Romantic (6/10)

XIV:  Music of the Romantic Era

     Most people love Romantic music.  If Chopin could come back to life and receive a peck on the cheek from adoring fans, the line would range from old cat ladies to spirited artists to brooding teenagers to accomplished professors to thoughtful children and everything in between.
     After the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, the rising middle class, or bourgeois, gained power over the aristocracy.  As Romantic artists rebelled against their Classic predecessors, emotional expression and individuality became the new ideals.  Those losers from the hit musical "Rent" well represent the Romantic artist.  Writers of the time include Hugo, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
     As musical education spread and instruments were better designed, written music became more and more virtuosic.  Soloists were celebrities supported by the middle class rather than servants to the rich.  Orchestras grew in size, incorporating new instruments and increasing the range of timbre.  Additionally, an interest in folklore and exotic lands inspired Nationalistic dances and sounds from the East.
     In sum, the music of the Romantic era focuses on expression rather than the symmetry and balance of the Classic era.  The melodies are expansive, rhythms are more flexible, and harmonies are full of rich chromaticism.  Dynamics have a more dramatic range.  Forms were experimented with and expanded.  While symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and string quartets continued to thrive, the symphonic poem, solo piano piece, and song for voice and piano grew in popularity as well.  As our textbook describes, the Romantic era displayed an "interest in the bizarre and macabre."  Welcome to the nineteenth century.

XV:  Nationalism

     The political unrest in nineteenth century Europe inspired many nationalistic composers.  Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) composed operas for the National Theater and a cycle of six symphonic poems as Bohemia struggled under Austrian rule.  These works reflected the beauty of Bohemia's lands and used rhythms from their folk songs and dances.  The works of Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) were influenced by the Czech Republic and America.  Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) composed during a time when Norway struggled for independence against Sweden.  Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote the symphonic poem, Finlandia as Finland sought freedom from Russia.  Spanish Nationalists included Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), Enrique Granados (1867-1916), and Manuel de Falla (1876-1946).  Out of Russia emerged The Mighty Five, or The Mighty Handful.  They were Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), César Cui (1835-1918), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), and Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881).  These composers sought to compose in a style that was distinctly Russian, rejecting the influence of the German symphony, Italian opera, and French ballet.
     Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) is a little bit different.  Although Russia claims him as a nationalist composer, textbooks appear dubious.  Tchaikovsky was born in Votinsk and didn't attend the Conservatory of St. Petersburg until age twenty-three, after graduating from the aristocratic School of Jurisprudence.  For a late bloomer, not to mention a depressed and guilt-ridden homosexual, his output was very well received.  He was the only Russian that Westerners adored, and was even invited to participate in the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York.  Although his compositions include eight operas, seven symphonies, four concertos, and the 1812 Overture, he is best remembered today for his ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

XVI:  Solo Piano Works and the German Lied

     The piano, which continued to develop throughout the century, was the favored instrument for virtuosos on the stage and amateurs at home.  Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), and Clara Schumann (1819-1896) were some of the composers and superstars.  One of the new genres of the Romantic era was the lyric piano piece, which was the instrumental equivalent of song.  These were short works full of character, bearing titles such as Prelude, Intermezzo, Impromptu, Nocturne and Waltz.  Other esteemed composers of the short piano piece are Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).
     The Hungarian-born Liszt was such a heartthrob that adoring fans would steal his handkerchiefs and try to clip locks of his hair.  The phenomenon was known as Lisztomania.  In addition to being a performer and philanderer, he was a successful conductor, teacher, and composer.  Liszt spent his younger years in Paris and toured Europe as a virtuoso before settling into his "threefold existence" in Weimar, Rome, and Budapest.  Shockingly, he became a priest in 1865.  His posterity is preserved through one of his least interesting works, the Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, featured both in Tom & Jerry and the Looney Tunes.
     Chopin, who was half French and half Polish, studied in Warsaw before leaving for Paris at age 21.  As a pianist in the 1830s, Paris was the place to be.  There amongst Romantic writers and musicians, he continued to compose piano works such as the Preludes, Études, Waltzes, Nocturnes, Ballades, and Scherzos.  Chopin also composed Polonaises, Mazurkas, and Waltzes, which were inspired by Polish dances.  His études are the first to be considered musically substantial.  He wrote mostly for solo piano, and his style is distinctly lyrical and poetic.  In Paris, Chopin was romantically involved with writer Aurore Dudevant, known by her pseudonym George Sand.  She wore men's pants, smoked cigars, had an ugly face, and was not very nice.
     Schumann was insane.  He is remembered for his piano music, four symphonies, and Lieder, or German songs.  He was among the first to compose song cycles, which are series of short songs connected by a literary or musical theme.  Aside from composing and inconveniencing his wonderful and loving wife with extreme moodiness, Schumann was a music critic for the New Journal for Music, Die neue Zeitschrift für Musik.  Often in these writings, his imaginary friends Florestan and Eusebius would make appearances.  In 1846, he threw himself in the Rhine River, only to be rescued and kept in an asylum until his death two years later.
    Both Beethoven and Schubert are considered transitional figures from the Classic era into the Romantic.  Schubert's symphonies and chamber music are Classical in form, but his piano works and Lieder are extremely lyrical and Romantic in style.  His melodies are sometimes described as being of "heavenly length."  Schubert wrote more than 600 Lieder and several song cycles.  The accompaniments to these songs often depict images present in the text.  Despite the fact that his music is undoubtably lovable, Schubert was never very well recognized during his 31 years of life.  Here is a recording of a Schubert Lied performed by Ian Bostridge.  If after hearing this you are unmoved, congratulations.  You have no heart.

An die Musik D.547, Franz Schubert

Words by Franz von Schober

Performed by Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake

Classic (5/10)

XII:  Music of the Classic Era

     The Classic era has been called the "golden age of chamber music," but probably only by this textbook.  Chamber music is written for a small group of performers, each with a different part.  The duo sonata requires the smallest ensemble, designed for any instrument with piano.  Violin and cello sonatas are favorites, and with good reason.  Piano trios are works for piano, cello, and violin.  The string quartet, comprising two violins, viola, and cello, is probably the most important ensemble.  Quintets, sextets, septets, and octets are all considered chamber music.
     The divertimento and the serenade were scored for smaller orchestras and composed for entertainment.  They required more players than chamber music, but fewer than the 30 to 40 needed for symphony orchestras.  Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a serenade.

     In Mannheim, Germany, composers developed the symphony from the Italian opera overture of the Baroque.  The contrasting sections grew into three larger separate movements.  A new movement, the minuet and trio, was placed before the last.  Additionally, two new conventions came about in Mannheim.  Opening themes often began with a Mannheim rocket, a quickly ascending broken chord.  Equally important was the Mannheim steamroller, which is a long, carefully paced crescendo.
     Concertos are composed for solo instrument with orchestra.  The Classical concerto is cast in three movements rather than four.  This sonata form, or concerto form, has two expositions; the first is for orchestra alone, and the second introduces the soloist.  During the recapitulation, the solo instrument plays an improvisatory section called a cadenza.  Cadenza is also the name of my sister's cat.

     The sacred vocal genres of the Classic era are the Mass, Requiem Mass, and Oratorio.  Secular works were divided between opera seria, the Italian tragic opera, opera buffa, the Italian comic opera, and nationalistic styles that were sung in the vernacular.  These included opéra comique (France), Singspiel (Germany), and ballad opera (England).  The stories of opera seria were about heroes and gods, told through elaborate arias and recitatives.  Not everybody found this entertaining.  Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), born in Germany and trained in Italy, was one of the first composers to reform these older conventions, blending features of comic opera, large choral dances, and ensemble numbers for the Imperial Court Theater in Vienna.  Comic operas had sitcom plots and exciting ensemble numbers at the end of each act.  It spread like wildfire.

  XIII:  The First Viennese School

     Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), sometimes called Papa Haydn, was born in Rohrau, Austria.  His beautiful voice earned him a place at the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna until puberty.  After being fired, the young Haydn taught, accompanied, and joined street bands.  In 1761, after years of study and patronage, he obtained a position for the wealthy Hungarian Esterházy family.  At their palace, Haydn remained a faithful and well paid servant until the death of Prince Nicolaus in 1790.  Now famous and well revered, Haydn made two visits to England to conduct the newly composed London Symphonies.
     In addition to setting the foundations of Classical form and thematic development, Haydn expanded the size of the orchestra to include brass, clarinet, and more percussion.  Among his output are over 100 symphonies, 68 string quartets, 45 piano trios, 52 piano sonatas, 14 masses, and 13 operas.  Perhaps he was free to write so much due to an estranged marriage.  He once remarked, "Oh, those [letters] are from my wife.  She writes me monthly, and I answer her monthly.  But I do not open her letters, and I'm quite sure that she does not open mine."

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was not killed by Salieri.  Born in Salzburg, Austria, the prodigy was quickly trained by his father Leopold, a court composer of the Archbishop.  Mozart was extremely prolific, composing over 600 works in his short life.  As rumors have it, Mozart was indeed cheeky.  Some of his letters end with, "Shit into your bed until it creaks."  He left the patronage system at age 25 after arguing with the Archbishop, and quickly became a struggling free lancer in Vienna.  Mozaart married Constanze Weber in 1782.  In Vienna, he composed some of his best known operas, including The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute.  By 1788, his family moved to the suburb of Alsergrund and started going into debt.  He fell sick died a few years later.  Among his works are 41 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, 18 piano sonatas, 16 piano variations, 17 church sonatas, 18 divertimenti, 13 serenades, 36 violin sonatas, 23 string quartets, 23 operas, and 17 masses, along with his final Requiem.

     Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), whose works bridge the Classic and Romantic eras, is the most influential and well respected composer that ever lived.  He was ill-tempered, arrogant, and extremely dirty.  Born in Bonn, Germany, he acquired a mastery of piano and theory as a young boy under the pressure of an alcoholic father.  In 1787, he travelled to Vienna to study with Mozart, but was called back immediately as a result of his mother's illness.  She died, and as his father was of little use, he became responsible for his two younger brothers for the next five years.  As a young adult, Beethoven operated under a modified patronage system, teaching lessons for the wealthy.  He also concertized and published compositions for the emerging middle class.  In 1792, he moved to Vienna and studied with Haydn, among others.  Beethoven started to lose his hearing in his late 20s, and moved outside of Vienna to Heiligenstadt in 1802.  Here, he wrote the famous Heiligenstadt Testament, the semi-suicidal letter to his brother admitting his own hearing loss.  After returning to Vienna, he fell in love with several rich women, none of whom would marry him.  When his brother Carl died, he obtained custody of his nephew Karl, who understandably attempted suicide eight years later.
     Beethoven's output is categorized into three distinct periods.  The early period works are most related to his predecessors Haydn and Mozart.  The middle period, also called the "Heroic" period, began around the time of his deafness.  These works were composed on a grander scale, and show stronger dynamic contrasts, and sudden accents.  They often include themes of heroism and struggle.  Works from the Beethoven's late period show formal innovation and expansion.  Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 32 piano sonatas, 22 piano variations, 16 string quartets, 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, 1 opera, the Missa Solemnis, and several lieder.  By the time of his death at age 57, he was extremely famous and his music well loved.  He probably died from lead poisoning.
     Now that we're all pros in hearing form, listen for the thematic development throughout the first movement of his Fifth Symphony.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, Movement I:  Allegro con brio

From Peter Schickele's album "The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach"

Exposition
Opening Motive, First Theme, Bridge, Second Theme, Closing Theme

Development

Recapitulation
Opening Motive, First Theme (Oboe Cadenza), Bridge, Second Theme, Closing Theme

Coda
Thematic Development, Opening Motive

Classic (4/10)

X:  Intro to the Classic Era

     Despite the impression you may have gotten from piano recitals, Western music did not jump straight from J.S. Bach to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the composers of the First Viennese School.  On the contrary, new styles from the Rococo in France and the Empfindsamkeit in Germany arose in the early 1700s, around the Age of Enlightenment.
     Like a petit four, the music of the Rococo was designed to be charming, entertaining, and crafted on a smaller scale.  François Couperin (1668-1733) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) wrote these delightful pieces for keyboard.  Rameau is also known for his famous Treatise on Harmony, which sets a foundation in music theory.

     Empfindsamkeit, on the other hand, means "sensitive style."  This music strove for simplicity and natural expression.  Like works from the early Baroque, texture decreased from complex counterpoint to homophony once again.  While J.S. Bach's contrapuntal masterworks are a canon of the Baroque repertoire, the compositions of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), are prime examples of the Empfindsamkeit.  C.P.E.'s treatise, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, is still used as a reference on historical practices today.

     Meanwhile, the War of the Buffoons, which was nothing more than an argument, took place in the world of opera.  Opera of the traditional French court was being replaced with Italian comic opera, opera buffa, which were full of racy pieces and popular songs.  For shame.
     As the nobility required music for entertainment at social events, composers started working under the patronage system.  In exchange for composing court music, they were treated like top-notch servants with room and board.  Melodies became more singable, harmonies were more diatonic, and rhythms were very regular.  Texture became more chordal, creating a stronger vertical dimension.  Gradual dynamic changes such as crescendo and decrescendo took the place of sudden dynamic shifts.  Large scale works used more variety in tone color.  The ideals of the Classic era became simplicity, elegance, symmetry, and balance.

XI:  A Word on Form

     The form of a piece of music describes the structure.

Take the following example from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

Twinkle twinkle little bat, How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly, Like a tea tray in the sky.

Twinkle twinkle little bat, How I wonder what you're at!

     You know how to sing this.  Both the words and the music are the same in lines 1 and 3.  Because line 1 came first, we can call it the A section.  Line 2 is different, so it's the B section.  Thus, the form of this piece is ABA, also known as ternary.  A piece with only two parts, AB, would be in binary form.  Binary forms often use a repeat in both sections, creating A repeat B repeat, or AABB.

     To understand the terms movement, section, theme, phrase, and motive, think of a novel.  A large-scale work, such as a symphony, sonata, concerto, or string quartet, is somewhat like an entire novel.  These works can be further broken up into three or four movements, which are like parts in the novel.  From here it gets a little tricky, but imagine that chapters are like sections, paragraphs that stick to one idea are like themes, individual sentences are like phrases, and linguistic phrases are like motives.  Words are like notes.  You get the idea - these terms refer to differently sized parts.  Anyway, music is not really like language because variation, repetition, and development aren't nearly as enjoyable in language.  If they were, the Classics section of the library would be filled with children's books, and high school would have made a little more sense.

     The multimovement cycle is the structure, or collection of forms, for three or four movement works.  The first movement is usually in sonata form, which will be explained momentarily.  The second, set in a slower tempo, is often ternary or set in theme and variations.  A theme and variations is exactly what it sounds like; one melody is stated and then repeated with variation several times.  The third movement in a four movement work is usually a minuet and trio.  The minuet and the trio are both short pieces.  In this form, the minuet begins, the trio follows, and a shortened version of the minuet is restated.  This shorter ternary form is also called rounded binary.  In a scherzo and trio, the scherzo has a slightly different character than the minuet, but the form remains the same.  The final movement is usually set in another sonata form or a rondo.  A rondo repeats the rondo theme, which alternates with contrasting sections.  One example of a rondo would be ABACABA.

     And now, what you've all been waiting for - the beloved sonata form!  If some day you are minding your own business at a bus stop, and other people start talking to you about the "sonata-allegro form," know that this is the same as sonata form, and also be wary of them.
     Sonata form is broken down into three parts called the exposition, development, and recapitulation.  In the exposition, two contrasting themes are presented.  The first theme is in the main key.  A bridge modulates to the second theme, which is in a closely related key.  A closely related key is one that uses many of the same notes as the main key.  The development then takes material from the exposition and messes it up.  The themes can be presented in sequence (repetition higher or lower), inversion (upside down), retrograde (backwards), augmentation (made slower), diminution (made faster), compression (cut up), or expansion (elaborated upon).  In short, anything you can imagine.  They are also presented in lots of keys, some of which are not closely related.  All of this is known as thematic development.  After all the excitement, the recapitulation begins.  The "recap" restates both themes from the exposition, this time remaining in the main key.  Because the themes are presented in both the exposition and the recapitulation, sonata form is related to ternary form.  All forms sometimes end with an extra closing section called a coda.
     The great Joseph Haydn is affectionately remembered for his contributions in developing Classical form, particularly in the string quartet and symphony.  Here is his very first piano sonata, composed in 1766.  Under the video is a diagram of each movement to follow along while listening.  Notice the early version of sonata form in the first movement, with a repeat of the recapitulation and development.  It's very much like the rounded binary in the last movement.  Also, note that the second movement is dance-like, whereas the third is slow; this is switched from what would become the standard settings of the multimovement cycle.

Piano Sonata No. 1 in G major, Hob. XVI:8

John McCabe, Piano

Movement I: Allegro

(Exposition) repeat     (Development, Recapitulation) repeat

Movement II: Menuet

(A) repeat     (B) repeat

Movement III: Andante

(A) repeat     (B) repeat

Movement IV: Allegro

(A) repeat     (B, A) repeat

Baroque (3/10)

VI:  A Little Music Theory

     Two different pitches with the same name are separated by one or more octaves.  Twelve half steps, the smallest interval on the piano, fit inside one octave.  Two half steps that are put together form a whole step.  By following particular patterns of whole and half steps, one can create major or minor scales, which form the basis of the last four hundred years of Western music.  Notes or harmonies within a scale are said to be diatonic, whereas notes and harmonies from outside the scale are considered chromatic.
     For example, when a piece is said to be "in the key of A major," this indicates that most of the notes in the piece are from the A major scale, which is built from the "major" pattern of half and whole steps between A and A.  Furthermore, A is "the most important note" in the piece, meaning it appears at the end of many phrases and probably closes the work.  This concept of a most important or central tone is tonality.  The shifting of one tonal center to another within a piece is modulation.  Shifting the tonal center for the entire piece, however, is called transposition.

VII:  The Baroque

     The Baroque era (1600-1750) was full of monarchies, bloody Protestant and Catholic wars, explorations of the New World, and a rise in middle class culture.  The term "Baroque" is likely derived from the Portuguese, "barroco," meaning an irregularly shaped pearl.  Hot numbers from the Baroque incude Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Descartes, and Newton.
     Several musical changes occurred between the Renaissance and the Baroque eras.  As opposed to the notion of a cantus firmus, melodies were now newly composed.  Harmony was based on major and minor tonality rather than the modes of the Renaissance.  Modes, by the bye, are series of whole and half steps just like major and minor scales, but their patterns are different.  In the early Baroque, texture moved from imitative polyphony to homophony or monody, where one melody is most important.  Monody was first cultivated by a group of artists known as the Florentine Camerata.  Later in the Baroque, however, polyphony would assume greater importance once again.
     Instead of a cappella vocal music, voices were often accompanied by instruments.  As builders produced better instruments, compositions became more technically demanding.  Vocal works also required great virtuosity, and was especially expected from the castrati, talented males who were castrated before their voices changed.  Performances took place in theaters rather than the church and court.  Instrumentalists relied heavily upon improvisation, much like the jazz musicians of today.  By the end of the 1600s, works were based on a single emotion or affection, adhering to the principle of the doctrine of the affections.  While the chief genres of the Renaissance were masses, motets, chansons, madrigals, and instrumental dance music, the Baroque produced operas, oratorios, cantatas, sonatas, concertos, and suites.

VIII:  Baroque Vocal Music

     Lots of people hate opera.  An opera is nothing more than a large-scale work combining story, acting, costuming, soloists, ensembles, choruses, orchestra, and sometimes dancing.  Really, people, what more do you want?  Anyway, the expressive solo songs in opera are called arias.  Ensemble numbers are like arias, but involve groups of characters who express their points of view at the same time.  It happens in Broadway all the time.  If we tried to tell stories through arias and ensemble numbers alone, we would make poor progress indeed; thus, recitatives contain more words and advance the plot quickly.  Opera composers work with librettists, or script writers.  Operas without the moving about on stage or dressing up in costumes are called oratorios.
     Early operas were ornate and heavily influenced by the Florentine Camerata.  In Italy, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) became one of the first composers for the genre.  By the end of the 1600s, Italian opera was popular everywhere except France.  There, the Italian composer (renamed) Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) wrote tragédie lyrique, which are operas based on court ballet and classical tragedy.  In England, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) served the courts of several monarchs as a singer, organist, and composer.  Remember his theme in Britten's work from the first post of this lecture series?  Among Purcell's well-known works is the opera Dido and Aeneas.
     Later Baroque opera was dominated by German composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759).  Handel was born in Halle, Germany.  In 1720, the Royal Academy of Music opened with the aim of producing Italian opera.  Handel earned the position of a musical director there in London, and composed several opera seria, or serious Italian opera.  With the failure of the Royal Academy, Handel turned to oratorio and created such works as the Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus.  Another prolific composer worth mentioning is Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), who wrote madrigals, motets, and cantatas.    Cantatas are composed for one or more solo voices with instrumental accompaniment.
     It has come time to speak of the great J. S. Bach (1685-1750).  So well respected is he today that we end our notion of the Baroque era with the year of his death.  Bach's works are extremely well crafted and masterfully contrapuntal.  Although he composed nearly three hundred sacred cantatas, only two hundred have been preserved.  These works include orchestral choruses, arias, duets, recitatives, and chorales.  Bach was appointed court organist and chamber musician to the duke of Weimar in 1708, and remained there until his position at Cöthen (1717-1723).  There, he composed instrumental suites, concertos, sonatas, keyboard music, and the six Brandenburg concertos.  Moving to Leipzig, he became the cantor of St. Thomas' Church, writing music for four churches and directing the collegium musicum, a performing group that included university students.  It might be noted that out of his twenty or so offspring, four became significant composers recognized by our history books.

IX:  Baroque Instrumental Music

     Instrumentalists were very good.  While Bach and Handel were formidable organists, Scarlatti and Couperin were masters of the harpsichord.  The three ruling keyboard instruments of the Baroque era are the organ, harpsichord, and clavichord.  The piano was credited to Cristofori in 1700, but didn't pick up steam right away.  Keyboard works of the Baroque were either improvisational in nature, exemplified by preludes and chorale preludes, or strongly imitative polyphonic works such as fugues.

     There were two types of sonatas: the sonata da camera, or chamber sonata, and the sonata da chiesa, or church sonata.  Chamber sonatas were collections of stylized dances, much like the suite, whereas church sonatas were more contrapuntal in nature and typically in four movements.  Although sonatas were composed for up to eight instruments, the trio sonata was a favorite.  These were constructed for two violins with continuo, the harmonic part written for keyboard and cello or bassoon.  So, how many musicians does it take to play a trio sonata?  The answer is four.  You might be able to get your friends with that one.  Some sonatas were composed for one instrument only.  Among these are 555 clever keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757).

     There were also two types of concertos: the solo concerto, and the concerto grosso.  The solo concerto was written for a solo instrument with ensemble accompaniment.  The concerto grosso, on the other hand, alternated sections between a smaller group called the concertino and a larger group called the tutti or ripieno.  Bach, Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) were among the greatest concerto composers.  In some Baroque concertos, a orchestral refrain, or ritornello repeats between sections.

     The Baroque suite was a group of dances composed for solo instrument, chamber ensemble, or orchestra.  While the two giants of the keyboard suite are Bach and François Couperin (1668-1733), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and Handel were masters of the orchestral suite.  Other forms of Baroque orchestral music include the passacaglia, chaconne, French overture, and Italian overture.  Both passacaglias and chaconnes are sets of variations created from the bass line, but the chaconne is more harmonically based than melodically.  The French overture is always divided into two sections: the first slow and pompous, marked by dotted rhythms, and the second in fast counterpoint.  The Italian overture, on the other hand, is divided into three sections that run fast, slow, fast.

     The following virtuosic aria from the opera Semiramide riconosciuta by Porpora was originally composed for a castrato.  Cecilia Bartoli's masterful performance is taken from her incredible set of recordings, "Sacrificium."  If you fail to fall in love with her after hearing this, I can only extend my greatest sympathy.

In braccio a mille furie

by Nicola Porpora

Performed by Cecilia Bartoli & Il Giardino Armonico

Early Music (2/10)

IV:  The Middle Ages

     During the first half of the Middle Ages (500-1000), all power came from the king with the approval of the Roman Catholic Church.  Although music was very important in the civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, most of the preserved music from the era is from monasteries.  During the later Middle Ages (1000-1450), cities along with cathedrals and universities emerged.  Religion caused violent knights to embark upon Crusades to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslims.  During this age of knighthood, a popular theme for court minstrel songs was the distant worshipping and admiration of rich women by these "chivalrous" brutes.

     Gregorian chants, which are single lines of unmetered music bearing religious texts, are named after Pope Gregory the Great (590-604).  A single line of music is what you might imagine coming from one voice, as opposed to multiple lines of music, a texture more common in piano music.  Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) is responsible for several scientific writings, poems, and songs that we have today.  She was also reported to experience visions and perform miracles.  Unsurprisingly, she lived in a stone cell and was raised by a religious recluse.
     Some composers began writing music for more than one line at a time.  Léonin (twelfth century) and Pérotin (thirteenth century) were such composers in Paris from the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  Léonin wrote a large book of organi, the Magnus liber organi.  An organum is a Gregorian melody with another  voice added above or below it.  Léonin was one of the first to write for two simultaneous voices, and his successor Pérotin wrote for three or four.  At the end of the thirteenth century, musicians wrote new texts for the textless sections of the organi.  These pieces were called motets, based on the term "mot," which is French for "word."  The new lines were often in French (not Latin) and sexy (not religious).
     Of course, there was pop music too.  Minstrels were musicians that wandered around entertaining and spreading gossip.  Poor minstrels were called jongleurs and jonglueresses.  French poet-musicians from the South (troubadours) and North (trouvères) were like jongleurs but rich.  Minnesingers were the German equivalent of troubadours or trouvères.  Secular music accompanied dancing and ceremonies, and songs were mostly about unrequited love.  In the fourteenth century, the Ars nova began in France and Italy.  During this era, composers turned more towards secular themes and composed with a more refined sense of rhythm, harmony, and counterpoint, or contrapuntal works, in which two or more simultaneous lines are combined.  Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) is a composer who wrote several motets and secular songs, and is the first composer to be credited with a complete Ordinary of the Mass.  Masses are divided into the Proper, the section of the mass that varies from day to day, and the Ordinary, or fixed sections.

V:  The Renaissance

     The Renaissance (1450-1600) was a time of change from tradition to scientific discovery.  Gunpowder was invented, so murderers were gunmen rather than knights.  The compass was invented, so Europeans found new lands and people to abuse.  Along with Columbus, other well-known names from the Renaissance include the Roman painters and sculptors we remember as the teenage mutant ninja turtles, Shakespeare, Galileo, Martin Luther, and Machiavelli.

     When movable type printing for music was introduced in the late 1500s, more people learned how to read music.  Some musicians found work as printers, publishers, copyists, or instrument builders.  Others found jobs playing instruments, singing, directing choirs, composing, and teaching.  Although instrumental dance music flourished, the sixteenth century is known as the golden age of a cappella (literally "in the manner of a chapel"), or singing without instrumental accompaniment.
     Renaissance music commonly used continuous imitation, where one voice copies another's melody.  Another compositional technique, word painting, reflects the meaning of the words in the music.  Composers also began to favor the intervals of thirds and sixths rather than the fourths and fifths that were so common in the Middle Ages.  All of these compositional techniques have remained popular through our present times.  Composers of the Renaissance wrote polyphonic, or multiple voice masses, motets, and hymns.  Motets of the Renaissance had Latin text, were sacred in nature, and musically based upon a fixed melody known as a cantus firmus.  One of the greatest motet composers was Josquin des Prez (1450-1521).  Renaissance composers created contrapuntal settings of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), basing each section on the same cantus firmus.
     When Martin Luther (1483-1546) told the Catholic Church that they were horrible, the church responded with the Counter-Reformation, a movement dedicated to proving they weren't.  This happened mostly from the 1530's to the end of the century.  During this time, the Council of Trent aimed to reform church music from elaborate, virtuosic counterpoint to a purer vocal style that made the text intelligible.  Although this initially sounds like a major bummer, some composers, including Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) wrote gorgeous masses that conformed to the new restrictions.
     There were also many secular developments.  Chansons were three or four part French songs, mostly about courtly love, and favored by French nobility.  One of the greatest composers of this genre was Roland de Lassus (1532-1594).  The Italian courts, on the other hand, preferred madrigals, which were secular songs that often portrayed more tragic emotions.  Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is well known for many madrigals.  After Italian madrigals were published in England, English composers would translate and simplify the texts in order to compose their own madrigals, which often included the syllables, "fa la la."
     In the following English madrigal, see if you can remember these terms and listen for them:

A Cappella

Polyphonic or Contrapuntal Texture

Continuous Imitation

Word Painting

Intervals of Thirds and Sixths

The Nightingale, the Organ of Delight

by Thomas Weelkes (1573-1623)

Performed by the King's Singers

Intro (1/10)

The summer is here.  Every June, my employment status as a piano teacher goes from part-time to less, which usually results in some sort of crisis.  Last summer I lent myself out to medical experiments, and the summer before that I went through bartending school.  The inability to flirt and a lack of experience in the industry resulted in a net financial loss.  This summer, I will blog a textbook instead.  This is for everybody who never took a music course as a freshman.  Mom.

The Enjoyment of Music
by Joseph Machlis and Kristine Forney

Summarized by Yours truly with references from
Secret Lives of Great Composers
by Elizabeth Lunday

I:  The Elements of Music

     The term pitch describes how high or low a note is.  Intervals measure the distances between pitches.  For example, a very high note and a very low note are separated by a large interval.  The melody is the most important line in music, characterized by pitches and intervals.  Supporting pitches that occur simultaneously with the melody are called harmony.  Rhythm organizes music in time.  Textures describe how these elements are combined.  Form is the organization of music, built upon repetition, contrast, and variation.  Expressive markings that describe speed or character are tempo markings, and those that describe volume are called dynamics.

II:  Musical Instruments

     Timbre or tone color describes the sound produced by different instruments.  Sound is produced through vibrations in the air called sound waves.  Aerophones are instruments that use air to produce vibrations, whereas chordophones use strings.  Percussion instruments that produce sound from themselves, such as the cymbals, are known as idiophones.  Those that have a tightly stretched membrane, like the drums, are known as membranophones.
     String instruments include the violin, viola, cello, double bass, and guitar.  Woodwinds are not necessarily made of wood, and examples include piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone.  Brass instruments such as the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba have cup-shaped mouth pieces.
     The best instrument ever invented is the piano.  Not closely related is the electric piano.

III:  Ensembles

     Ensembles are performance groups.  Choirs are small group of singers; larger groups are called choruses.  Chamber ensembles have one instrument on each part and range from two to twelve players.  Common chamber ensembles are duos with piano, trios, quartets, and quintets.  In contrast, symphony orchestras are quite large and often require more than one hundred members.  Symphony orchestras have string, woodwind, brass, and percussion sections.  Bands describe many types of ensembles, but most feature winds and percussion.  Concert bands or wind ensembles range from forty to eighty members.

MUSICAL STYLES IN HISTORY:

Middle Ages/Early Christian: 400-600

Middle Ages/Gregorian Chant: 600-850

Middle Ages/Romanesque: 850-1150

Middle Ages/Gothic: 1150-1450

Renaissance: 1450-1600

Baroque: 1600-1750

Rococo: 1725-1775

Classical: 1750-1825

Romantic: 1820-1900

Post-Romantic and Impressionist: 1890-1915

Twentieth Century: 1900-2000

Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell

Final Movement: Fugue

By Benjamin Britten

Performed by Edna Everage, John Lanchbery, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Recipe

Lots of people like molten lava cakes.
George and I make them often, but they never turn out right.  We affectionately refer to ours as "chocolate rocks."  I wouldn't advise following our recipe, but I stand by the instructional video.

L&G's Chocolate Rocks

8 oz chocolate chips
6 T unsalted butter

4 T cocoa powder

2 egg yolks

1/4 c flour

2 t vanilla

Melt butter, chocolate, and cocoa over medium heat.

While chocolate cools, beat yolks, flour, and vanilla.

Beat together and bake for 9 minutes at 400 in muffin tin.

"You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" by Charles Strouse.

Joshua

Legend has it that during the Bronze Age, Joshua led the Israelites to the city of Jericho, which was encased by a wall.  After they marched around in circles for a week, seven priests blew on ram's horns, which caused the city's walls to collapse.  At this point, everybody was massacred, and the remains of the city were burned.  Any man who tried to rebuild Jericho would have his firstborn son murdered.

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho,

Jericho, Jericho,

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho,

And the walls came tumblin' down.

Why this is a story to celebrate, I cannot tell you.
What the meaning of the verb, "fit" in the above spiritual is, I also cannot tell you.
What I can tell you, however, is that according to the splendid radio talkshow "Radiolab," (radiolab.org), it would require 177 decibels of sound to bring down the walls of Jericho, which amounts to a calculated minimum of 407,380 horns.
I thought it had been a while since I did a piano video, so here we have it.

The arrangement is by Mark Hayes.

Bionic

BI ON IC

 - adjective
[1]  Utilizing electronic devices and mechanical parts to assist humans in performing difficult, dangerous, or intricate tasks, as by supplementing or duplicating parts of the body.
[2]  Having anatomical structures or physiological processes that are replaced or enhanced by electronic or mechanical components.

dictionary.com

On Wednesday April 27th at 13:45 in the afternoon, the lens containing a growing cataract in my right eye was chewed up, vacuumed out, and replaced by something called acrylic foldable iol (intraocular lens).  At ages 49 and 50, my dad was considered pretty young for cataract surgery.  I hold the record for being the youngest cataract patient my three anesthesiologists had ever seen.

My favorite part of the surgery was the doctor.  Doctors typically intimidate me, but Dr. Yen Dang Nieman is wonderful.  I like her because she's pretty and Vietnamese like my mom.  George probably likes her because she's a highly reputable surgeon.  The worst part of the entire affair was the brightness.  I felt "pressure" 3 times during the surgery, but that was nothing compared to the eye being dilated, taped open, and flooded with lights.  I saw bright blue and pink for most of the time, with a brief episode of white-lined muddy brown waves.  Really neat.

The next day, I was trying to help some little girls read piano music when I noticed blurry white areas in the right and lower periphery.  Immediately, I ran off to Dr. Nieman again, fearing the worst.  She dilated the eye, looked in, and explained that my collapsing vitreous was tugging on my retina.  So for everybody besides George or Liên, this means that there are pieces of gel inside my eyeball trying to pull out something very important.  Apparently, as long as I see "flashes," I needn't be alarmed.  However, the moment "floaters" appear, all hell breaks loose.

Right now my eyeball feels like a jellyfish, but every cloud has its silver lining.

Engagement

Sigh.  My baby sister got engaged a week ago.

I can't say I'm ecstatic.

Don't get me wrong.  Her betrothed is a pretty neat guy, and more importantly, he seems to treat her very well.  My reservations really have little to do with him.  I'm just not one of those big sisters who's in any sort of hurry for her baby sister to get... married.  I guess Liên, and the rest of the world for that matter, feel that it would be "nice" if I were more "supportive."  Well, sure.  I could probably summon up the attitude if Liên weren't beautiful, intelligent, interesting, blah, blah, blah.  Because then, in the best of all possible worlds, having a husband could be a step up from having nothing.

Sort of like, "You had nothing, but now you have a person who probably loves you and a societally accepted method of trying to make babies.  Congratulations."  You would think that with both of us being so headstrong, I wouldn't be such an awkward mother hen about it all.  But as long as I don't think she's gonna die an old lonesome maid or develop some weird self-esteem problem from not getting married by age fifty or whatever, I'm just in no rush.  Let me put it another way.

Here's a picture of her rudely failing to keep up with conversation.

Here's the two of us in an uncomfortable situation.  Those are pretty much all we talk about, and if we ever wrote up a book of memoirs, our selective memory would be prioritized by discomfort.  "Remember the time we were in the pool and suddenly an anonymous sibling was running around it really fast but naked?  And everybody else was staring?  And then Chi Ngọc couldn't catch up to him but kept running anyway and screaming in Vietnamese?"

This picture was taken the last time I was stronger than Liên.

What I'm trying to say is that we've been through a lot.  I know her.  It's not just another, "Happy engagement, ohmigod I'm so excited for you, you two are like the cutest couple ever."  It's a really big deal.

But in all fairness, I don't really have the right to go around shrieking, "Don't get married!  It's awful, I hate it!"  Not only would that be slightly inconsiderate to my sweet George, but I also got engaged at her age and never regretted it.  And just for the record, if being unsupportive can be considered a measure of sisterly love, then Liên loved me more than you would care to know a few years back.

Seriously though, if there's one thing I know about Liên, it's that she has the means and the guts to do whatever she wants.  I normally don't disagree with any of her decisions, and nobody ever stands in her way.  Now she wants to be with Bill - forever.  Bill, you are a lucky bastard.

Bill is a professional video editor.
Their friend Tom taped the proposal, and Bill made it into this.

N.B.  When Liên was thinking of how to propose,
her first reaction to the idea of asking Bill for a lifelong commitment
just moments before he plummeted 40 meters downwards was:

"Yeah, but Lan, what if that isn't scary enough?"

Nephews

George has two younger brothers.
The youngest is Zachary, who is married to Simone.  Zachary is a mathematician, and acts a little like my dad.  Simone and I met five years before I had ever even heard of George.  We teach at the same music school and share coffee almost every day.
The middle brother is Warren.  Warren and Christy live two hours away in Katy, TX, so we don't get to see them as often.  On November 1st of 2010, they had twin boys named Aiden and Andrew.  From Saturday to Sunday afternoon, George and I got the boys all to ourselves.

Additional notes:
This year, Austin has become a part of the "Play Me I'm Yours" project created by Luke Jerram in 2008.  As a result, we have 14 outdoor pianos available to the public.  The project has currently installed over 400 pianos around the world.  My good friends, Sarah and Emily, organized a get-together at the Travis County Jail, so we took the boys.  Emily, Aiden, and I sight read a few duets while Andrew stayed a little more out of the spotlight.

Aiden has the best baby hair I have ever seen, and likes to stare.

Andrew is referred to as "Meat" for good reason.

Children's Choir

There have always been a few redeeming qualities about going to church.  Well, mostly it's just music.  Once a blue hair gave me a hug and exclaimed, "You're worth going to church for!"  So anyway, it's not just me.

My family moved to Virginia and started attending Christ the Servant Lutheran at the end of 1988.  Liên and I started singing in the children's choir, which was directed by David Willis.  By the time I was going down the 4th-6th grade hallway of Terraset Elementary, we were way too grown up for a children's choir, so we quit.  We were cool.  Then suddenly we found ourselves highlighting parts for his hand bell choir.  You couldn't say no to David Willis.  Not because he was persuasive, not because you were interested, not because it was the right thing to do, but simply because you loved him.  By the time I was walking down the hallways of Oakton High as an overweight and insecure teenager, I was David Willis' sub.  Now that is what I call seriously cool.

David Willis holds a very special place in my heart, and has shaped me just as much as any of my piano teachers.  He died the morning of April 18, 2008.

Koenig Lane's humble six-piece choir (four of which belong to one family) and I did "Hymn of Promise" as the anthem yesterday morning, and I recorded it on my phone.  It was composed by Natalie Sleeth in 1985.  It's not my favorite composition, but Liên and I sang it for David Willis' choir 20 years ago.

Rest in peace.  I will never, ever, ever forget you.

Accompanying the recording are flowers from sweet George.

N.B.  George bought the red rose for me
and the white one for you on April 18th of this year.

1810-1849

"As this earth will suffocate me, I implore you to have my body opened so that I will not be buried alive."

Do you recognize the dates or very reasonable request of Frédéric Chopin?  I was probably about 14 when I realized that I enjoy what people unaffectionately refer to as "Classical Music," and it is to Chopin that I owe this opinion.  My loving teacher Betty Reed gave me a little volume called, "At the Piano With Chopin," and I immediately brought the cover into my art class to scratch his face into a piece of black coated paper with a knife.  Later, I realized that a photograph of him does exist, and that it bears no resemblance whatsoever to his other portraits.  Normally this would mortify me, but as I didn't have very many friends in high school, nobody really took notice.  Close one.

Back in the day, compact discs were just taking over tapes, and my mother bought me one of my first prized possessions - the box set of Rubinstein playing Chopin.  I listened to the waltzes particularly.  This waltz is from the very same book bearing a terribly inaccurate drawing on its cover.

Spring Break (4/4)

I've been back in Austin for nearly a week, and it's rough.  I adapt quickly to the luxuries of little responsibility and bounties of delicious food.  This is my final entry on Vietnam, designed to fill in the gaps from my other bowlegs.  After arriving in Saigon on Monday, Thal was sick and slept all afternoon.  Liên came home from work early, and we went fo Japanese food and bubble tea.  By the evening, Dad felt ill.  The rest of us took a bus downtown to book our tour to Nha Trang and find dinner.

On Tuesday, Mom showed George and me the building she lived in when she was growing up.  Her family had lived upstairs and owned a book shop on the ground floor.  A third floor has since been added, and the shop on the bottom now sells Western clothing.  We bought lunch and my favorite fruit, pomelo, from the same market my Mom had gone to every morning.
Mom, Liên, and I spent the afternoon at the salon, where we were well looked after for three hours.  After returning to the hotel and waking up the guys, we went downtown for a remarkable dinner.  My mom's friend Kristie Stovall had graciously invited us to her workplace, a five star hotel called the Windsor Plaza.  We joined Mom's friends for endless sushi, hot pot, spring rolls, intestines, etc.

The entirety of Wednesday was spent on a bus ride to Nha Trang.  I slept and fought off my cold, waking up only to consume the best of Vietnamese subs and grumble about the Rubik's cube.  George studied the countryside of Vietnam and held me sweetly.  On Thursday, we took a boat tour of four islands, where we discovered that Thal and I are horrible snorkelers.  During Happy Hour, everybody else watched our family jump off the boat just for a free drink of sangria.

Friday was our free day.  We spent the afternoon at Thap Ba, soaking in mud and hot mineral baths, enjoying water massages, and loitering about in giant mineral hot tubs.  That evening, we had the best grilled seafood imaginable.  Their cuttlefish is not something I shall ever forget.  We rode back to Saigon on a night bus, where Mom, Liên, and I slept like babies.  The three six-foot men stayed awake and watched us nearly crash every five minutes.

After returning to Saigon on Saturday morning, we took a trip to Núi Bà Đen, or the Black Virgin Mountain.  In sweat-soaked shirts, carrying nothing but extra water, we glanced up the stone stairs to see this woman.  We rode down the mountain in rickety carts on a curvy metal chute where we had control of the breaks.  By accident, George and I slammed into Liên pretty hard.  Thal, who was in the cart behind us, was utterly horrified.

And that's the end of this story.  Sunday morning we had a plane to catch, and Monday morning we had work to do.  Such is the nature of vacations.  George referred to Vietnam as a "paradise," which I find to be fitting.  There is no place I would rather have been, and I feel very lucky to have had my entire family there.  We even got along, mostly.

It would be remiss for me to neglect to mention any sort of culture shock.

Top Ten:

10)  Food - delicious.

     (Seriously, what are we doing over here?)

9)  Traffic - heavy.

8)  Littering - common place.

7)  Power lines - spaghetti.

6)  Fashion - anything goes.

5)  Coffee - it's a different drink.

4)  Street markets - so fresh.

3)  Bargaining - expected.

2)  Bills - worth a tenth of a penny.

1)  Mannequin stores - too many.

Happy Hour (3/4)

Today my family toured Nha Trang by boat, and visited islands Hòn Miễu, Hòn Mun, Hòn Một, and Hòn Tằm.  We went scuba diving and ate sea urchin at Hòn Mun, toured an aquarium at Hòn Miễu, and swam in the rain at Hòn Tằm.  But Hòn Một.  Hòn Một was happy hour.

Salon (2/4)

Liên, Mom, and I went to have our hair done.  Although the first place we stopped was advertised as a salon, it looked like a brothel inside.  After we explained what we were looking for, the young ladies laughed at us and pointed to an establishment for women.  At the real salon, there was a friendly woman, an angry woman, and a fashionable young man working while the American TV station in the background blared out such favorites as, "Screamer" and "What's My Name."  The hipster cut and styled our hair while the women worked very quickly doing everything else, like multiple washings, curling, applying 3 rounds of chemicals, etc.  Mom periodically disappeared and reappeared until she disappeared permanently.  She always understands everything that they're saying, so she doesn't get to experience the mystery we do.  The women were very rough with our heads, and it was painful.  My eyes welled up with tears several times, and Liên and I ended up taking ibuprofen.

Due to the language barrier, the hairstylists would push us around when they wanted us to do something, such as go to the back rooms and get our hair washed again.  One time after a washing, one of the women wanted me to hold the towel on the back of my wet hair, so she grabbed my hand and shoved it into place.  Unfortunately, I had been palming a handful of snotty tissues, which ended up getting thrown all over the floor.  To add to the mess, we were wearing containers on our shoulders to catch the perm chemicals, and Liên was making me laugh so hard that I would lean forward and spill them out onto the floor periodically.  It was embarrassing.

Last but not least, another woman entered the salon and promptly got a steaming bag on her head.  Every time Liên turned around, the bag had inflated a little more, as steam poured out.  It was so funny that we shot a video while I pretended to take a picture of my sister.

The entire process took 3 hours and cost twenty bucks.

I'd do it every six months if I could.

Bánh Cuốn (1/4)

George and I arrived in Vietnam on Monday morning.  We found Mom at the airport before she spotted the giant white guy in the Taiwanese hat.  Lien came on a 5-week medical rotation, and the units brought my brother on his Spring Break.  On Monday, we explored downtown and booked a tour to Nha Trang, a city known for beautiful beaches and hot springs.  Tuesday, Mom showed us where she used to live.  Her family owned a bookstore, which has since turned into a "Fashion Shop."

A few buildings down from her old home, there is a market with a big sign reading, "Khu Phố Văn Hóa."  We walked through and saw my favorite foods - fresh seafood and fruit.  Mom bought me a pomelo, which is like a huge delicious grapefruit.  She says Bà used to give her money to pick out breakfast from the market.  Because everything smelled so good, I asked her about coming to America where we eat things like cereal and oatmeal for breakfast.  She replied, "Yeah, that doesn't taste good."

My favorite meal from childhood is called bánh cuốn.  Mom would say, "Girls, we're having bánh cuốn tonight," and we would shriek, "Yaaaay!!!"  At the market, we ordered the best bánh cuốn I ever had in my life.  A steamed sheet of rice flour is stuffed with ground pork and mushrooms, served with fresh veggies and chả lụa.

Try to ignore the antics that are my family, carrying on and about in the background.

Push a Little Button

I woke up with a song called, "Push a Little Button," in my head.  It was originally written by Tony Hatch in 1966 and recorded by his 15-year-old sister, Ninette.

This evening I figured out some chords and played it on my clavichord, which is an early type of keyboard.  The strings of clavichords are struck by small pieces of brass called tangents, whereas they are plucked in harpsichords by plectra and struck by hammers in pianos.  Clavichords have a much quieter range of sound than pianos, and because the tangents are in constant contact with the strings, clavichords can vibrate pitch.
The handsome fellow playing it, named Pooh, was bought for me by my mom before I was born.

George and I are trying to sing in unison.

Is It Yours?

Grandma is a church pianist who plays by ear.  It's not that she can't read music, though.  Her idea of a good time is to play through the Well Tempered but transpose the Preludes and Fugues to - well - whatever she feels like.  "This is J. S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C minor.  In F minor."

I don't play by ear as well as I read, so I have arrangements for my church job.  They used to sit around in the sanctuary, but now I keep a few at home so I can call and play melodies we both know.  The other night I played, "Fairest Lord Jesus."  She replied with, "Is it yours?"  Surely she knows I don't spend my time coming up with hymn arrangements when I can buy a dozen that are better written for 10 bucks.  In other words, 4 arrangements would probably cost me 4 hours of my life or the price of a latte.  I think she just likes to be reassured that she's the only one in the family who holds that spot.  Take it, grandma.  I'll make a doppio with one percent at home this week.  This one is arranged by Melody Bober.

Also, that strikingly handsome man is my husband.

Grandma

On January 15th of this year, my 84-year-old grandmother had a massive stroke that severely affected the left side of her body.  Most people in that condition don't recover, but then again, most people aren't Ruth Volkert Kratzke.  If Little Red Riding Hood were visiting my grandmother, the girl would arrive to a home filled with the aroma of a blackberry pie that made her basket of sweets look like hardtack, broiled tenderized wolf with three sides, a printed menu, and not one drop of blood on the floor.  She probably does not own a tenderizer.

Grandma and I have a few things in common, such as an underdeveloped sense of patience and an overdeveloped sense of when it's appropriate to be insulting.  Generally speaking, the notion of considering another point of view when it comes to just about anything is unheard of.  Oh, yes.  And we both chose a career in piano.  It shouldn't be hard to imagine that we haven't always gotten along.

For the past few months, I've been trying to take a little time out of the teaching day to give her a call and play something short and fairly sight-readable.  The arrangements are nothing special, and it's sort of stupid to try transmitting 88 sets of vibrating strings over a telephone.  Despite this, she seems to look forward to hearing whatever happens on her end of the call.  I tried ringing one time just to talk to her, and the phone was promptly hung up.  She really just wanted to hear me play, so then I had the idea to do start some postings.  You know, just in case somebody out there might like to hear a little easy piano music from somebody else's granddaughter.

"Crown Him with Many Crowns" in the setting of Bach's Prelude in D Major

Arr. Cindy Berry

First Bowleg

When I was in elementary school, I couldn't keep a diary because my handwriting was not uniform enough to prevent me from ripping out pages.  If 7 pages went missing on the left side of the binding, the 7 adjoining pages on the right had to be neatly removed.  Often, this process ended up removing more than 14 total pages.  Before very long, the paper in the center of the book was visibly denser, and the covers lacked a sense of proper cushioning.  They were the jutting, vulnerable bones of what once was a diary.  This was all very hurtful to me because the soft blue paper with faint lavender lining was very pretty, indeed.

Now that we've moved to easily deletable data, I'm trying again.  It's been 20 years.

In closing, I find the word "blog" to be disgusting.  As I don't find "web log" to be much better, I entered it into an anagram solver out of sheer desperation.