Time held me...

My dear readers,

I know this post is late, but it'll also be a bit short -- forgive me, and I promise more and better soon!

All Levels:


First, let Mr. Hopkins read this to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpydvqTm0hI

I recommend just closing your eyes and listening the first time.

Then, for the visual learners, read the poem here:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175908

John Corigliano's setting of the poem appears several places on YouTube, but this one seems to work well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tp7yyn1xcY (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhEnCb0LJeU (Part 2)

Listen to the whole piece (about 20 minutes total).

Derive the form (I have my own opinion about it....I'd love to know yours!).  How does this reflect the form and/or content of the poem?

Figure out what's going on metrically...find the big beat, and then figure out what's up with the subdivisions.

Sing the opening instrumental theme, and see if you can apply some solfege to it.

Sing the opening vocal theme (soprano part), and see if you can apply some solfege to that.

At the end of the piece, something very interesting happens to the opening vocal theme -- it's sung in unison by the whole choir at "Oh, as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means," but it's altered -- how would you describe this alteration?

Transcribe anything you'd like....it's challenging, so take a small bite and see what you can do.

That's it this time...but please enjoy!  Time has its own hold on me at the moment, which I'm hoping it will loosen soon!

Dear March, come in!

Welcome, solfeggists!

As I look out my window today, I could easily be hoodwinked into believing that spring has arrived in Denver -- but, I've lived here long enough to know this is almost certainly just a tease.  I grew up on the west coast, and by now, we'd be at the end of crocus season and the daffodils would be raring to take over with tulips close on their heels, but here....not so much.  However, the 60-degree weather is a welcome change, though I know it's only for the next few days (for you non-Coloradans out there, I like to think of Denver as the only place I know where people could reasonably dream of a White Easter and probably eat their Thanksgiving Dinner on their outdoor picnic table later the same year...it's a weird place)....I have to make the most of bits of spring as they come here, since there's often just a stark segue from the last April or May blizzard directly into summer.

So, let's find some springtime music to enjoy!

Rising Level 2's


Here's a recording to listen to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf6P2K_uXH8

(There are plenty of other recordings of this piece on YouTube, and feel free to choose another one if you like it better)

Try to figure out the rhythmic pattern you're hearing before you look at the score below - note that the meter isn't constant and that the pattern seems to be anacrusic.  Speak the rhythmic pattern in tas and ta-tis, then transcribe it.

Check your transcribed rhythm against the score here:


http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/74/Lejeune_Revecy.pdf

What metric decisions did you make aurally?  Do they differ from the notation here?  How?

Now, sing through the various parts in solfa -- nothing too difficult, yes?  Almost completely diatonic (the odd fi and di pop up, but nothing earth-shattering), and lots of stepwise motion. What do you notice about the texture throughout the piece.

Finally, read this little Wikipedia write-up on the genre this piece is frequently used to exemplify in music history classes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_mesurée

So yeah, it's a piece about spring, but evidently it was also one more weapon in the arsenal of a bunch of French guys looking to save the world through music.  Some commentators have also said that the  rhythmic pattern of this little ditty (though the same pattern is also found in Latin American dances) was actually Bernstein's inspiration for writing this piece...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjy9acXwovE

Rising Level 3's


Listen to this lovely tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjJzPok_qmE

After one time through the whole recording, I bet you'll be able to derive the form of each strophe -- what is the form?  What is the meter?  How long does each phrase last?

Now that you have that information, listen a few more times and put each line into solfa.  Which line has the chromatic bit?  What interval does the chromatic syllable create with the note it is approached by?  How does the singer in the recording treat the chromatic note?

Memorize the melody.  Transcribe it in a key comfortable for your voice.

Now, look at this score:

(higher voices)
http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c0/IMSLP46772-PMLP99648-Mozart_-_Sehnsucht_nach_dem_Fr__hlinge__K_596.pdf

(lower voices)
http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/0/0e/IMSLP115749-PMLP99648-Mozart_-_Sehnsucht_MV_rsl.pdf

Does your solfa line up with what you see here?

Now, notice how simple the accompaniment is...you probably discerned that from the recording (although the pianist there added some fancy stuff), and maybe you even saw this phase of the assignment coming...

Do a quick Roman numeral analysis of the accompaniment, including figured bass.

Now, either working from your figured bass (which might prove to be easier) or from the score, accompany yourself as you sing the memorized melody in solfa.  If that's easy, transpose to a new key.

Rising Level 4's


Listen to this piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhxgM84Th8&feature=related

Listen to the whole thing the first time to get a sense of what happens in the piece.  Then, focus on the first statement of the melody by the sopranos and altos.  What is the metric structure of this theme -- is there one meter throughout, or are there several (hint: watch the conductor...he's extremely clear!)?  What is the tonal language being used?

The words (drawn from the Song of Solomon in the Bible) are:

Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south;
Blow upon my garden
That the spices may flow out
That the spices flow out
Let my beloved come into his garden
And eat his pleasant fruits.


Memorize the theme (upper part when it splits briefly) with the words.  Notice that it is treated imitatively later in the piece -- what do you think this depicts?

Now for the tricky part -- try to solmize this.  It won't be easy, but I bet you can do it.  You have my permission to use piano to help yourself if you get reeeeeeeeally stuck, but try to go without it as much as possible.  Here are my hints:

You will probably be tempted to call the first leap in the melody mi-la.  You can do that, but it'll mean you'll need to use fi several times later on.  However, the good news is that that's the only chromatic syllable you'll need at all -- and you won't even need that if you call the first leap la-re.

The first note and last note of the tune are the same.

The highest note in the piece is an octave and a fifth above the starting note.

If you successfully solmize the whole theme, you should transcribe it and send it to me and I will tell you that you're wonderful and send you a prize.  No, seriously, I will.

Good luck, all, and have a fantastic week!

O tell me the truth about love

Greetings, much-loved solfeggists!

First, in honor of Valentine's Day, please indulge me in reading the following by one of my all-time favorite poets, W.H. Auden.  Benjamin Britten set it and three of Auden's other poems about love in his "Cabaret Songs" -- you can follow this link to hear a performance of all four songs (the audio quality isn't the best....sorry!).

Some say that love's a little boy, and some say it's a bird,
Some say it makes the world go round, and some say that's absurd:
But when I asked the man next door who looked as if he knew,
His wife grew very cross indeed and said it wouldn't do.


Does it look like a pair of pyjamas or the ham in a temperance hotel?
O tell me the truth about love.
Does its odour remind one of llamas, or has it a comforting smell?
O tell me the truth about love.
Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is, or soft as an eiderdown fluff?
Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?
O tell me the truth about love.


I looked inside the summerhouse, it wasn't ever there,
I've tried the Thames at Maidenhead and Brighton's bracing air;
I don't know what the blackbird sang or what the roses said,
But it wasn't in the chicken run or underneath the bed.


Can it pull extraordinary faces?  Is it usually sick on a swing?
O tell me the truth about love.
Does it spend all its time at the races, or fiddling with pieces of string?
O tell me the truth about love.
Has it views of its own about money? Does it think patriotism enough?
Are its stories vulgar, but funny?
O tell me the truth about love.


Your feelings when you meet it, I am told, you can't forget,
I've sought it since I was a child but haven't found it yet;
I'm getting on for thirty-five, and still I do not know
What kind of creature it can be that bothers people so.


When it comes, will it come without warning, just as I'm picking my nose?
O tell me the truth about love.
Will it knock on my door in the morning, or tread in the bus on my toes?
O tell me the truth about love.
Will it come like a change in the weather?  Will its greeting be courteous or bluff?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.


Clearly, Auden isn't being too serious about all this (ergo the allusion to nose-picking), but his request is well-taken.  We've all been enculturated into the rosiest of illusions about love, courtesy of the Disney princesses, Hallmark, eHarmony, etc.  We've also seen the reality of our own and others' relationships, and the cognitive dissonance between the illusory and the real can be hard to take.  In particular, I've been noticing that this concept of the ideal often prevents people from having the guts to talk about what's real (and what's really bothering us) because we feel guilty that we haven't managed somehow to magick fantasy into reality.  Then, we get resentful because things drift ever further away from the way we want them to be, and it becomes harder and harder to salvage whatever's gone wrong.  Luckily, no one has a perfect memory, and we all forget many of our disappointments, which turns into a kind of accidental forgiveness....but it's clear that this isn't a real solution, and sometimes it isn't so easy to wait until the feelings pass.

My rising level 3's will remember me saying several times this summer:

Solfa is like therapy.  When you talk about your problems, it becomes a lot easier to solve them.

I'd like to add to that:

Your relationship to your own ideal musical self is like any other relationship.  It doesn't thrive because you feel fuzzy about it.  It thrives because you work on it.

This is not to say that you shouldn't enjoy the work.  Lucky for us, there's a lot to love about being a musician, and we should strive to immerse ourselves in the most satisfying parts of that as often as we can, whether that's performing, listening, composing, whatever.  But, there's also spinach to be eaten...and we can't expect to be virtuosi if we shy away from the aspects of our musicianship that fall short.  We have to be honest about them.  We have to talk about them.  We have to give them some attention, and be ok with the fact that it might be intellectually and emotionally difficult in the short run. But, if we believe it's worth it, we have to try.

All Levels:


Take a look at this love song by Hans Leo Hassler:

http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/images/sheet/hassler/hass-gmu.pdf

The gist of the text is, "Woe is me, I'm in love with someone too good for me..."

Sing through the melody first, and then as many of the harmony parts as you care to tackle.

Memorize the melody


Do a chordal analysis (rising 2's, do as much as you dare) -- you can take your pick of solfa chords (meaning that you start with a Do major) or Roman numerals.

Then, look at this setting of essentially the same melody:

http://www.saengerkreis-bamberg.de/noten/geistlich/passion/Bach_WennIchEinmalSollScheiden.pdf

Sing through the parts, and do a Roman numeral analysis (again, as you are able).

The text of this verse of the chorale (taken from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and this harmonization is sung just after Christ dies) is:

When I must once and for all depart,
then do not depart from me;
when I must suffer death,
then stand by me;
when my heart will be
most fearful,
then snatch me from the terrors
by the virtue of your own fear and pain!


....and suddenly it's a whole other kind of love song.  You can listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Q6rxdPT7A

And finally, to answer Mr. Auden's question:

Love is little, love is low
Love will make my spirit grow
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that's right.
(Shaker Hymn)

Happy Valentine's Day!

A True Poem

Welcome, dear students!

It's new year's eve, and everybody's talking about it....including me, it seems.  This is, perhaps, a little silly, since today really just feels like another new day, and it will come and go as winter days do (but with extra bluster here in Denver....gusts over 60 MPH, they say).  Everyone feels a certain urge to take stock of things -- which my astrologically minded friends might say has more to do with Saturn frowning down at us little earthlings as we labor under the influence of Capricorn than it does with the somewhat arbitrary turning of the year.  But, who am I to fight this influence....as you all know, I seldom turn down a chance for some good reflection.

2011 was turbulent, violent, and downright frightening at times.  Revolutions and disasters and deaths of prominent people seemed almost commonplace.  Hope and fear have danced wildly, as it seemed like every day brought news of some new financial resolution or disaster for the global market.  I remember frequently thinking to myself, "Is every year this eventful?  Why don't I remember anything like this before?"  And, it could be that my own state of affairs as a person finishing a terminal degree (in other words, coming to the end of my last journey as a student to academia's never-never-land) is the cause of my take on 2011 -- I am certainly guilty of being mostly out of the loop on world events when my own little life has me otherwise occupied, and maybe a part of me is just waking up to what everyone else has been saying for years.  However, I hear a lot of people around me saying similar things about this year in particular....2011 was a doozy.

So, what to do?  We are musicians and artists, not economists or world political leaders.  We aren't even engineers or doctors.  What can we do?  Why does our intonation or rhythmic acuity or performance practice matter in a world that is eating itself alive?  I ask myself these kinds of questions a lot (here and elsewhere), and every once in awhile, I get a sliver of answer...

Last night I had dinner with a good friend, and she had spent an absurd amount of time that afternoon at the DMV, during which she passed the time by talking to someone next to her in line.  The person she spoke with was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and he had some very interesting things to say about his experiences there, particularly about the ways in which the US is "helping" the Afghan people.  Specifically, he mentioned that US troops are building schools, which sounds like a lovely thing, right?  Well, there's a bit of a problem...there's no money or infrastructure to put books, teachers, or students in these school buildings and run them as schools, and the intended students are part of a culture that doesn't conceptualize education in the same way we do, so the western concept of a school is something that just doesn't compute.  So, the buildings wind up standing empty, or they wind up getting repurposed by insurgents, and US troops then have to blow up the buildings they just built.  This guy was really frustrated about all of this -- frustrated enough to tell a stranger in line at the DMV about it, and honest enough to say that he didn't know what the answers are.  I certainly don't have the answers either, but I can take a stab at diagnosing the cause.

When I first arrived in Hungary for my 10-month stint, I showed up expecting to be disoriented.  I expected to need to learn about my environment, adjust to new things, find my way around, etc.  I was not at all ready for the constant gnawing feeling that it took me weeks to acknowledge, and probably months to name.  The problem was this: nothing about my environment told me that I was who I said I was.  The signs on the street, the people around me, the procedure for buying produce at the grocery store -- all those things were foreign, they had been the way they were long before I got there, and would be that way after I left.  It had nothing to do with me, and that scared me to death, and I didn't know why.  In retrospect, this was just culture shock, but many Americans go through their entire lives without working through a case of it, so we have no idea how "American" we actually are.  We live our lives calmly unaware that our pragmatic choices are extremely value-laden.  We can't buy a carrot or wash a sock or drink a glass of water without having assumed a whole slough of things about the world around us, and those assumptions are almost 100% unconscious.  We think we're being objective, we think we're being pragmatic, and we're actually preaching a gospel we don't even know we believe.

So, what's art got to do with it?  Well, what do we learn from art?  We learn subjectivity.  We learn exactitude.  We learn expression.  We learn about difference.  We learn about interpretation.  And, while we still probably have to be caught in the act a lot of times before we really start to get it, this training does give people a basic construct for the idea that different isn't necessarily wrong or bad, and that subtle changes really do matter.  It's funny, isn't it?  Artists get a pretty bad rap for having "artistic personalities" and for following crazy whims and making irresponsible life choices, but an artistic education might be the best hope any person has for understanding and respecting other people.  Why?  Because as long as your judgments are unconscious (and therefore you just think of them as "logic"), they control you.  As soon as you learn to acknowledge judgments as judgments, it might knock you off-balance, but then you get to be in charge...and you can change your own mind.  Like the writer of this poem says, you keep working on it, even though someone might get hurt.  You examine yourself, become responsible, and you are able to help others do the same.

My friends, 2011 is at her end.  We have worked hard, and we will continue into the new year.  I invite you to be the reflective people you are, in your personal lives and your artistic lives, and to allow one to infect the other.  Be happy.  Enjoy your lives of teaching and music-making.  Work on yourself, build up your weaknesses and celebrate your strengths and the strengths of others.  Nurture yourself and your students with beauty and goodness, so that you can be strong enough not to shy away from difficulty and ugliness.  Say yes.  Love each other.

All Levels:


Just some listening assignments this time around....

Cells Planets - Chanticleer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl12ZXZeqa4

Conspirare/Craig Hella Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_qfeE0TjyY

Sweet Honey in the Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA

Happy new year!

Building Memories

Greetings, dear students!

Here we are, already up to the third Sunday of Advent!  How did 2011 go by so very quickly?

I'm guessing that many of you are headed into a week full of concerts, and almost all of you will be dealing with stir-crazy students hopped up on too much sugar and the promise of the imminent winter break.  This being the case, I'll try to keep things extra short and simple.

So, I was sitting in a church service this morning and we sang a hymn tune I particularly like (I've included it below for the rising level 4's), and I decided to see how much of it I thought I could sing from memory in letter names (and by sing, I mean audiate -- I think the person giving the sermon wouldn't have appreciated my little game very much if it had happened out loud).  It only took a few minutes, and I was able to do it in a moment when I had to be sitting someplace quietly, but where I could divide my aural attention -- this would be a great bus-riding activity, or possibly driving, but be judicious on that one...I don't want to be responsible for anyone getting into an audiation-related car wreck.  It's also nice to have a lovely new tune committed to memory, and that way you can share it with a friend or loved one.

The procedure will be basically the same for all levels.  Take a couple days with each of the steps below:

Step 1: Listen to the tune a few times until you have it memorized (words are optional for my purposes, but you will probably want to learn them for your own use).  Determine the form of the piece and start to think of it in phrases as you memorize, since that will help you with the steps below.

Step 2: Start to solmize the tune phrase-by-phrase.  The rising 2's and 3's will keep the same solfa all the way through, but the 4's may choose to modulate if they wish.  If you opt to modulate (which you could do more than one time, as it turns out...), be sure to keep track of where you've gone by remembering your original "do" -- otherwise, you'll be a little sunk for the next step.

Step 3: Once you can fluently sing the piece by memory in solfa, try singing it in rhythm names.  Then, find a comfortable key for your voice, and start singing the tune in letter names.  If things get muddled in the middle (especially for you 4's!), try for the first and last phrase and work inward.  Once you're pretty sure you've got it right, write it down and check your notation (I'll leave the tracking down of a notational source to you so as to reduce the temptation to give up too soon).

What tripped you up?  What was easy?  Did you find it easier to commit the notes or the words (if you used them) to memory?  Did you find that your memory of the tune was tied to your memory of the text?  My hunch is that they will go together, simply because of the kinds of tunes being used.

Rising Level 2's


Take a listen to this lovely tune from Annie Lennox's new album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7s_zaF74gc

Rising Level 3's


I'm not crazy about the long pauses at the end of each phrase, but I think the voice on this old LP is quite sweet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_u07i1YdGY

Rising Level 4's


Again, there are some funny phrase things happening here -- if you find a recording of the tune "Jerusalem" (which is the same tune) that's more straightforward, feel free to bring it to my attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lpUk3UTJ14

I apologize for being so churchy...if you'd prefer to substitute something a bit more secular, but of a comparable level of difficulty, please feel free!

Enjoy!

St. Cecilia's Day

Greetings, my dear Cecilians!

I'm about three days early, but I'm calling it close enough for a little tribute to my favorite saint: Cecilia, patron saint of music.

She's really my favorite because of this poem by W.H. Auden, which he wrote for my beloved Benjamin Britten, who was born on Nov. 22, St. Cecilia's Day.  Britten turned around and composed a three-movement choral setting for the poem called "Hymn to St. Cecilia" -- you can listen to a recording here.  Normally I might say something critical about the recording (and I'm definitely keeping my own counsel about tempi....particularly in mvt. 3), but this piece is SO difficult that it seems hopelessly uncharitable to find fault.

The story of St. Cecilia is referenced in Auden's poem, but not related in any readily identifiable form, so I'll give you all the concise version:

First, there's Cecilia, a first-century (C.E.) Roman convert to Christianity, daughter of member of the Roman aristocracy.  Her pagan father decides to marry her off to Valerian, another pagan nobleman.  Well, this is a big problem for Cecilia, since she's made a vow of chastity (sort of like how I've made a vow of solfa....ok, maybe it's not the same...), so at her wedding, she's pretty upset.  She's so upset, in fact, that the fervency of her silent prayer for deliverance from this situation became audible to other people as music.  It is from this part of the story that her connection with music is made -- our Cecilia was evidently so good at audiation that she could make other people hear it, too (Kidding...kind of....)! Later depictions of St. Cecilia with an organ (like this famous one) actually result from a mistranslation of the original Latin telling of the story -- the word "organis" was used in the story to indicate that Cecilia was praying in her heart, but later, people decided that it meant she was using a musical instrument, and even credited her with the invention of the organ.

Anyhow, after the wedding, she and Valerian had a very serious talk about what was and was not going to be happening that night, and Valerian went out to get some air along the Via Appia, and ran into this guy Urban (later to become Pope Urban) who sent him home.  When he got home, he saw the angel who Cecilia had said was there to guard her and her virtue, and Valerian converted on the spot (I mean, wouldn't you?).  So, then Valerian tells his brother about all this, and his brother also converts, and then they start spending their days burying the bodies of Christian martyrs.  Now, burying the bodies of martyrs was illegal, and Valerian and his brother eventually got caught and martyred themselves.  Well, Cecilia went out and found their bodies, buried them, and was also caught and condemned to death.  However, it wasn't considered genteel to execute women in quite the same way, so they did what any civilized society would do -- they decided to suffocate Cecilia to death in her bathroom by closing it up and stoking up the furnace until she asphyxiated.  Well, Cecilia didn't die for three days, so the Romans thought to themselves, "To heck with the genteel way!"  They sent a guy in with an axe to behead poor Cecilia, but there was a law that a beheader could only strike the beheadee three times, and evidently this axe guy didn't eat his spinach, because that didn't kill Cecilia either.  The poor thing lived three MORE days, preaching and healing people, and bequeathing all her belongings to the church, and then she finally died.  According to tradition, her remains have never decomposed.

Now, what does all of this have to do with solfa, you ask?  Not a whole lot, to be honest with you, except that Cecilia was the patron saint of music, and as such, a lot of music has been written in her honor -- the Britten is only one example.  These settings have taken on some very interesting forms, and since you all have a bit of a breather coming up this week courtesy of Thanksgiving, I thought you might like to take a very brief tour:

Orlando di Lasso


http://www.mab.jpn.org/musictex/score_lib/ol_cantantibus.pdf

This text is essentially a retelling of the musical part of the story (before all the bloody stuff) -- you see the appearance of the word "organis," and you also see an interesting instruction for the two tenor parts and the bass, who lack pitches for the words "cantantibus organis" - "singing in her heart".  The two parts that sing in the octave of a woman's voice (though the piece would have surely been performed only by men and boys at the time of its composition) do sing those words, and the men are basically told to "sing in their hearts" until it is time for them to enter.  Notice how particular melodic gestures are matched with particular words and how imitation is used -- these are marks of Renaissance polyphony after Josquin -- folks like Ockeghem and Busnoys weren't doing that yet.

Charles Gounod


And you thought he only wrote that "Ave Maria" setting...

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/95/Cecilia6.pdf

This piece comes from Gounod's "St. Cecilia Mass," which is a setting of the mass ordinary.  Notice the texture of the choral parts -- obviously, intelligibility seems to be important to our composer, and this brings up yet another Cecilia connection.  In the 19th century, some Catholic musicians began to be concerned that Gregorian chant was disappearing from masses, and that church music was becoming too complicated, and more concerned with show than with intelligibility and reverence.  So, some composers began dialing back their textural and harmonic palettes in liturgical music and making use of actual chant or chant-like melodies.  This movement is known as the Cecilian Movement -- Anton Bruckner is probably the composer most commonly identified with this movement.  In this "Benedictus," does Gounod use any chromatic pitches?  If so, how do they resolve?  Are there any cadences outside of the home key?  How would you characterize the soprano solo at the beginning of the movement?  Do you think there is something depictive going on there?  Is there possibly more than one interpretation, knowing what you know about chant and St. Cecilia?

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/8/8c/Descend-Ye_Nine.pdf 

So, Auden was not the first poet to re-tell or reference the Cecilia story in a more secular light.  In the same way that Auden referenced Aphrodite, Alexander Pope (of 18th-century Enlightenment-era fame) connected Cecilia with the nine Muses of Greek mythology.  Parry scores his setting for chorus and organ, which effectively indicates a nod to the Cecilia-organ connection, but also suggests a church venue for performance of the piece, though probably not as part of a liturgy.  Notice what kinds of choral textures Parry uses.  What keys does he visit?  How is the text set?  Does intelligibility seem to be of central concern?

There are many more pieces to discover on this theme -- keep an eye out particularly for Purcell and Dello Joio, and feel free to share your findings!

Da capo...

Greetings, dear students!

Well, the Grinch is already undergoing his heart-size transformation on TBS (and seeing the Whos come out to sing in the town square after he'd stolen all of their presents totally made me cry this year...that's a first for me...I must be getting even more sentimental, which is saying something for a choral conductor), there is general growling about people's decorations going up too early, and I taught the world's highest Silent Night descant to my graduate choir this afternoon...yes, I believe the holidays may be coming, like it or not.

I've been a little out of touch with the passing of time lately, so the typical post-halloween retail rush into things Christmas-y didn't get my attention like usual...it took something else, something more iconic, something melismatic....

Yes, that's right -- it took the first rehearsal of the choral numbers from Part the First of Messiah for me to realize that Christmas isn't too far away.  I hadn't sung them in quite awhile...in fact, I'm reasonably certain the last time I interacted with them closely was way back in my undergraduate days with my pals from the Pacific Conservatory music fraternities.  I still have an orange Novello score from the experience that is marked up within an inch of its well-loved life, as I used all of my brain power to digest and understand this music that so many before me have known, sung, played, and loved.  It was a nice experience...I felt like I was meeting an old friend.  The vocal lines never seem to have left that settled place in my voice, the imitation still makes good sense to my ears, the dance allusions still make my feet itch to move.  It made me miss that time in my life, true to the predictions of my dear teacher who heard me do a lot of complaining at that time about how busy I was and how irresponsible my colleagues were being in rehearsal, and how I just wanted the whole darn thing to be over, etc., etc.  So, while I feel a little ashamed of the me of a decade past because she couldn't be patient enough to enjoy the process, I am also grateful for one of the things about life that also has a way of driving me (and probably most people) nuts:

For better or worse, things have a way of coming around again.

Perhaps this is the reason why composers dreamt up musical forms like rondo, sonata-allegro, theme and variations, and da capo, where material returns, giving the listener a feeling of closure.  A professor told me way back when that humans find repetition psychologically comforting, and that's why the return of A material is such a prevalent practice in music -- I thought he was a little nuts.  And now, being the person who gets teary over Dr. Seuss movies and only knows it's almost Christmastime because Handel showed up in my choir folder, I think I believe it.  I'm far from the first to notice this, I'm sure, but it seems to be worth saying, just the same.

So, I have some da capo (or at least, repetitive) examples for your analytical, musical, and psychological enjoyment:

Rising Level 2's


Take a look here:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/4/49/IMSLP11350-
Handel_Messiah_No.18_Rejoice_Greatly_O_Daughter_Of_Zion.pdf

And a listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1xlYIoekE8&feature=fvsr

You've likely heard it before, but listen with the score anyhow.  You'll likely be able to pick out the big sections right away.  What distinguishes them from one another?  Tonality?  Tempo?  Character?  All of the above?  What seems to motivate these changes?

Now, there are modulations within each big section, too.  Listen again with the score, and at each cadence you hear, circle the home tone.  Do the accidentals leading up to each cadence reflect that change?  How would you sing the melody in solfa in light of this information?  How would you sing the bass (continuo) line?  Where is the easiest place to change keys?

Rising Level 3's


Take a look at this:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3d/IMSLP11111-Handel_Messiah_No.6_But_Who_May_Abide_The_Day.pdf

And a listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlB3E_OmpT4

(NOTE: I personally like my soloists on this one to sound a little more freaked out -- this guy's calm is impressive and his voice is lovely, but it's all somehow emotionally unsatisfying to me...call me a drama queen, but is it a refiner's fire or a space heater?)

Now, the form of this one is a bit different, yes?  The repeated material is marked in even more obvious ways than the rising 2's example.  Why do you think that is?

What keys do you go through in order to sing the vocal line of this little ditty?  When the surface material gets extremely active in the fast section, what is happening in the bass line?

Rising Level 4's


Here is your wickedly chromatic selection:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3d/IMSLP11111-Handel_Messiah_No.6_But_Who_May_Abide_The_Day.pdf

And a recording to match (with the recitative that precedes it...the aria begins at about 3:00....and this guy's face totally makes up for the placidity of the rising 3's guy...maybe a little too much, as it turns out...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rukah9okGs

So, perhaps at this point, you're saying to yourself: um....where's the da capo?  Good question.

What was the problem with the da capo aria from a plot-line standpoint?  If the singer has to go back and sing the music from the beginning of the aria over again, has the plot progressed?  Has his/her mind changed?  Nope.  That's right, da capo = static, at least to some extent.  So, if you look here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Messiah,_HWV_56_(Handel,_George_Frideric)

at the context of the other movements and the text they contain, can you think of a reason why Handel might have chosen not to bring material back?  In terms of the Christmas story, was something important about to happen in, say, the very next movement?

Anyway, see if you can dream up some clever chromatic solfa solutions to this rather tricky melody line.  Feel free to email them to me if you come up with something you'd like to share!

Spellbound

Hello, long-lost solfeggists!!

I've missed you all!

So, the long-dreaded written exams are behind, and the oral exam lies ahead, but I can't start studying up for it just yet because I'm still waiting for the written exam to be read and evaluated.  Part of me is inclined to be extremely anxious about that, but...well, to be honest, I'm just too darn exhausted to work up the energy for a real academic tizzy.  Which, by the by, does not preclude other kinds of tizzies, it seems...

This afternoon, I had the decidedly less-than-pleasant dental experience of my first crown (or as I've euphemistically called it, "tooth tiara").  In the abstract, I am one of those people who really, REALLY dislikes the dentist, but I actually like my current dentist a lot because she takes the time to explain what's going on, and this helps with my generalized anxiety.  So, today, shortly after she numbed me up, my whole body started to tingle and my heart started to race and I had that weird panicky feeling that comes with really bad stage fright or getting caught speeding or using an albuterol inhaler....

And then I realized what it was.  Dental anesthetic contains epinephrine (they use it as a vasoconstrictor to minimize bleeding), and my dentist had told me about it the last time I was there, but only after the shot had caused me to freak out to the point of nausea and to mistake my reaction for my own emotions about the situation.  But, it wasn't my emotions that started the reaction -- I just couldn't rescue myself once I'd already gone over that edge.  And it wasn't my emotions this time either, and I remembered before the physical sensations hijacked my higher processing skills.  I consciously told myself what it was, and was able to ride it out by taking some deep breaths and listening to my iPod.  I caught it before I lost my marbles.  I broke the spell.

A deep satisfaction came over me with that realization, and I got to thinking about how we get ourselves all worked up about things because we forget that our problem might actually be caused by something external or easily fixable or temporary, and we invest so much in the freakout that we can't even use the solution when we see it.  We're afraid to confront it, afraid to take control, because the emotion of the situation has tied our hands, and we can't see that if we simply chose to be present, the power to change things would be ours.  So, for me (and maybe I'm just slow on the uptake for this one), today was a little victory -- Panic may still have a lot more points on the scoreboard, but I know I chalked one up for Team Me today.

Now, like I said above, I might just be a slow learner, but I suspect that most of us struggle with these kinds of emotional spellbindings.  In the world of solfa, one of my goofy classroom quotes is:

"Solfa is just like therapy.  When you talk about your problems, it makes them a lot easier to solve."

I know that's a little silly, but I think it's also a lot true.  How often do we plow over and over and over the same musical ground, refusing to stop, step back, and analyze what's really going on?  It takes discipline to do this, but more than that, it requires presentness.  Your whole brain and heart and body need to be in it together, in the moment.  This is an unusual level of focus -- we don't require it of ourselves very often, and to do so may seem extravagant, wasteful, unnecessary, or at least that's what your rebellious ego might tell you, as it often prefers to be off someplace else, diverting your attention to how you look in your pants today, whether or not you are smart enough, who might think you're talented, blahblahblahblahblah.

So, this week's assignment is a little abstract, which might be a little annoying, but I have a feeling that this might be very worthwhile...

All Levels
In your musical tasks this week, whatever they may be:

Be present.

If you have trouble, stop to assess early, before frustration rears its ugly head.

Rest in the knowledge that you have what you need to be successful.

If you need help, reach out.

Recognize the judgmental voices in your head for what they are.  Listen to them when it's appropriate (in the moment of performance or teaching is probably not the time), but be in charge of what you do about them.

If you need to freak out, freak out.  That's ok, too.

Leadership

Hello, solfa sentinels!

Shorts and sandals begone!  I looked out my window this morning and saw...

the first snow of the season.

No kidding.  The switch has flipped.

So, my mug of mint tea and I got to thinking about this week's blog, and this is what came up:

Leadership.  I find this topic interesting, maybe because so much of my time is spent not being the boss, but definitely being in a position where I feel responsible for the way things go.  I'm the TA, the big sister, the assistant conductor, the section leader, the Girl Friday.  I have come to believe that there is quite an art to this, and while I've spent a good number of years in this kind of role, it's only more recently that I find myself able to comfortably analyze it and cope with everything it means.  At the moment, I count myself very lucky to be spending the majority of my professional time in situations where the person in charge really is in charge, both in name and in the way s/he chooses to behave.  In this kind of model, it's easy to be a supportive sub-leader -- I just get to do what is asked of me...no fussing, no mind-reading, no power struggles, no secret compensating.  And, it's probably quite obvious from the list at the end of that last sentence that I've definitely been in situations that were less copacetic.  There are many ways of getting around in such environments, and sometimes those getting-around behaviors stay with us unawares, even when things are better and we don't need them anymore.  The upside is that having a whole palette of sub-leader behaviors should theoretically give a person a lot of options in any given situation....and options are powerful when we are able to recognize them as such.

And, since I've grown up in a world where computers have always been present, I tend to think of behavioral choices in terms of a Control Panel -- meaning that there are choices we make actively on a case-by-case basis, but there are also "default settings"...presets that make certain functions automatic.  Over time, I think we become more acquainted with our own default settings, we realize that we have the power to change them, and through experimentation and blind luck, sometimes we come upon what works best for us.  For me, that has had a lot to do with patience, slowing down, and realizing that consistency and small bites are usually the best way to go.  As it turns out, the way I am slowly learning to treat myself is also the best way to lead and to treat other people.

This is perhaps one of the biggest themes of my own pedagogical philosophy, though I don't know if I've ever stated it in so many words before: the best thing I can do for you is convince you that you are your own best teacher.  Or, stated another way: I can only make a series of guesses about how any person learns and set up contexts that get at them, but if you know how you learn, you hold the keys to limitlessness.  It's just a matter of becoming conscious and then taking the time.  In this sense, every student must be a leader.  Hopefully, the teacher is capable and the activities and instruction are sound, and just following directions will get you close to where you want to be.  However, the last step is always for the student to take -- translating what is outside into what lives inside.  That takes guts and patience and knowledge.  It takes leadership.

All of that being said:

Rising Level 2's


Take a look at this lovely piece...only as far as the first measure of p. 3, unless you're feeling more adventurous:
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/2/24/Pergolesi_09_Sancta_mater.pdf


You can take a listen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zw4GfuclCc

If you only look at the solo parts (up to the top of p. 3, as indicated), you can use the key of E-flat for the entire soprano solo and B-flat for the entire alto solo.  This will mean that you have to cope with one little chromatic syllable (the same one in both parts), but I bet you'll be fine.

I'd advise you to work through the rhythm first, one vocal line at a time - conducting is your friend!

Are there common motives between the soprano and alto lines?  What makes them easy?  What makes them difficult?

If you do decide to go on to the true duet section, be advised that you'll be traveling in the flat direction around the circle of fifths, and that you'll need to watch out for excursions to minor keys.


Rising Level 3's


Look at this little gem:
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/79/Pergolesi_08_Fac_ut_ardeat.pdf

I know it looks long, but I bet you can work your way through it little by little...

You can listen to it here (at ramming speed, but with a wicked countertenor!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnOmk_wAo8c

And here (with a boys' choir, at a much more moderate clip)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afPj4dSuR1Y&feature=related

I'd advise you to print out the score and listen first, then mark the places where the material is repeated.
Once you've set up a little form scheme for yourself, check out the key centers....it does travel a little , but never very far afield.  I bet you can puzzle it out.

From there, use your tonal and form schemes to guide your study of the piece.  How will you break it up?  Would working backwards be a good approach?  Are the voice parts roughly equal?  Will you count in 4 or in 2?  Will going slow actually be helpful or not?  You're in charge!

Rising Level 4's


For you, something a little different:

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9e/IMSLP42945-PMLP33670-Strauss--Op_37_6_Lieder.pdf

Check out the first song in the set.  You can read the incredibly sweet translation of the text here:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=10228

And you can listen to a recording here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRNbjDzBBGw

Once you've had a listen, try your hand at figuring out key areas for the vocal line.  If you get stuck, looking at the piano line might be somewhat helpful.  There's definitely some enharmonic and remote stuff going on -- and isn't it magic how it all works out in the end?

Make some decisions about the solfa, and try to sing through sections unaccompanied.  Once individual key areas feel reasonably secure, try stringing them together.  See if you can make it through the whole piece unaccompanied, but in the right keys -- it's a bit of a feat, I must say!

Enjoy!

Let It Go

Welcome, my dear solfeggists!


I think I've blogged about this general topic before, but I tend to have troubles with hanging onto stuff that doesn't help me.  Sometimes it's tangible stuff (why are there paystubs from a job I had in 2006 living in the trunk of my car?  Because.), maybe more often it's emotional stuff.  Sometimes I blame it on having a weirdly accurate memory about some things, but the truth is that my mind enjoys (???) reliving situations that it can't reconcile to its own satisfaction.  It grabs on like gangbustas, refuses all distractions, and really concentrates on being upset.  Yeah, I know...healthy, right?  I bet I'm not alone...


This afternoon, I had a conversation with a professor who affirmed something related I've begun to suspect about listening to post-tonal music in general.  In order to enjoy it, I personally have to consciously choose to let go, be less judgy, and let myself not know exactly what's going on or what's coming next.  I have to give up, and in order to do so, I have to on-purpose go find the white flag and run it up the pole.  This is tricky -- unraveling a well-established, intentionally-honed skill set and replacing it with calm awareness is definitely not a simple task.  I'm starting to see that hyper-analysis musically is very much related to my habit of hyper-analysis of situations, people, etc., and that both have a way of getting in the way of me enjoying my life.  


The long-run antidote?  I'm not sure.  I bet it has to do with both effort towards changing a mental pattern and relaxation towards (if one can relax directionally...maybe that contradicts the whole idea of relaxation) the fact that I have the pattern.  After all, I know a lot of neurotic people -- there must be some kind of genetic advantage to being that way, or there wouldn't be so many of us swimming around in the gene pool, right?  


In the short term, however, try this exercise for the week:


All Levels:


Select a piece or two from the list below (or a piece by another composer whose work you find a little difficult or intimidating):


Paul Hindemith - When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Bela Bartók - Cantata Profana
Arnold Schoenberg - Gurre-Lieder
Gyorgy Ligeti - Lux Aeterna
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stimmung 


(roughly in order of accessibility)


Track down a recording (you can buy them on iTunes for cheap, or your local university library or a good public library will have them) and set aside some time to listen.  Sit someplace comfortable, turn off your ringer, close your laptop.  Listen.  Exercise your non-judgy muscles.  Pay more attention to what happens to the sounds than you do to what the sounds themselves are (a tip stolen fair and square from my aforementioned professor).  If your ear needs a break, take one.  Try listening to the whole thing more than one time if you can.  Observe how your experience changes.  


It all sounds a little abstract, I know, but I think we can handle it.  Enjoy!

Knowing what to ignore

My dear solfa friends,

Greetings! I hope the ravages of Irene have run their course for all you east-coasters, and that life is quickly getting back to normal.

My last first week of school as a student is now behind me, and predictably (as all students know), it came with a few bumps in the road. In fact, there's kind of one central bump I've been wrestling with quite a bit lately. That bump is a combination of two related issues:

Getting tied up in negativity -- about myself, others, political situations, you name it

and

Not knowing where to put my focus.

These are fairly standard human problems, I think, and maybe they're even more standard for artist types -- because we tend to be sensitive souls, and many of us are basically hardwired for perfectionism because we notice a lot of subtlety and feel responsible for it. I think folks who grew up with parents, guardians, or teachers who tended towards the strict side also relate strongly to these issues because we're used to operating from a diagnostic perspective -- the main reason we heard from close authority figures was because something was wrong, and basically, there was (and is) always something that could be better, so we're conditioned to constantly seek out and weed out problems. The probable result of either (or both...heaven help us) of these situations? Harsh, constant self-criticism that gets translated into the ways we relate to other people and situations. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted just from writing all of that.

So, what does one do? Especially when the criticism inside gets echoed by criticism outside, and then it seems like the entire world is against you. What do you do?

Well, first off (and this is so difficult to do, and even more difficult to gauge when you're actually doing it), make a friend. That friend is yourself. I'm not saying that self-criticism is a bad thing, nor am I saying that we all ought to walk around in the world feeling like we're always right (because if you did, the entire world would turn into Boulder, CO....jes' sayin'). I'm saying that, when the chips are down, things are looking ugly, and the oxygen masks start falling from the panel above your seat, you have to care enough about yourself to put on your own darn mask. Have your own back. In the heat of the moment, practice non-reaction as much as possible, and then go away and think about it. That's the great thing about being a musician rather than a brain surgeon -- if you choose not to make an immediate decision about something, or if you change your mind later, probably no one is going to die. Probably. If, upon reflection, you want to change the way you handle a similar situation in the future, that's a choice for YOU to make for YOU on YOUR time.

Second, read this. Seriously, read it. It's pretty genius.

Finally, use non-emotionally charged activities to train yourself to ignore things that aren't helpful. That might sound either abstract or kind of silly, but I have a feeling it works. Why? Well, because I have the easiest time following all of my own advice (see above) when I am in the head-space I use for sight-singing or analysis. You know the head-space I mean...non-emotional, task-oriented, strategic -- still human, still musical, but not so busy with myself that I can't be present with the task (or the person or the conflict or the difficult conversation) at hand. Try this:

Rising Level 2's

Take a look at this:

http://oliver.prygotzki.de/privat/imc/cpdl/praetorius-wachet_auf/Praetorius%20-%20Wachet%20auf%20a%202.pdf

This little piece has a lot of visually forbidding things about it that might get you all hot and bothered....however, don't worry. Ask yourself:

What is familiar and easy about this piece (it's in C major, it's in 4, there are only 2 parts, the melody is very singable, etc.)?

What is the best way to isolate small parts of the piece and deal with a little bit at a time (i.e., isolate the rhythm, look at only one section at a time, etc.)?

Notate on your own score the parts of the piece you personally find easy. That way, when you're reading through, you'll recognize when you're in friendly territory.

Each day, choose one or two difficulties within the piece and come up with a creative solution that makes the difficulty seem easy. If you get frustrated, walk away for a few minutes or look at a different section, and come back to the tricky bit. Change tactics. Don't beat your head against a wall. Play to your strengths.

Rising Level 3's

Look at this piece:

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/77/Weelkes_-_Hosanna_to_the_Son_of_David.pdf

Before you do anything else with it, listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC2WTqIbp5Y&feature=related

Cool, isn't it?

Take another listen with the score (use the first link, even though they're singing it in a higher key in the recording -- the score is just a little nicer to look at than the one in the video), and make a little textural map for yourself -- where is the homophonic material? How much imitative material is there really? Is texture tied to text in some important ways?

If you try to visually determine from the score which solfa to use at any given moment, you may wind up a bit frustrated, because there are some funny twists and turns in the piece, and the key signature is sometimes profoundly unhelpful. Instead, I'd recommend that you give yourself one more listen to the recording with score in hand and circle the spots where you hear definite cadences. Then, work backwards from those points to determine your solfa choices.

Try to sing through each part and mark which keys/modes are in play. For fun, you may even want to do a solfa chord analysis of the homophonic sections -- you'll have to make some key decisions in order to do that, but who knows? Your harmonic analysis may actually wind up informing your key area/mode decisions, and thereby your musical decisions. That's right folks, I'm suggesting that musicality can and should be informed by analysis and vice versa. It's a two-way street, and it doesn't even have to be unpleasant. You can even change your mind. Who knew?

Rising Level 4's

Look at this piece....Rheinberger, if you've not heard of him, was a contemporary of Brahms.

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/4/4b/Rheinberger-Abendfriede.pdf

Now, I'm not going to give you a recording like I did for the 3's....if you find one, please feel free to use it like I had them use it, if you wish. However, there's no need for panic with this piece either, even without the aid of a recording.

Scan your way through the piece. Take note of the places where accidentals appear, especially where they are repeated. If you had to guess, what key(s) do you visit? Do the cadences reflect your suspicions? In general, how does the bass line (and therefore, the harmony) move?

Using your own musical discretion, divide the piece into manageable sections. Sing through each part -- if you can, sing one part and play another. Once you've sung through all the parts and made some solfa decisions you feel comfortable with, do a Roman numeral analysis. Do the numbers behave like they're supposed to? Do you think you might want to reconsider some of your key area choices in light of the information the analysis gave you?

So yes, I think solfa and analysis can actually serve as a backdrop to positive behavioral changes that can have a lot of impact on the way you feel about your life as both a musician and as a person. The fringe benefits of a musical life aren't just for our students -- they're for us. The music can be our refuge, too.

Enjoy!

Intuition

Hello, my artistic colleagues!

So, today I've got a little theory I'd like to test-drive on all of you...your feedback, as always, is invited and appreciated.

Probably most of you have had the experience of performing with a conducted ensemble in a hall that is either large enough or reverberant enough (or both) to have elicited this instruction from the conductor to the ensemble:

"Trust your eyes, not your ears."

Now, the reasons why vision is more trustworthy than hearing in this kind of situation are rather cold and scientific, as it turns out (sound waves travel more slowly and are "bendier" than light waves, meaning that light gives you time-related information more reliably in an objective sense). However, the reasons why we tend to have a hard time making our eyes the boss of our ears when we're behaving artistically are probably more complex. At the surface level, music IS sound, so it makes sense to use sound to govern the production of sound. I would argue, however, that we westernly-enculturated people are accustomed to using our eyes for most of the information-gathering we do any given day. And, while we use our ears for some pretty bland stuff as well, we still function relationally largely through our ears, and most likely, the feeling-ful aspects of music are what drew us to it first. So, when we make music, we are in the habit of listening and reacting, because our ears are a more direct connection both to our hearts and our intuition, if one accepts intuition as a kind of highly-ingrained and partially unconscious memory for how things have been before and are likely to be again.

That's my theory, anyway: there is a hierarchy of heart/intuition connectedness within our senses, which is probably a little different for everyone, but for many of us, our ears are probably more intuitive than our eyes. And, in turn, this intuition comes from habit and experience, but it's so close to us that we experience it as almost a "sixth sense". The good news is that if intuition is derived from conscious experience, we have the chance to educate it, and it'll become more finely tuned over time, if we invest our energies in awareness.

Rising Level 2's

Look at Ottman, 8.49 and 8.50

Read through the treble voice first in each example. What aspects of the melody behave as you expected (for example, the V-I feel between the first anacrusis and downbeat in each)? Did any turns surprise you? Are you able to suss out what you expected that didn't happen?

Now, for each example, read through the lower voice for each. Choose a voice to memorize in each example, and take a stab at singing the memorized part as you play the other on the piano. Go by feel. Trust your instincts, now that you've taken a little time to intentionally inform them.

Rising Level 3's

Look at Ottman, examples 8.51 and 8.52. Follow the same instructions as the rising 2's.

Rising Level 4's

Look at Ottman, examples 8.53 and 8.54 (mind the clef in 8.54). Follow the same instructions as the rising 2's.

And, in honor of intuition:

http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/may/humphries/

Inspiration

Hello, my friends!

Summer seems to have arrived at long last!

So, it is the time to recharge, to re-group, and to rediscover ourselves in light of the past year. No doubt we all have plenty of work to do, and while I do feel I owe you an assignment (though only for your own enjoyment, I assure you!), I want to encourage you (and, since I am in the habit of preaching to myself in this venue, me) to pursue things that bring you joy and peace this summertime. As I type, I am listening to this:

http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/show/228956/Great-Performances

It's magic....please, please watch a re-broadcast of it! In particular, I love the violin soloist's facial expressions and the oodles of fun these three titans are having as they play the Beethoven triple concerto. It reminds me of everything I love about being a musician....connectedness, expression, and the unfettered joy that comes in using mastery in a completely ego-less way -- for the sake of the music itself and for the people listening.

And, speaking of Beethoven:

Rising Level 2's

Here's a sweet little piece:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e4/IMSLP59042-PMLP70932-Beethoven_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_23_No_249_WoO_123.pdf

Begin by looking over the whole melody, noting that it moves along at a leisurely saunter rather than a brisk walk. Does it appear to change keys? What chromatic alterations do you see? What are their names in solfa? How are they approached? Do they resolve immediately? Try singing through the whole melody. If you have trouble, try playing the bass line of the piano along with your singing. If you still have trouble, fill in the harmony of the right hand and see if that does the trick. If you're feeling ambitious, do a Roman numeral analysis of the whole shebang.

Rising Level 3's

I like this piece an awful lot:

http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usimg/0/0e/IMSLP59219-PMLP106600-Beethoven_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_22_No_212_Op_121b.pdf

Don't be intimidated by the full score....or the funky clefs! If you've not seen it before, the clef in the "Voce Solo" line (which is the only one I really want you to worry about) is soprano clef, meaning that the bottom line is middle C. If I were you, I might consider setting myself in the appropriate key, but pretending I'm in G as I read through the piece. What accidentals do you encounter? Do you believe a modulation is in order? Why or why not? See if you can find a nice recording of this somewhere and have a listen....it's really a gorgeous, graceful piece. If you get inspired, round up a few friends and sing through the choral parts together! Mind the clefs...and feel free to use my wacky transposition tricks at will (sopranos pretend to be in G, altos pretend to be in D, tenors pretend to be in F).

Rising Level 4's

It would do you good to do the same assignment as the rising 3's, but since I know you love to have your own stuff, too.....

Take a look at this:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/c/ca/IMSLP08788-Ludwig_van_Beethoven_-_Hymne_an_die_Nacht.pdf

Sing through the melody....easy-peasy, yes? Try singing it as you play the lowest voice. Now, plunk your way through the harmonies. What do you make of that funky chord in m. 6? Oh, and what is the form of the piece? The first one to send me an email and tell me both the name of the form, the origin of that form, and the name of its constituent parts gets a cookie.

Enjoy, and embrace inspiration!

Going on

Hello all,

So, I find myself at the end of my concert season (just one more show this weekend, and as a just plain choral singer), and it's been a wild ride this year. Good work has been done, obstacles overcome, friendships grown stronger, experience gained. It's been hard, and I imagine many of us feel the same weariness.

Over the past few weeks, my attention has been drawn to a sort of lousy habit of mine...I dwell. I get hung up on something, and I let it become my whole reality. Not only is this exhausting, it's almost always completely counterproductive. Sure, people need to talk about things and process things, but hanging on so, well....it seems....ill-advised. Interestingly (and, as life goes, appropriately), one of the biggest, most consuming projects of the year contains this lyric by Stephen Schwartz:

When the thunder rumbles
Now the Age of Gold is dead
And the dreams we've clung to dying to stay young
Have left us parched and old instead…
When my courage crumbles
When I feel confused and frail
When my spirit falters on decaying altars
And my illusions fail,
I go on right then.
I go on again.
I go on to say
I will celebrate another day…
I go on…

If tomorrow tumbles
And everything I love is gone
I will face regret
All my days, and yet
I will still go on…

It's hard to keep going. It's hard to bounce back, especially when the thing that seems like it's going the most wrong is also the thing you wanted and needed most to go right. Loss happens. Injustice happens. Deals are broken. The only thing to do is to go on, look toward the future, take the education of unfortunate events for what it is, and call upon the people in your life who love and support you. And soon, things will look better. Why? Because re-invention happens. New pathways can be found. New relationships will be forged.

A very wise friend of mine once told me years ago when I complained that it felt like people were lining up just to be able to fight with me: "Yes, but if you look around, you'll see that there are just as many people lining up to help you." He's right. And the hardest part is to just convince yourself to take that look, because if we allow trouble and bad situations to become our reality, we'll miss out on the opportunities for resolution.

Rising Level 2's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_MENDELSSOHN_ANLIEGEN.pdf

Look at the bass line first. Check your key signature and meter, but then try to just forge ahead. You'll encounter a D-flat in the last line -- call it "ta" for now. Next, look at the soprano line. Knowing what you know about the bass line, do you anticipate any modulations? Sing through it. Repeat this procedure for the inner voices. Then, if you're feeling like a little warm-up for the summer, do a quick Roman numeral analysis of the diatonic chords only. Next, look at the chromatic chords, and see if you can find a justification for each of them...meaning: do they resolve? What is their quality? Any idea about how to label them?

Rising Level 3's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_A_GABRIELI_ALLELUIA.pdf

Carefully examine your key signature and meter before you begin, but try to just read through each voice. When you encounter an accidental, see what your instinct tells you to do -- make a snap decision about whether to modulate the first time around, but then go back and see if you think it might have been easier to do things another way.

Rising Level 4's

Take a look at this score:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_J_HAYDN_DER_GREIS.pdf

....while you listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPvk0gOaM8&feature=related

What do your ears tell you about the chromaticism, especially the more adventurous bits? Print out the score and listen again, marking the bits where you definitely feel you may be in a different key than indicated by the signature. Next, read through the soprano part, and see if you can change keys at the places you've marked successfully. Repeat with the other voices. If you're feeling adventurous, do a Roman numeral analysis of the score and discover what sorts of modulation Mr. Haydn used.

Enjoy!

Greed

Salutations!

Last night, I had the privilege of seeing Sweet Honey in the Rock perform live for the second time. If you don't know this group, you must, must, MUST check them out: click here, here, or here.

To my shame, I don't go to lots of non-classical concerts, but whenever I get wind of Sweet Honey coming to town, I'm there. Why? Because I always leave the hall feeling empowered and inspired, and I leave convinced that I'm not the only one who thinks what I think, that maybe there is such a thing as the larger human family. And, I happen to really love Sweet Honey's political agenda, which I'm sure not everyone does, but regardless of one's political views, they talk and sing about certain issues that transcend politics and reach into the realm of morals. At last evening's concert, there was a lot of talk about the dilemma of greed.

What is greed? Well, the woman who spoke about it said that Greed never shows up alone. Greed brings a bodyguard -- named Fear. And from there, human beings get scared of not having enough, of not being able to survive, and in response to this fear, they start hoarding. It happens to everyone, and it isn't just about money....for some of us, money never enters our consciousness as something to hoard. It might be about attention. It might be about our own expressions of love for others. It could be any substance or behavior even remotely under our control, and it is absolutely human nature to try to grasp, clutch, and hide away in order to keep ourselves from running out of whatever it is. What's the fix? Well, I doubt anyone can uproot it from themselves once and for all, but I believe that the practice of being present is a moment-by-moment antidote to freaking out and clamping down. Why? Because if you're invested in being where you are, doing whatever you're doing with all of your might, it's hard to be stockpiling off to the side.

I think musicians have a bit of an advantage here -- maybe that's why all those Greek guys talked about the ennobling attributes of music. High-level music-making, such as performing in a solo or chamber music context, enforces presentness -- hopefully ensemble performance of any kind enforces it, but if there's someone else singing/playing your part with you, there's always the possibility of zoning out and getting away with it, at least for the moment. Also, music-making that requires intense concentration, such as sing-and-play exercises or sight-reading, takes the mind away from the places it tends to get itself into mischief.

That being said....

Rising Level 2's

Sight-reading: Any Ottman example from 6.1-6.20 -- just scan, set your key and tempo, and go!

Sing-and-plays: Ottman, 5.38 and 5.39 -- read through each line on solfa, and then pick line to play on the piano as you sing the other. If you're very comfortable at the piano, play the harder line and sing the easier one. If you're more comfortable as a singer, sing the harder line, and play the easier one. I would also recommend practicing singing one part while just tapping the rhythm of the other as an intermediary step if you have trouble putting it together.

Rising Level 3's

Sight-reading: Any Ottman example from 12.18-12.25, 12.30-32 -- just scan, set your key and tempo, and go!

Sing-and-plays: Ottman, 11.33 and 12.39 -- follow the same instructions as the rising 2's.

Rising Level 4's

Sight-reading: Any unknown Ottman example from chapter 20 (we've done lots of them in the summer, so see if you can find a few we haven't used). Once you've found an unfamiliar one, just scan, set your key and tempo, and go!

Sing-and-plays: Ottman, 15.106 and 15.107 -- follow the same instructions as the rising 2's.

Strive for undivided attention in the few minutes you take to do these tasks. Try not to worry about how it's going to go or if you'll be able to do it. Be generous with yourself in the face of challenges and mistakes. Don't throw in the towel or try to give yourself too many crutches too soon. Take a risk on yourself. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you get in return.

Perpetual Motion

Greetings, dear ones!

No doubt some of you noticed I had a little blog lapse last weekend. Originally, that wasn’t my intention, but things got a little crazy in the midst of CU’s spring break (no, not that kind of crazy...), so before I knew it, it was Thursday, and I decided I may as well wait until the weekend. So, apologies to anyone who may have felt deprived of their weekly dose of solfa...

Like I said, things have been busy -- good busy, though, and while I join with many in wishing spring break could magically repeat itself, I think we’ll all make it to the end of the school year in style. This final spring-break stretch, with its parade of concerts, dress rehearsals, holy days, musicals, etc., always scares me a little. The knowledge that it’s going to be a run to the finish line can be a bit daunting. However, hopefully this is also a time to start reaping the benefits of long months of preparation, the time when you get to find out if the steps you took were the steps you needed to take. So hopefully, for better or for worse, this will be a time of intense learning, and even if things get hairy, you’ll know better for the next time around.

With that in mind, I offer these rhythmically active examples for your enjoyment, your preparation, and your diversion:

Rising Level 2's

Take a look at the following from Ottman:

12.1, 12.2, 12.4, 12.13, 12.24, 12.27

First, SCAN your way through each example. Look for patterns (scales, triads, rhythmic cells, melodic sequences) to act as guideposts.

Second, decide on your approach to any passages that look particularly thorny. Decide where audiation of a particular scale degree or harmonic underpinning might make your life a lot easier.

Third, pick a reasonable tempo (but hopefully not too slow!), sing the example through, and try not to stop. Once you get through it once, take care of any little boo-boos through smart practicing and go through it again.

Fourth, use what you learn each day about the troublesome parts of that day’s example to guide your practice for the next day’s example. See if you can come up with a list of the strategies that worked best for you. If you like, shoot me an email about what you discover, or call up a friend and discuss your pedagogical discoveries.

Rising Level 3’s

Take a look at these Ottman ditties:

12.40, 12.42, 12.48, 12.52, 13.7, 13.26

Follow the steps outlined above.

Rising Level 4’s

For you, a special treat!

http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/1d/Barhu_-_salomone_rossi.pdf

We’ll modify the steps above in the following ways:

Take two days on each voice part, and go through steps 1 and 2 the first day, steps 3 and 4 the second day. Note that the key signature depicted may not necessarily dictate the best solfa choice (especially given the time of the piece's origin)

If you’re feeling particularly frisky at the end of the week, round up a group to sing through multiple parts together.

Definitely do yourself a favor and listen to the whole piece here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHsXu2WwbNY

Enjoy, my friends, and may you stay in motion!