“The mind that is not baffled is not employed.”
– Wendell Berry
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/25/one-liner-wednesday-gettin-old/
Category: musings
Bach fugue
Early this morning, I was driving to 7:30 Mass at a church that was a bit further afield than usual, so I put the car radio on and caught the cadence of an organ prelude. I immediately thought it was J.S. Bach, although I did then think, perhaps it would be prudent to withhold a conclusion until I had more than two measures to go on.
As soon as the fugue began, though, I knew it was Bach – and one of the preludes and fugues I had learned while I was at Smith. (For the other organ geeks out there, it was a Prelude and Fugue in G major, although I am not sure of the BWV.) Next, they spoke about how composers often borrowed themes from their own work or others’ work and played a choral movement that used the fugue theme, transformed into a minor key. (Maybe the US court system needs to hear a bit more about this long-time compositional practice.)
It was odd for me to think about my playing Bach on the organ. There is even a bit of wonder that I ever could. It’s been almost ten years since I have played on even a limited basis and even longer since I played such complex repertoire. Long-standing tendon problems in my right elbow led to years of physical therapy and finally surgery which we had hoped would fix the problem. However, I developed calcifications that caused the symptoms to recur, so I could only play for short amounts of time, not nearly enough to practice Bach fugues.
I had been still doing some accompanying for the choirs at our church, but almost ten years ago, we lost our church home, and I have barely so much as touched an organ since.
This spring and summer will be the tenth anniversary of a string of really painful life events, the aftermath of each still present in my life and the life of my loved ones in different ways. I have the feeling that these upcoming tenth anniversaries will be as complicated as a Bach fugue, but not nearly so organized.
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SoCS: putting in “put”
My Saturday is going to be busy, so I am writing this Friday night – late after everyone else is in bed.
Ironically, I spent a lot of time today with the word “put.” The Binghamton University Chorus, in which I have sung for 33 seasons, is preparing Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang for our concert in May, but we are singing it in English rather than the original German.
In movement seven, our scores used the following text, “let us gird on the armour of light,” over and over and over. Unfortunately, the word “gird” is very difficult to sing prettily, especially when the notes are high in our ranges, as they are in this movement. So the hunt was on for a different translation that used less difficult sounds.
After comparing several Biblical translations, our director chose to change “let us gird on” to “and put on us” which is easier to sing and to understand from the audience’s perspective. So, I spent a bunch of time today writing the text change into my score.
I admit that I only wrote it in for the soprano part, which is the part I sing. Fingers crossed that the other parts write their own changes!
The tricky part comes on Monday – when my mind needs to forget the weeks of singing “gird” and put “put” in there instead.
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This is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Join us! Find the prompt and the rules here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-1415/
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SoCS: My friend Angie
I have written before about my friend Angie. I’m thinking of her today because next month will be the tenth anniversary of her death. I’m thinking about things we missed over these years, such as supporting each other as our eldest children married. If she were still alive, she would probably be on the school board still, and I’d have a clue about what is happening in the school system, something that is hard to do when you no longer have children young enough to be in K-12. She would have supported me through the health travails of our elders and I would have supported her in the same way. Even though she has been gone for a long time, I still miss her.
Friends are forever.
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This week’s prompt is: acquaint and/or friend.
This is a February and Linda and Bee are joining forces. First, Bee’s badge and link: https://justfoolingaroundwithbee.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/love-is-in-da-blog-february-ping-back-post-rulessuggestions-week-4/
And this post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. Please join us! You can find the rules here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/02/27/special-edition-friday-prompt-for-socs-february-2815/
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One-Liner Wednesday: silence
“Not speaking is just about the most intimate thing you can do.”
– Teller of magician duo Penn & Teller on CBS Sunday Morning, January 25, 2015. For those who aren’t familiar with their work, Teller never speaks when performing, unlike the highly voluble Penn.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! http://lindaghill.com/2015/02/25/one-liner-wednesday-my-new-bff/
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SoCS: What is seen can’t be unseen
Once something has been seen, it can’t be unseen, however much we might wish to erase it.
Part of the reason I don’t watch many scary movies is that the images haunt my dreams. I can still remember some of the shock I felt seeing the original theatrical release of “Jaws” as a young teen and the way it haunted my dreams.
Some of the most haunting things I have seen have been family medical things. A look of terror in the eyes during an intensive care disorientation episode. A bad reaction to a medication that caused uncontrollable jaw clenching with resultant biting of cheeks. A child suffering tremors. Seeing bones through skin when most of the flesh and muscle have wasted away.
Even years later, these memories make me shudder. Even so, I can’t wish that I had not seen them, only that they had not existed to be seen.
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. This week’s prompt is scene/seen. Join us! http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-january-3115/
May as well finish up just Jot It January, too! http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/
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Again with the deflated footballs?!?
I can’t believe I am writing another post about deflated footballs, but B sent me this link today from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/sports/football/deflation-experiments-show-patriots-may-have-science-on-their-side-after-all.html Apparently, my rudimentary knowledge of physics coupled with practical experience with things like car tires is borne out by experimentation and advanced calculations!
This post is part of Linda’s Just Jot It January: http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/
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I called it!
Earlier this week, I wrote a post about how physics could explain the deflated footballs in the Patriots’ game on Sunday. I was just watching the evening news and saw coverage of a news conference given by the Patriots’ head coach, explaining that they did an experiment in which they re-created the temperature changes of last Sunday and found that the balls had their pressure drop one and a half psi when they were left outdoors at forty degrees after having been inflated to regulation 12.5 psi indoors.
Maybe the media and the NFL should have been reading my blog! 😉
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SoCS: contrasts
I attended vigil Mass this afternoon at a church in the town across the river. Everything seemed to be arranged to afford the most contrast. The pews finished in a blond or clear stain over a cream floor contrasted with a dark-stained wood ceiling with multicolored stenciling. The white marble, ornately carved altarpiece surrounding the tabernacle and the white walls contrasted with the deep blues and reds of the stained glass windows.
The silence after the end of the prelude contrasted with the loud organ and miked songleader and the congregation singing the opening hymn. (I’ll spare you the treatise on the techniques of leading congregational singing as an organist and the – let’s call it – discrepancies from the ideal that I experienced.) Even the contrast of the ancient instrument playing music written within my lifetime that was composed to be played by guitars and other instruments.
The biggest aural contrast was between the voice of the pastor who was presiding at the liturgy and the answering voice of the congregation. The priest is from Nigeria and speaks with a very distinct accent. I think that his first language was a tribal one and that he later learned English in school. The answering voices were speaking in American-accented English. Although the parish was founded by Polish immigrants – the inscriptions on the Stations of the Cross and the stained glass windows are all in Polish – the current congregation is largely generations removed from “the old country.” A recent parish merger brought in descendants of immigrants from other Eastern European countries and the entire congregation today was European-American. I find that listening to Father Charles praying and preaching makes me focus in a new way, exactly because I need to be extra-attentive because of his unfamiliar pronunciations and cadence.
There was one other thing that being at Mass today brought to me, not as a contrast, but as a gift. The Stations of the Cross, which are often paintings or bas relief, in this church are actually wall-mounted sculptures. From my seat in the pew along the wall, the sculpture of one of the men helping Jesus from the first fall was looking directly at me. It was comforting to see an expression of concern and compassion watching over me as I prayed with the rest of the assembly. An extra gift and grace for today.
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. The prompt this week was most/least. Come join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-january-2415/
Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions
And might as well add Linda’s Just Jot It January link: http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/ You can join that, too!
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What Is the United States?
Most of my readers are from the United States, as am I. This post has some fun questions for you to weigh in about the US.
Most of you are American. I can safely say that, because more than 50% of the readers of this blog are American. In 2014, Americans made up around 60% of the readers. So, chances are you’re American. If not, forgive me. I’m not American, either.
This is the first post in a new series where I explore each country that my readers come from, starting with the biggest and going down to the smallest. However, I need your help. I’m going to provide the most basic information that you can find, but I want opinions from you.
Are you American? Have you lived in the United States? Or have you visited the United States? Even if you aren’t, please read on.
The United States of America
It’s a big country. With an area of 9,857,306 square kilometres, it’s the third largest country in the world. It has a population of…
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