Tag Archives: music

Graceful Ghost

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Today….today!  One of my piano students completed and nailed this piece, Graceful Ghost by William Bolcom.  She conquered it!  Playing the piece is like wading through nails, it has that many accidentals. For those of you that don’t play the piano that means lots of sharps and flats and naturals.  Generally speaking, white notes are easier to read (in the music) than black notes.  Look at the video and notice where his fingers are the majority of the time.

My student has worked on this piece for nigh upon a year.  Isn’t it the difficult, seemingly impossible tasks which, when completed, provide the most satisfaction?  Graceful Ghost caused tears some weeks, but great smiles today.  Bravo Shelby!  I’m so proud of you!

I don’t know Richard Dowling, but he plays the piece very well.  I especially like the rubato [the freedom a pianist takes with the tempo for expression]. 

So sit back and enjoy!

Thankful, Spring Edition

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Sky_Lark_e09-1-072_l_1

photo credit: National Audubon Society

Thankful, Spring Edition

Fair sunshine and small flecks of green,
revealing treasures emerging,
an opened window, freshened air,
the deep inhaling of this grace.

Sorrow distilled,
ache and agony
poured in one vessel,
yearning for relief;
You who gather tears in a bottle,
hear our prayer.

For reunions in the produce section,
full-exposure answers to politely worded questions,
so satisfying an exchange
that we wonder
why
we ever let our friendship drift…

For a cataract of books,
flooding my shelves,
swamping my senses.
I splash
and sing
and scoop them up,
drenched in delight,
mesmerized by the mist
of so many nourishing words.

Balsamic vinegar,
fresh-squeezed lime,
tangy smooth yogurt,
crumbled cashews,
aroma of cilantro,
pan-fried asparagus,
savory lamb,
sweet oranges,
a cup of cold water.

For a well-placed chord or two,
a progression that knocks down
any preconceived notions,
a new way of hearing
a familiar tune.

For nicknames and
the way they bore
through apathy and passivity.
The current that keeps cracklin’
when I hear his voice say
“Hey, Babe!”

The foreshadow of Easter
in the springtime cycles:
awakening,
arising,
blooming,
growing,
lightening,
warming,
returning,
rejoicing.

The song of the crocus and daffodil,
the squeaks and chirps and outside noises,
The solid joy of this abiding truth:
Winter is past.
Death is dead.

Awake, my soul, and sing!

~

“Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
my daily thanks employ;
nor is the least a cheerful heart
that tastes those gifts with joy.”*

* Joseph Addison

More Thankful posts.

 

If You Liked the TJ’s Video

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Check this out.  It’s the original song that the Trader Joe’s was based on; hat tip to Laurie, who sent me the Trader Joe’s video.

It is a Brazilian pop song (hi Hope!) called Aguas de Marco (translation Waters of March) sung by Elis Regina.  Interesting that the Portuguese lyrics indicate the end of summer, but the English translation mentions “the promise of spring.” 

Open the lyrics in a new window and you can follow along.  If I had a young student learning Latin or any Romance language, I could think of some fun exercises to do with this song. My guys aren’t crazy about this, but I could wash floors to this music, dance around with my rag.  Oh yeah!

Enjoy.


You will be humming this music later, I promise you!

Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra

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Last night I enjoyed a symphony concert with one of my piano students.  The program was Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor and Franck’s Symphony in D minor.  Our small town symphony has a tradition of bringing some of the greatest piano concertos to the stage. 

I like to describe a concerto as a duet between a solo instrument and the orchestra.  The piano (solo instrument, could be cello, violin, oboe, etc.)  will play a melody and the flutes (horns, strings, etc.) will play it back to the piano.  There are moments when the piano plays alone and the orchestra plays alone, but mostly they weave strands of melody in and out and around the varied instruments.

Last night’s concert was an unparalleled opportunity for a music lover in a small town in Oregon to see and hear a world-class artist.  Our guest artist is from Monterrey, Mexico, and has played in Moscow, Vienna, Los Angeles, and Caracas.  We had seats in the second row, with no one in front of us.  I could feel the vibrations in my bones.  There is nothing like live music.

You can see a sample of the Grand Ronde Symphony playing (not last night’s performance, but Tchaikovsky’s wonderful piano concerto) at this site.  Scroll down to GRSO and click for the full image.  The video is twelve minutes but watching the first five minutes will give you a feel for how blessed I am to live where amateur musicians play for the love of it. If you have unlimited time, the other videos are nice.  Wallowa Lake is the gold nugget of our region (and the setting for The Shack); the video for Eagle Cap Excursion Train traces our drive to church every Sunday.

If you only have a minute, watch this video and get this lovely melody in your bloodstream today.
  

Betjeman and Toplady

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This is an addendum to the post about altered hymns.  And an addendum to the post about WWII reading.

Last night I picked up Trains and Buttered Toast: Selected Radio Talks by the poet John Betjeman (pronounced Betchman).  Random flipping brought me to a talk about Augustus Toplady (how would you say his name?), the author of the hymn Rock of Ages. Betjeman’s words:

“One further fact about the hymn, before going on to its author: in my hymn books the last verse has been revised to start:

When I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyelids close in death…

Toplady’s words are far more vivid and less mellifluously Victorian: they are more characteristic of Quarles and the seventeenth-century poets Toplady loved:

When I draw this fleeting breath
When my eyestrings break in death…

I always sing that line myself, despite the rest of the congregation.”

The heat and intensity with which Toplady and John Wesley publicly quarrel is a bit of a shock.  Controversy in the church is nothing new.  One last quote from the article, an Augustus Toplady quote:

“The deathbed of a Christian is the antechamber of heaven, the very suburbs of the New Jerusalem.”

~     ~     ~

I am fascinated, intrigued and just plain interested in John Betjeman, a man about whom C.S. Lewis (his tutor at Oxford) wrote “I wish I could get rid of the idle prig.”  Yet a book critic called him “one of the pleasantest minor writers in the world.”

Several of Betjeman’s books now populate my wish list, but there is one I plan to buy soon: Sweet Songs of Zion: Selected Radio Talks.  From the product description:

…these talks concerning hymns and hymn writers were Betjeman’s swan song as a broadcaster. ‘Hymns are the poems of the people’, Betjeman observed in his first talk, and went on to show how variously this insight has been borne out over generations. Rich in anecdote and packed with information, these timeless talks will appeal to fans of Betjeman and newcomers alike, and will inspire everyone who has a fondness for hymns, and delights in Betjeman’s unique voice.  
 

A Light and A Glory

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The Song of Simeon by Rembrandt

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
A light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel.

~   ~   ~

This song grabbed my soul when I was 15 years old.
We sang this text in high school choir.
I have never found the musical setting of that “Song of Simeon”.
Every year I look.
When I was 15, I didn’t think to write a composer’s name down.

I wish I could find it.
Because I’d love to share it with you.
No Nunc Dimittus I’ve heard comes close
to the glory of the tune I know,
even though some are quite good.

Rembrandt’s painting is compelling.
I love Simeon’s hands and eyes.
Rembrandt capture’s Simeon’s heart full of joy.

Merry Christmas!

Gaudete!

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Sandy at Maple Grove wrote about Madrigal Memories, which brought up my own memories of madrigal singing in high school.  A madrigal is Renaissance music about love sung in parts. My audition madrigal, Come Again, has permanent residency status in my brain. 

Sandy asked about a favorite rare Christmas Carol.  No hesitation on my part: Gaudete fits the bill.  Sung by a boys choir called Libera, this carol captures the joy of the Incarnation. 

Gaudete! Gaudete! = Rejoice! Rejoice!
Christus est natus = Christ is born,
ex Maria Virgine = of the Virgin Mary.

Do you have a favorite out-of-the-mainstream carol?

Odetta

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This takes me right back to the late sixties, early seventies: Audrey, Ethel, and the black gospel I grew up with. This was mother’s milk to me, musically speaking. I practiced my scales, Hanon and Beethoven.  But I thrived on gospel. 

Odetta. 

She is the hero of my hero, Eric Bibb.
She has a regal bearing.  She wears dignity.
She makes you want to stand up.

Odetta.

December 31, 1930 ~ December 2, 2008

Yo-Yo and Alfonso

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This is for Alfonso, a reader from Spain.
Your recommendations have always been welcome.
I think of the DVD Dear Frankie.  Excellent.

It was an oversight on my part that I didn’t read the play Journey’s End.
I checked out The Best Plays of 1928-1929
from our library last night. As you can see,
the book has spent a long time on the shelf waiting for me.

It was a worthy read.
It made me think.
How war profoundly changes people.

When Raleigh reproaches Stanhope for eating dinner after their friend has been killed, Stanhope erupts, “You think I don’t care–you think you’re the only soul that cares!”  That took me straight back to the scene in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility where Marianne confronts Elinor for her stoic posture, when we all know that Elinor’s heart has been breaking.

So thank you, Alfonso, for pressing the point when I didn’t mention this play.

~   ~   ~

I am dancing-up-and-down excited!
Curt’s folks are shopping today;
they are bringing Yo-Yo’s new CD home for me.

There are lots of videos related to Songs of Joy & Peace on YouTube.

“To me, everything is about the relationship.
Music is so intimate that, in a way,
it has to get to the heart.
So if you’re [fellow musicians] friends
you just know more ways of getting to the heart.”

Yo-Yo’s New CD

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Oh yeah, bay-bee. 

Songs of Joy & Peace

Do you every listen to the 30 second samples at Amazon?
Follow the link and click on “Preview All.”
Stick around and see the six minute video of Yo-Yo and Diana Krall.

I am so getting this CD.

Alison Krauss.
Alison Krauss singing the Wexford Carol.
James Taylor.
Dave Brubeck.
Renée Fleming.

Four versions of Dona Nobis Pacem.

22 tracks
79 minutes of music
$9.99!

I don’t expect to love every track,
but I will be sure to obsess listening to a few.

By the way, ahem (blushing),
Carol means Song of Joy.
It has my name in the title.
I have to get it!

Video of Yo-Yo and Chris Botti play My Favorite Things.

Yo-Yo introduces the CD in this video.

Yo-Yo Ma.
One of my heroes.