context and history are what I find missing most in conversations whether I have them on Facebooger or in person. Being informed about context is a continual battle. Understandings change, evolve and refine. It’s always time for me to check on what the current thinking is on the past. As it also helps to keep confirming what I can remember as well.
I am always looking for conversation these days. I’m not finding it very much. Eileen, bless her heart, is a good listener and a good thinker. When the internet took off I had a dream about having conversations via cyber space. That didn’t happen so much. Instead social media took off (over?).
Social media seems to be largely about presentation of self and idle thoughts. Like the internet itself there are small corners in social media where meaningful shit can take place. I have a small hope about “The New Yorker Fiction Podcast” page.
I listen to one of these almost every night. I often have thoughts that I would like to share and questions to ask of the podcast givers and other listeners. For example, last night I listened to Tony Early read and discuss William Maxwell’s short story, “Love.” (link to podcast, link to pdf of story – you have to scroll down a bit but the whole thing is there).
Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker Fiction editor
Deborah Treisman and Early discuss the story. I’m curious if they heard what I did in it, namely a blatant reference to James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead.”
William Maxwell (1908-2000)
Maxwell tells a story about a beloved fifth grade teacher. The point of the story is that the teacher leaves the class due to a fatal illness. He ends with a description of how the teacher’s aunt refills the flowers on the grave of the teacher.
“But I know, the way I sometimes know what is in wrapped packages, that the elderly woman who let us in and who took care of Miss Brown during her last illness went to the cemetery regularly and poured the rancid water out of the tin receptacle that was sunk below the level of the grass at the foot of her grave, and filled it with fresh water from a nearby faucet and arranged the flowers she had brought in such a way as to please the eye of the living and the closed eyes of the dead.
In listening to this story I was struck by the love of the aunt as well as the students (one of whom is retelling this story as an old man). After all, the title of the story is “Love.” In the course of the discussion, Triesman asks Earley about the title. She wonders aloud if the story had been entitled, “Death,” how it would have affected the reading of the story. Early jokes that he wouldn’t have read a story by Maxwell called “Death.” That sounds like lots of fun, he quipped.
Tony Earley
But this got me thinking about Joyce’s story called “The Dead.” Then I realized how Joyce ends it.
Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
This is the last story in Dubliners and one I like a lot. Surely Maxwell who was the fiction editor for “The New Yorker” for a good long time made his ending conscious of Joyce’s.
Anyway, if I had been on the podcast Facebooger conversation when this aired in 2013 I would throw that question in the comments. I may yet since I am now following this podcast on Facebooger.
For me this is another example of context and history. But maybe (just maybe) I’m full of shit. Heh.
As often happens after a flurry of activity, I feel drained emotionally. This morning it’s hard for me not to review my actions yesterday and second guess them. Things like wishing I had played the CPE Bach prelude with a bit more control and nuance. Or second guessing all my interactions with Eileen’s fam at the Hatch Xmas celebration. Sigh. I try not to think in the two dimensional terms of introvert/extrovert, but I do see some of the attributes associated with the introvert in myself. Like being drained from contact with humans.
Yesterday went well. Amy played well. The choir did well. I had not put a postlude in the bulletin thinking I would improvise something. This worked out fine. The closing hymn was “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” which I already goof around with as the cong sings. I just did a little fakey jazz thing that people seem to enjoy.
I’m thinking of not putting titles for the prelude and postlude in next week’s bulletin as well. This would free up some time I need to get planning for the next season. With only so much in my “energy pie,” I think my efforts might be better spent on that.
Classes begin at Hope on Jan 11. I still haven’t heard if they want me or not. Eileen and I haven’t been working on the harpsichord, but I’m thinking that should go up in the priority list now that Xmas is over.
I was disappointed yesterday when I looked at today’s bulletin and the prelude did not have the title of the piece we will play today (A violin sonata by CPE Bach), nor the name of the violinist.
This morning it occurred to me to double check the email I sent to the secretary at church with this information. I was dismayed to find it sitting in drafts. I had not sent it! Bah.
The good thing is I know that this omission was my own responsibility. It would have reduced some of my stress yesterday to have realized this.
Poking around on my YouTube this morning I found this lovely thing. When I put Songza on this morning, it played “China Gates” by John Adams (a favorite of mine). Maybe these algorithms aren’t so bad all the time.
I had terrible leg cramps last night. This morning I found Eileen’s yoga foam roller and used it for a bit. This helped.
Not sure why I am suffering from this. But it sure does hurt.
I am looking forward to this morning’s performance of two movements from the CPE Bach violin sonata at church. We will begin communion with the beautiful slow movement.
I like the way these people play the first two movements (the ones we are performing today). Good tempo.
After church I am meeting with a father and daughter to rehearse playing tone chimes on next week’s anthem. Then off to Whitehall for the Hatch Christmas.
Readership is dwindling if my Google Statistics is correct. Be that as it may, I write anyway, sending words out into the ether of cyberland.
I had a severe leg cramp walking over to have Christmas lunch with Mom. Eileen who was already carrying gifts and a poinsettia from church offered to walk back and get the car. But being a true idiot, I insisted on walking on. We were a bit late for lunch. Mom seemed slightly out of sorts, confiding to us later that lasagna was an odd choice of menu for Christmas day.
She was a bit more alert than usual and suggested that next time i ask if a vegetarian dish was available. This amazed me. I can remember her difficulty remembering my son’s milk allergy. It surprised me that she noticed I was not eating the lasagna.
The cramp was a bit better on the walk back. It’s still bothering me this morning. I can’t figure out where it comes from other than general fatigue.
I have several things I need to get done today, most of it in preparation for tomorrow. I have invited my friend, Amy, to come and play violin on tomorrow’s anthem. Also we will be playing some wonderful music by CPE Bach for the prelude and at the beginning of communion.
This evening we have an invite to eat with my friend Rhonda and her fam.
Despite all this it feels a bit like a Monday, I’m tired but not as tired as I have been on Thursdays. I do have to start thinking about picking some choral music for the next season. The first rehearsal of the season is a week from next Thursday.
Oddly I spent a lot of time yesterday playing Phillip Glass on the piano. I discovered that one of my collections was partially edited by Nico Muhly, a composer i am interested in. The collection was published in 2006. I have just about played my way through all my Phillip Glass. It seems to be the ticket for post Christmas playing.
It made me think of Mendelssohn (to whom I also turned yesterday to play). I think this music might be more fun to play than listen to. Eileen, however, did not seem to mind.
As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,
Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;
Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.
“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”
With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.
For some reason this poem makes me think of T. S. Eliot’s image of Christ the Tiger.
Signs are taken for wonders. ‘We would see a sign!’
The word within a word, unable to speak a word,
Swaddled with darkness. In the juvescence of the year
Came Christ the tiger
from “Geronition” by T. S. Eliot
And then of course William Blake’s poetry.
We are not in the “juvescence of the year.” And although I still admire Eliot’s poetry, sometimes he strikes me now as a bit dry and dusty. There is a balance then in thinking of the passionate insane Blake.
Then usually I realize that it’s Christmas Day and I’m exhausted physically and more so mentally. Time to recuperate.
Robert Greenberg writes in such a goofy chatty way in his book on music history that I hear his voice a bit like Jiminy Cricket. I’m reading this book because I gave it to my grandson the pianist for Christmas and I wanted to know what exactly was in it. So far there have only been a few errors.
One aspect of Eileen’s retirement is that it’s much harder to keep Christmas secrets. Yesterday I broke down and told her I was going off to “see Santa.” Sheesh. In the past, I have been able to be much more sneaky about it.
We have a tree. It’s not decorated yet. I think I like it just as much undecorated as decorated.
Yesterday I felt as though I was getting my “groove” back. Essentially this means that I can see myself and my work with a bit better perspective.
However, I do start this day a bit tired from yesterday. I will need to take it easy today so I can do the two services this evening. I had four people missing from choir rehearsal last night. One of them had heart surgery yesterday. He is our youngest member and we all have been terrified about this upcoming non-optional procedure. Another member missing was his grandmother, the retired law prof. Two people just didn’t show.
In the words of Murray, “It just doesn’t matter!”
I think it has helped my morale to share a bunch of weird Christmas music on Facebooger. Many years ago John Waters did an album of Christmas music. It takes a typical Waters perverse sense of humor approach to a time of year that is (I say to my boss) the “silly season.” People out of control.
Here are a few videos I shared yesterday (sorry people who follow me on Facebooger, but not all readers here do…. there are links under the videos.)
The following video combines the 1975 recording with the later movie. I agree with the person who did this that the music is much better originally performed by The Who.
After nursing my dying father through a confusing (and in one case badly prescribed) pill regimen, I find myself more interested in stories like this. I take several pills a day myself. Sheesh.
I know about these laws. Do you know about these laws? We’re fucked. Thanks again people in the government who don’t give a shit about the public good.
