Some Musical Notes

This morning, as I was reconnecting favorite sites on my browser, I ran across a YouTube channel for one of my favorite musical groups, Ensemble Polaris (image, left). What a fantastic collection of insanely different musical instruments and styles. Highly commended. If I ever formed a musical ensemble, I would strive for this variety of repertoire and musicianship.

I’ve also been drawn to Sequentia above the other groups interpreting the music of Hildegard of Bingen. I can’t quite describe the sense I get listening to this ensemble. I feel drawn into a circle, a protected place. An intimate place. I was listening to this older recording yesterday. As I’ve progressed through Mark’s Gospel this Lent in my daily lectio divina, I’ve been finding the spiritual landscape quite dry. After toughing it out in Judges, this doesn’t really surprise me. But yesterday Hildegard offered a softening of the recent landscapes. Or seascapes. I never recalled Jesus spending so much of Mark’s Gospel going here and there and back in a boat. The overall sense I get from it is a dizziness, which likely reflects more my own inner spiritual seascapes.

Heading into Holy Week, I think I’ll plan to listen to more music. If I had an iPod, it might be easier to incorporate listening into my prayer time. As it is, hauling a player and headphones along with a Bible and journal seems too busy to be bothered with. One of my spiritual directors once expressed surprise I rarely found listening to music prayerful. He gave me Spem in alium, which I found magnificent. But music listening seems to me to stand off a bit from praying. Music playing, on the other hand …

Music for Holy Week, for the end days of Lent. What would you recommend?

 

Spiders For Violins

What do you string players make of the thought of utilizing spider silk for violin strings? BBC news bit and sample audio here.

There is a species of spider known as “violin spiders,” (image, right) but Shigeyoshi Osaki used a different species, Nephila maculata or “golden orb-weavers” for his instrument.

Bees for candles. Silkworms for the occasional vestment. Now spiders for violins. What other invertebrates are put to the service of the arts of the Church’s liturgy?

 

Parisian Thoroughfares

Since I’m reflecting on parish fun, I thought I’d share an image of our occasional jazz band, the Parisian Thoroughfares.

This was snapped at the recent auction/dinner/dance. Our singer Anna and drummer Adam are rather obscured. I’m not at all an accomplished jazz player, but I enjoy playing music for the sheer fun of it. And among the genres, there’s nothing quite as much fun as jazz, imo. Here was out set list:

Freddie Freeloader
How High the Moon (Anna)
All Blues
Take the A Train
Lullaby of Birdland (Jeremiah)
Mr P.C.
Girl from Ipanema (Jeremiah)
Blue Monk
All of Me
It’s only a paper moon (Anna)
Baby Its Cold Outside (Anna, Jeremiah)
Blue Trane
Song For My Father

Vocals in parentheses. Jeremiah plays a fantastic trumpet. Plus his vocals are always fun. On his duet with Anna, they both had cocktail glasses with apple juice. So if you know that song from Elf or from a prior generation, you’ll appreciate the spirit of fun on that one. Brandon, on alto sax, was in my Tobit band. Sean on bass is the most experienced jazz player in our group.

 

A Musical Adventure/Interlude

Last night I went clubbing for the first time in years, if not decades. My cousin Sam from back east was passing through Iowa on the way to a week-long series of gigs in Colorado with his band, Thunder Body. “Roots reggae and experimental dub” is how they describe it. Very definitely 21st century music. My cousin is a really fine player. He’s pretty seamless with this band, for having other musical territory of his own, and for being new to the line-up. I like the blues feel he brings to the genre.

My brother gave me the heads-up, so it was a fairly busy Saturday night–why not pile a road trip to Des Moines on top of a long day? (Church musicians and liturgists are not made for twenty-hour days topped by very loud music in a club until nearly 1:30AM.) My Iowa sister-in-law came too. We had a nice chat about music and family on the ride home. Whenever I hear good music, I’m less moved to dance and more to play. Actually, that’s even true of classical concerts. The instinct to play runs deep. Must be a family thing, my sis said. It would be way cool to jam with many of my musical cousins. (Like this one.) Can’t think of any other sort of family reunion I’d rather go to.

Ah well. It’s great to be living in the 21st century and enjoying all kinds of music.

 

Express Yourself

One of our students accompanied the 7pm Sunday Mass, and I got to spend Supe Sunday with the family for the first time in a few years. The game was entertainment enough for me, though I rather dislike both teams. When it was 17-15, I was rooting for a Giants safety to tie the score. I wanted to see unusual and strange things on the field.

The Super Bowl had its first Quidditch moment ever, with a team intentionally conceding a touchdown to give itself more than a ghost of a chance of winning the game at the very end. I can’t imagine that happening in hockey, baseball, or soccer.

When I checked some post-game commentary online, there was a lot of chatter about the middle finger gesture which we all missed (at my house, anyway).

You know, back in my day, artists protested with forbidden songs and corporate flipped the bird in response, powerless. Today, I’m not sure that corporate doesn’t approve of these activities. An artist like M.I.A. expresses herself and pumps up her sales and her big media handlers are probably pleased with the attention. It doesn’t do a whole lot for her pet causes. After all, we didn’t get an image of a starving Asian child. Whew, says corporate. We just got the same gesture shared among bullies and the victims of just about every First World school in the world that speaks the language of sex and a finger. So she doesn’t give a spit; neither do her bosses.

I don’t feel thrilled with Madonna’s final “World Peace” in lights either. Nice thought. But what does it mean, in the context? Nice songs about expressing oneself, and a nod to a prayer. But this is century21 football and Big Spectacle.

I probably shouldn’t be so hard on Madonna and her NextGen musical posse. It’s less about sheer talent, and more about entertainment. This was, after all, the high altar of American sport. If you want concern for the poor, you need real religious missioners, peace-and-justice folks, and activists. Super Bowl Sunday is about entertainment under tight corporate control, and with just enough edge to keep you coming back for more next time, rather than leave the scene entirely and set up camp among the needy.

Happy football for another year, people.

 

Philip Glass at 75

Iowa State’s music & theatre department hosted a “75th Birthday Celebration” tonight. My wife and I left the young miss at home and enjoyed an evening of music. I’ve enjoyed listening to Philip Glass since the mid-80′s. When I saw his Ensemble in Rochester about two-point-five decades ago, it was one of my most enjoyable concert experiences. I would say it is still a top-twenty today.

Two impressions from tonight: breathing hands and melancholy.

In the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, I sat close enough to watch the musicians play. Pianists, string players, and saxophonist: it was like entering a trance to watch their hands and fingers. Most of the players looked relaxed, and the music breathed. And I got the sense of breath in the hands when I watched them play. Though one or two players looked nervous and a bit brittle.

With compositions sampled from five decades, the overarching theme was one of melancholy, but a subtext of playfulness. Here’s the line-up:

• Orphée Suite (movements ii, iv, and vii) performed by Sophia Ahmad, piano
• Gradus performed by Colin Young, saxophone
• The Poet Acts & movement iii from Mishima String Quartet No. 3, performed by the Rex Repetere Cello Quartet
• String Quartet No. 5, performed by the Belin Quartet
• Knee Play 2 from Einstein on the Beach performed by violinist Jonathan Sturm with sequences from the film Koyaanisqatsi
• Mad Rush, performed by Nicholas Roth, piano

The programming was outstanding. Piano pieces bookmarked the event. I liked the Orphée excerpts, and they were competently rendered. This arrangement is typical of later Philip Glass, and reminded me of the Metamorphosis pieces from his 1988 disk of solo piano music. Also on that disk is an earlier work, “Mad Rush,” which was a fitting conclusion to this concert. Nicholas Roth “gets” Glass. No other way to describe it. More than any of the other players, I saw the breathing of the piece in watching the pianist’s hands.

The full String Quartet No. 5 was the centerpiece. From 1991, it had the most variety in style and mood. Like any Glass work, it has a heavy strain of lament, but with a wink of playfulness about it. I’m less familiar with the string quartets (I think Glass has composed nearly a dozen) but this piece was engaging, ever surprising, and artistically rendered.

The two brief pieces from the cello quartet were warm and enjoyable.

Gradus was composed in 1968 for Glass’ longtime collaborator Jon Gibson. Early minimalism, and delightfully unpredictable.

Dr Sturm had perhaps the most virtuoso performance of the night. He accompanied video sequences from the film Koyaanisqatsi. I didn’t get to see the hands there as much as watch the lament of the overly busy modern life.

I love living in a university town with musical experiences like this.

 

Don’t Forget To Write on the Wall Today

The young miss is older, so this home blessing doesn’t get the mileage it once did.

Another one is here. But don’t forget the singing.

I like this dialogue from it:

ONE: Peace be to this house!

ALL: And to all who live here!

More detailed rubrics on the actual inscription, plus Psalm 72 here.

Most importantly: don’t forget the singing. Maybe something of the American tradition, very nicely rendered here. Or something a bit older, like here.

 

The Glory of the Father

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5, NRSV)

For Christmas reflection, I thought I’d link one of many versions of this choral chestnut from the pen of Egil Hovland. When I did it with an even smaller choir a dozen years ago, we took it a bit more uptempo. But I think the high school people in the video have a better blend and diction. There’s just something sparkling about young voices. I can say that with double sincerity as I’ve nearly lost mine this week and I’m grateful I don’t have to sing at all this weekend.

Posting likely scarce the next two days or three. Two winter bugs have been making their way through the family unit. The young miss and I have been exceedingly generous to one another and to my wife the past nine or ten days. Family sharing: isn’t it great?

Also great is having only three liturgies to oversee this weekend. The young miss and I may have the time and energy to finally put up the Christmas tree this morning. Our other family member has been hit particularly hard by the flu. We were invited to my sister-in-law’s for Christmas dinner, but I’m afraid that hour-long drive might not come to pass. I’m feeling better for the first time in days, and I even managed to bake a loaf of bread yesterday. I feel sure I have the energy for two liturgies today, but I’ve never spent any part of a Christmas apart from my wife. If need be, I’ll hit the store on the way home tomorrow and muster up a chicken dinner.

Meanwhile, let a medieval monastic antiphon echo through your Christmas celebrations:

Let us dance with delight in the Lord and let our hearts be filled with rejoicing, For eternal salvation has appeared on the earth, alleluia.

 

Calling Doctor Hildegard

This news was welcome to read. I saw it referenced at the Anchoress’s pad as well as the Chant Café.

The Holy Father:

She brought a woman’s insight to the mysteries of the faith. In her many works she contemplated the mystic marriage between God and humanity accomplished in the Incarnation, as well as the spousal union of Christ and the Church. She also explored the vital relationship between God and creation, and our human calling to give glory to God by a life of holiness and virtue.

I have a handful of recordings, mostly by Sequentia, of the works of Hildegard. I confess I found the first disc of theirs difficult to absorb–maybe it was about fifteen years ago. It languished on my shelf for a number of years after a first listen. But over time, as I’ve read more of this saint’s texts and engaged the music, I find them more illuminating. My favorite is this disc Ordo Virtutum, a morality play on virtues. I found this gem in the $1 clearance rack at HalfPrice Books in the Twin Cities earlier this summer. Amazing.

 

Pie Jesu, Don’t They Know Their Music?

An interesting episode retold where a prominent conservative insists on having the Pie Jesu sung at his wedding. I was reminded of a recent p0st on PrayTell (can’t find it) where another priest bemoaned a few encounters with neo-traditional Catholics. Another wedding with the funeral chants. Being greeted by a young Catholic, “Dominus vobiscum!” Appreciating tradition means you actually have to know about it. And not just use it for window dressing.

 

Enjoy the Viola da Gamba

My friends know I enjoy early music. I really appreciate small ensembles. This YouTube video features about a half hour of the fine musician Jordi Savall. If I were younger, I would covet a viola da gamba. Remarkably versatile instrument. Of course, in the hands of a master …

A few pieces on this video are sung by the late Montserrat Figueras, his wife. Their son plays the theorbo and daughter the harp. Nice blend of instruments, and very tasty music.

 

Observing Saint Cecilia Day

I hope you church musicians in the readership celebrated St Cecilia Day well. Over the lunch hour, I attended an organ recital at our mother parish. My friend Bob Hauser is a superlative pastoral musician, and he treated a few hundred people to a very nice program of J.S. Bach, the French tradition, and a few choice chestnuts from the repertoire.

The unsung heroes of liturgical reform are not the embittered minority who always have something about which to complain. The real heroes include people like Bob, who enjoys a clear affection from the school children, and who can clearly draw several dozen resident parishioners for a very enjoyable 45 minutes of music. Bob is always on the lookout for better music (not an easy task in these days of MR3). He strikes me as ever eager to improve his own artistry and craft. And for that, I admire him as a consummate professional, and as a brother musician.

Our sainted violinist is surely nodding in approval at such efforts.

 

The Next Project

My family might shudder, and my staff colleagues may worry, but it’s time to consider the next musical project. It’s only been five days since strike, and already I’m itching to get back to the task.

Susanna: The pros are that it’s a great story, and that I can freely borrow from the Psalter and other parts of the Bible. My thinking is to adapt Proverbs 31:10-31 for the first song, splitting it in two. The first part will be sung by a women’s chorus, and the second by husband Joakim. I’ve already scanned the Psalms for supplemental material, including the 17th for a song for Susanna under suspicion, and a lament for Joakim here:

For it is not an enemy that reviled me –
that I could bear –
Not a foe who viewed me with contempt,
from that I could hide.
But it was you, my other self,
my comrade and friend,
You, whose company I enjoyed,
at whose side I walked
in the house of God. (Psalm 55:13-15)

Psalm 9 would make a great finale. No question.

The challenge is how to manage a reconciliation of Susanna with her disbelieving husband. It strains belief for a modern audience that people who would turn on her so easily would find themselves in her good graces very soon after her vindication. But perhaps I overthink this.

The cast suggested I try Ruth, which I outlined a number of years ago just for this eventuality. I returned to work on it a bit last night, and I found it a little deeper and richer than I did earlier. Supposedly, it precedes the psalms, so supplemental material to flesh out the songs will have to come from the Torah or from my own imagination. One of the students quizzed me on how I would handle Ruth going to Boaz’s bed. Honestly, I said.

I was thinking of trying my hand at an opera, but I think I’ll save Saint Paul for another year.

Another friend suggested Esther. But the VeggieTales version is still in my head. Judith, on the other hand …

Speaking of alternate versions, I finally gave a listen to the other musical based on the book of Tobit. Two nice high school performances came up when I did a YouTube search for “Tobit the Musical.” I knew of this piece when I lived in Kansas City, but I intentionally avoided a listen until today. An interesting idea to treat Tobit’s charity to the dead as an obsession. A lot more dialogue than in my version. From the audio clips on cd baby, I think I utilize more jazz, blues, and way less C&W influences.

 

 

The Accompanist’s Journal

I kept a journal in the early days of Tobit rehearsals. I wanted to record and remember my observations of a new experience. Writing and performing a musical is a different experience, and for me, one that still needs testing to be in alignment with the Called and Gifted process of discerning.

In blending together the gifts of writing and music, I adhere to the notion that good feelings alone aren’t indicators of a good path. In any performance medium, the artist is bound to get good strokes. This is true even in liturgical music. I try to keep positive comments in perspective not from a sense of false modesty. (Even my blogosphere foils discern me as “arrogant.”) Positive regard is nice, but it doesn’t further the grace of the Holy Spirit.

With four rehearsals this week, I was relieved to have last night off. The good thing (for me) about liturgical music is that there isn’t a repetition of twenty-three songs every night. When a piece returns after several weeks or months, it feels fresh to me. Not so the musical experience. I should know my own songs–I’ve been playing them enough the past two months. But Wednesday night was a first: starting song number 22 when the script called for number 3.

I have to learn a new way of playing and personal preparation for all this. Dress rehearsal is getting recorded tonight in video and sound. I’ll be nervous. Hopefully the cast will transcend their jitters and be really ready for Saturday and Sunday.

 

Day Trippers

The young miss and I are planning a day trip tomorrow to one of her childhood homes. This will likely be the last post till Tuesday. (Unless Neil chips in with something.)

Long rehearsal tonight. I’m glad for having lost my extra weight because I seem to have almost limitless energy for these long days. Fifteen hours–that’s more like a day of Holy Week. But we’ve now pieced together the entire production beginning to end. Ten rehearsals left to polish things.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy spending a relaxing day tomorrow with my daughter. She’s drifted off to high school life somewhat, but I know that days like these will come more infrequently as she gets deeper into the usual adolescent stuff: clubs, trips, boyfriends, and so on.

Car gassed up. Hit the bank early tomorrow to get some cash. Then you won’t see me.