Heartbeat

I am reminded today of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, when the french horns pulse with a heartbeat, the harmonies of the orchestra enter as partial phrases which create anticipation, and then the heavens open forth with the voices of humanity.

Tempus

I've known this for awhile but am now able to articulate that I am and always have been multi-dimensional in disciplines and time zones.  As exhausting as it can be, I revel and thrive in this broad range.

I can do that

...or maybe I can't: rather than sending an email I went to the teacher and said that I could not participate in an annual event due to a previous commitment. I just cannot send written regrets for important events - I need to speak either in person or on the phone. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Earlier in the week I presided over a Board meeting with a full agenda. We are getting things done. Also gave a talk to a graduate class and illustrated considerations of professional practice that extend beyond analysis and drawings. It's about developing an idea and transforming it into something real, tangible, and useful. I admired the campus and energy devoted to learning. I need to be close to places like this, places that expand the mind.

Well on the way to the southbay I could take a detour and pick up a ticket to a performance by a group I haven't heard in a few years. Interesting program, great performers, new hall. Would be good to check it out.

I felt the power of songs from the soul, guitar, rhythm and flamenco. Blows me away every time. Head and heart became full.

So the next day I skipped getting the ticket to the upcoming performance. Too expensive and too far anyway. Could use the funds for another purpose. I'll make another opportunity to see the new concert hall later.

Spun (spinned?) fiber: 1/4 oz in fingering-weight 2-ply. I plan to spin another 1/4 oz in thicker, worsted-weight, 2-ply. Then I'll spin another 1/2 oz into a 3-ply. Plies are supported long draw.

Worked on making drums. I forgot how much finessing and craft was required to fit the heke on the 'olo. Ran out of patience. Need to find another time to continue this project. At least my lungs survived the process.

Went to see an exhibit on a whim. Well, a whim planned several weeks ago. Tactile experience of books - covers, pages, images - enhances the words and the time needed to experience the thoughts conveyed by the words. Artists and binders stood at the tables and answered questions about their creative process. I saw a few books I would have loved to acquire. Yet I asked the price of only one and then knew that this experience needed to remain with me in spirit because I could not afford to keep this beautiful speciman of art and thought. But my hands, heart and head learned what pleased them.

Finalized and sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors. Represent.

All in a week.

Seattle (revolving doors for some people...but not for me) here I come.

Santa Clara here I come.

Voice inside

Auwe.
Montserrat Figueras RIP.

Depth in a flight

Davitt Moroney performed Bach's 6 French Suites this afternoon on a "flight" of harpsichords in Hertz Hall, Berkeley. They were grand: 3 of them on the stage, each made by John Phillips (Berkeley) in 1995, 1998, and 2010, and based on famous antiques by Ruckers(Antwerp)-Blanchet(Paris)-Taskin(Paris) in the late 17th-18th century, Dumont (Paris) in 1707, and Grabner (Dresden) in 1722, respectively.

Moroney spoke about the relationship between composer, country, musical style, and instrument. He also spoke about the relationship between composer, performer, and maker of instruments and cited his own long friendship with Phillips that started when they were both in graduate school in the department of music decades ago.

Each harpsichord was tuned slightly differently, resulting in three "well-tempered" tunings conducive to a pair of suites.

The suites were nearly orchestral at times.  A lute accompanied a melody that sounded like an oboe.  A chamber group played minuets and trios.  A full baroque orchestra played a fanfare.  I am partial to Sarabandes, and the one in the 3rd b-minor Suite was especially transportive.  Moroney's scholarship and musicianship contributed greatly - the ornamentation in the 6th E-major Suite was especially rich, verging on the Italian style, as Moroney mentioned before he performed it.

There was depth to time while I sat and listened and focussed on these works.  It was an experience to remember and savor.

Italian & Polynesian fireworks

Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, with Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, presented baroque “fireworks” by Handel & Vivaldi in Hertz Hall In Berkeley. Indeed the first piece sung by Jaroussky was fire out of the gate, with “a lot of fast notes” executed in a pure clear voice. His demeanor was relatively calm, considering the work his body (diaphragm and vocal chords) was doing. Wonderful poise and presentation. Beautiful musicianship – he is relatively young and I can only imagine the depth that will develop in the future. Breathtaking technique that was on par with virtuoso string or wind playing. The vocal agility was matched by the baroque orchestra who, despite some tuning challenges, delivered tight ensemble playing through fast and furious passages throughout the concert.

Jeannette Sorrell, Music Director of the orchestra, mentioned that the collaboration with Jaroussky arose from mutual admiration of each other's You-Tube videos. Jaroussky was offering a free download through dropcards.com and his work can be found on emiclassicsus.com.

Although it is not the primary diversion that it was in the 18th century, and it does not attract the maddening crowds, there’s still nothing that compares to the drama, excitement, and transportive power of live opera. Or live music.

Or live music, singing, drumming and dancing. The rest of the day and evening was spent in rehearsal: playing instruments, dancing fast, dancing slow, singing, and further addressing love, rage, and sorrow.

Early music in a modern museum

This afternoon, while walking on my way from one place to another, I happened to enter the Berkeley Art Museum and heard vocal and instrumental music. The University Chamber Chorus with early-period instrumentalists were performing dramatic work by Henry Purcell written in the late 1600s. The acoustics in this concrete building are very live and suit this type of music. Sends chills up the spine.

The Berkeley Art Museum, designed by Mario Ciampi in the mid-1960s and located on Bancroft Avenue just west of College Avenue, continues to excite me. Every time I see the building, enter and experience the space and see the exhibits, I am invigorated. And the space - well, it is sculpture in itself, yet allows the art within it to be shown on its own merit.

Music, art, sculpture, architecture and structure - blew my mind.

A common language

I Heard rhythm, music and singing tonight. Rhythm from a shallow round drum that brought the full moon into the room, tones plucked from the picking and fingering hands of the rubab, and vocals that undulated and ululated around words that spoke of emotions filtered through the high brain. It is music from the beginning of time, when folk songs and poetry expressed the human need for love. The words were in a foreign language but the effect and intent were understood regardless.

Ustad Farida Mawash, Homayoun Sakhi, and the Sakhi Ensemble presented an incredible concert of Afghan music in Berkeley that opened my ears and heart.

Primal

Skins, metal, wood: percussion is made of these things.

Skins stretched over a framework, metal shells sheets and rods that ring, and wood blocks that are smooth or ribbed. Percussion is the beating of the body or stick onto these materials, and the beating transmits the rhythm and force of the body through the space of sound. We've been communicating this way for thousands of years. We dance, we sway, we shout with these instruments which are a direct extension of our bodies.

Les Percussions de Strasbourg performed recently, and each work was distinctive and from the 20th century. The tones, textures, timbres from skins, metal and wood were varied, complex and engaging. Although this modern music does not have "pitch" per se, it has tones that includes the growl of huge drums, tingling harmonics of metal triangles, and drones that are generated from drumming wood and skins in an acoustically live space.  I heard sounds I have never heard before. I don't know how much the pieces were intended to be "intellectual", or of the mind only. I don't know if this is even a consideration in the composers' mind. For me the pieces had dance, sway, and expression in them.

The last piece, Hierophonie V (1974), by Yoshihisa Taira, began with shouts and rhythmic taiko-type drumming, followed by a quieter section, and ended with the shouts and drumming again. Suddenly the earthquake, tsunami, and on-going nuclear disaster in Japan all came rushing forward in a huge wave that paralyzed me, and this piece became the voice of humanity.

Have mercy on us.