The Morning Star

Greetings, dear solfeggists!

I'm safely through my last first week of classes as a graduate student, and the part about safe is more important to me than usual.  Why?  Well, there's been a little weirdness afoot in my life, and I think I've had an indirect hand in it, but I'm not entirely sure how to reverse it....or if I want to.

You see, for much of the holiday break, there was a fair amount of hand-wringing going on around my house about the future.  Theoretically, I only have to start worrying about the future in earnest if I really pull myself together and graduate like I'm planning to, so I could put those worries off.  However, I've reached that point of needing to graduate for the sake of my sanity...a hundred miles of driving for every school day simply can't continue indefinitely.  So, over break I realized that means I need a plan, and I need it sort of immediately, and I drove myself up the wall for a week or so worrying about what the plan was going to entail.  Then, once I got good and exhausted from that, I changed my tune.  Nobody can control the future -- it'll be what it'll be, and I can get myself as ready as I can be, but I can't control it.  I can look for jobs, apply for jobs, make my CV look like a million bucks, ask everyone I've ever met for letters of recommendation, and put together the best conducting video known to humankind, and I still won't be able to control the future.  So, I started saying to the Universe:

Look....I'm throwing myself on your mercy.  I'm scared, but here we go.

And, after the last week, I'm not sure I can recommend this course of action if what you want is peace of mind, but I can definitely recommend it if you're looking for some excitement.  Of course, there's no way to say for certain that my change in perspective has caused any of this, but suddenly things are moving in quite an unusual way, quite an unexpected way, and I'm not comfortable with it, but I'm too curious about it to dig in my heels.  I still can't control the future, and the future is now looking a lot more open than I expected just a few weeks ago.  For the first time in a long time, it looks like an adventure instead of a series of bills I have to figure out how to pay or deadlines I have to meet.  And really, it only took a week of strangeness, just a few odd incidents to shake me into this renewed perspective.  I don't know what's going to happen.  I know a few things have started to happen that I didn't expect, and if they can blindside me like that, just about anything else could follow.  I'm only writing my own lines in this script, and there's no way of knowing for sure what anyone else will do or say or what their timing will be like.  So, we have to improvise, roll with the punches, keep the center of gravity low...and realize that we are at the mercy of a lot of forces we don't control or fully understand.

In the midst of all of this, we can be especially grateful that we are musicians.  Why?  Well, we are bearers of a tradition that has bequeathed us the best kind of toolkit for dealing with chaos and unpredictability: beauty, and the knowledge that it is fleeting.

All Levels:


I can't think of a better example of this than Bach, a musical Rumpelstiltskin par excellence....the man not only knew how to seize a moment, he could spin a simple tune like this one (about the beauty of the morning star) into a masterpiece like no one else:

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV001-V&P.pdf

Begin with the chorale at the end of the piece (p. 41).  Sing through each part in solfa, paying particular attention to the soprano melody.  Notice the form of the tune (you must take the repeat).  If you're a rising level 3, you may recognize it from the duet in Cantata 37 from a few weeks back.

Memorize the melody....believe me, it's worth keeping in your mental library.

Now, go back to the beginning of the piece and sing the soprano part of the whole piece.  Does it look/sound familiar?  How does this part function in relationship to the other three voice parts, both in terms of form and texture?  Do the parts come together homophonically at any point?  If so, why do you think it happens there?  You may want to refer to the text translation in order to answer that last question.

Tackle as many of the other voice parts in the opening movement as you feel able to deal with.  There is definitely some flirting with other key areas going on, but Bach doesn't stray too far.....why do you think that is?

If you found all of that reasonably easy, do a Roman numeral analysis of the final chorale and compare it to the key areas visited/referenced in the opening movement.  Is there any correspondence?

My friends, embrace the beauty around you -- in the morning star, in the stark beauty of winter, in your lives and the lives of other people.  We don't know what's going to happen.  But, we have what we have right now.