After grocery shopping and playing music for an hour and a half with my violinist friend, Amy, I went into a mental holding pattern for the rest of the day. I haven’t stopped like that in a long while. I read the paper and waited for it to be time to have a martini. Sheesh.
I neglected my practicing a bit. I’m playing scarlatti Sunday and did practice it some yesterday. But mostly I just went blank.
This morning I submitted the anthems for the Christmas eve bulletin. I also continued reading Finnegans Wake and How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart by Robert Greenberg.
I am reading this book mostly to see how he approaches introducing people to music. He writes in a very conversational style that at times tries for lightness and humor. I think he succeeds for the most part so far. There were a couple of errors (He says that the Agnus Dei is the same text repeated three times…. oops…. it changes in the last line). I like that he refers to America’s founding fathers as founding parental units. That has a nice ring.
My smaller laptop died this week. It stopped working in mid Facebooger. I contacted the tech people at church. The techie told me that Grace had used up his Dec extra hours and he would have to charge if he worked on it before Jan. He promised to look at it next month.
It may be dead.
We didn’t do much on the harpsichord yesterday (I went blank). But we did talk about the next step and look closely at some pictures of a voiced plectrum on the DVD that came with the instructions (actually has the instructions on it…. I printed them up).
Well enough. I think I’m barely staving off burn out. Sheesh.
Simon Winchester: By the Book – The New York Times
This is from Sunday. I love these interviews although there is an element of falseness about them. I was pleasant surprised that Winchester includes my hero Anthony Burgess in his imaginary luncheon with whomever he wants.
A Bad Call on the Bergdahl Court-Martial – The New York Times
The Bergdahl case is complex. I tend to agree that he broke military laws. But he seems pathetic, not traitorous to me.
Japan’s Top Court Upholds Law Requiring Spouses to Share Surname – The New York Times
Weird shit.
Alfred C. Snider, Prominent Teacher of Debating, Is Dead at 65 – The New York Times
I don’t read all the NYT obits. But this one caught my eye. “My agenda is to fight back the darkness by trying to bring the light of human reason,” Snider is quoted as saying. Worthwhile agenda.
The ‘Benefits’ of Black Physics Students – The New York Times
My respect for Chief Justice Roberts has plummeted to near zero (right there with my respect for Scalia and Thomas). This is a good sane response to a white bigot on the court. Albeit, Roberts is ignorant of his bias, but it’s obviously there none the same. He has no concept of how privileged he is.