Wanna know what you want (to read)

A question for readers ...



What would you like to read in this blog?


Two kinds of writing come to mind:


1) sentimental writing about art and inspiration and so forth;

2) writing about the nuts-and-bolts process of how I am composing what I am composing at the moment.


At one time I would have looked down my nose at option (1) because it wasn't intellectual enough. As I get older, though, I get more mellow on that point. So here's a bit of sentimental writing about art; you can tell me whether or not you like it.


One of my favorite summer jobs ever was teaching for the high school program at Tanglewood (BUTI, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute). I did that for three summers in the early 90s. In 1991, Phyllis Curtin (great American soprano and advocate of new music) gave a lecture to the students. They listened attentively while she pointed out that the inspiration for art doesn't come from practicing 6 hours a day in a soundproof practice cubicle, or from imitating great musicians' performances. Inspiration comes from the world around you, she said, from beauty you can see all over the place if you just bother to look. She finished by giving everyone an assignment: the Perseid meteor shower was due to happen that night and the next, and everyone in the room was to go look at it.


So that night I grabbed four or five of my favorite BUTI students and jammed them into the VW Rabbit I was driving at the time. We drove down to the Tanglewood grounds because there was no concert that night, so the parking lots would be empty and dark. We parked all alone in the middle of the biggest lot and spread blankets on the car and the ground and lay there and watched. The sky was completely clear, and meteors tore across it once every second or two, burning trails across the darkness. We were used to seeing shooting stars that looked like straight white lines, quick and demure, but many of these seemed larger and irregular and jagged. We could have sworn we saw flames. And the sky looked closer than I can remember seeing it before or since; we could imagine being able to touch it if we jumped high enough. The shower went on and on and on, and we would have been happy to stay there all night ...


That was the first time I saw the Perseids, and I have been trying to see a comparably brilliant shower ever since. Unfortunately, you can never recreate something like that. This year I was singing opera upstate at Bard College on the 12th and 13th of August; the first night was partly cloudy, so I saw Jupiter (and its moons, thanks to a friend's binoculars), a bat or two, many mosquitoes, and one lone meteor; the next night brought nothing but rain. On the plus side, I did get to blow fire at one afterparty (using corn starch and a lot of matches), and several times I got to see a woodchuck/groundhog that liked to hang out near the dining hall. There was also the skunk we dubbed Whitey for its incredibly broad white stripe; it walked right past the dining hall window one day, so close that I could have touched it if the glass had not been there. Whitey had charisma, the sort that made me smile every time I saw him (or perhaps her).


You're probably curious what that has to do with composing. It's not the 19th century any more, so I am unlikely to write program music, i.e., something that's supposed to represent a story about skunks and woodchucks (or planets or fire breathing). Berlioz and Liszt and Strauss (Richard) did enough with the Symphonie Fantastique and tone poems (I admit I did once write a chamber music piece called Charmonium, about subatomic particles, with movement names such as "Baryons" and "Xi Cascade", but I never claimed the music could be representational). I think what's important is the memory of the images and the satisfying sensations that I got from watching Whitey snuffle along, foraging, or even the frustration of only seeing one meteor this year. It's good to remind oneself that music should make people feel something, whether it's warmth, grief, frustration, or joy. Personally, I can get a little too wrapped up in intellectual constructs (such as writing the perfect 12-tone row and then creating music based on it); that can be satisfying, just as working out a Sudoku puzzle can be, but ultimately, what does it do for its listeners?


We'll see if I can get the awe of Jupiter and the buzz of the cicadas and the coolness of the summer thunderstorms to resonate in this winter set of carols for the MCE.


More on option (2), the nuts and bolts, in my next entry. Meanwhile, a couple more texts for you to enjoy (don't worry, I won't be setting them all):


What cheer? Good cheer! Good cheer! Good Cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year.


1. Lift up your heartës and be glad!
In Christës birth the angel bade;
Say each to other, if any be sad:
What cheer? Good cheer! Good cheer! Good Cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year.


2. Now the King of heaven His birth hath take,
Joy and mirth we ought to make.
Say each to other, for his sake:
What cheer? Good cheer! Good cheer! Good Cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year.


3. I tell you all with heart so free,
Right welcome ye be (all) to me.
Be glad and merry for charity!
What cheer? Good cheer! Good cheer! Good Cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year.


4. The goodman of this place in fere
You to be merry he prayeth you here;
And with good heart he doth to you say:
What cheer? Good cheer! Good cheer! Good Cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year.


Make We Merry, Both More And Less
For Now Is The Time Of Christmas


1. Let no man come into this hall,
Groom, page nor yet marshall,
But that some sport he bring withall,
For now is the time of Christëmas.


2. If that he say he cannot sing,
Some other sport then let him bring,
That it may please at this feasting,
For now is the time of Christëmas.


3. If he say he can naught do,
Then for my love ask him no mo,
But to the stocks then let him go,
For now is the time of Christëmas.



Blessed Be That Maid Mary


Eia Jesus Hodie
Natus est de virgine!


1. Blessed be that maid Mary,
Born He was of her body,
Godës Son that sitteth on high,
Non ex virili semine.


2. In a manger of an ass,
Jesu lay and lullëd was,
Hardë painës for to pass,
Pro peccante homine.


3. Kingës came fro divers land,
With great giftës in their hand,
In Bethlehem the Child they found,1
Stelle ducti lumine.


4. Man and child, both old and ying,
Now in His blissful coming,2
To that Child may we sing,
Gloria Tibi, Domine!


5. Nowell, nowell, in this hall,
Make merry, I pray you all
Unto the Child may we call,
Ullo sine crimine.

Blogging for the MCE, and quiz with reward

The first blog. I. Have. Ever. Written.

Please read and leave comments about carol texts! :-)


So Tom and Dave and I head to the one diner in all of Manhattan that plays no background music (Morning Star, on 9th, not far from Columbus Circle; I give thanks for their existence at least once a week b/c silence on this island is usually a nonstarter) and we talk about how better to make this commission (a piece for the Manhattan Choral Ensemble's winter/holiday/it's-got-plenty-of-Xmas-music-on-it concert) more interactive. Other composers who've worked with the MCE have done many creative things, such as writing music based on members' answers to questions like "What's on your iPod?" I'm not sure I can reconcile the breadth of answers I would get if I did that—this is a ridiculously smart and curious group of singers, after all—with writing what will be, in the end, a fresh set of carols, compatible with holiday concert programming.


So I am really really really relieved when Tom and Dave tell me that what they would really like me to do is start a blog.


Well, what they said is that they would like me to share the process of composing with the group, and since I'd rather write than be interviewed for a podcast, with all the ums and ahs and ohs that might entail, a blog's definitely the way to go.


Sooooooo ...


To complete this project, I need to do a bunch of things, not necessarily in the following order:

-select texts

-think of thematic links

-make sure that texts provide variety in the types of music they generate (i.e., we don't want 5 uptempo numbers OR 5 slow but exquisite ones)

-decide whether I am still writing this for harp and chorus, or for some other instrument and chorus, or a cappella

-make up some melodies that go with some of the texts (by randomly singing, or by imagining notes in my head, or by sketching out twelve-tone rows while riding the A train)

-make up some evocative chord progressions (usually done at the piano, she confesses with a tinge of guilt)


That's enough to start with. Hmm. I should of course also post a few of the texts I am considering, for your consideration too! Do write back and let me know what you think. I will buy a beer for the first person who correctly tells me the thematic link among the following texts:




Text #1




Omnes gentes plaudite,

I saw many birds sitting on a tree;

They took their flight and flew away,

With, Ego dixi, have good day!

Many white feathers hath the pie --

I may no more sing, my lips are so dry.

Many white feathers hath the swan --

The more that I drink, the less I can.

Lay sticks on the fire, well may it burn;1

Give us once to drink ere away we turn.2




Notes:

1. Text: wyl mot is brenne.

2. Text: ere we gon henne.

Rickert gives the following translations:

Omnes gentes plaudite is translated as "All ye nations, rejoice."

Ego dixi is translated as "I have said."




Text #2





Bring us in good ale, and bring us in good ale;

For our Blessed Lady's sake, bring us in good ale.



1. Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran,

Nor bring us in no white bread, there therein is no game;

But bring us in good ale.



2. Bring us in no beef, for there is many bones,

But bring us in good ale, for that goes down at once;

And bring us in good ale.



3. Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat,

But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that;

And bring us in good ale.



4. Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lean,

Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean;

And bring us in good ale.



5. Bring us in no eggs, for there are many shells,

But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else;

And bring us in good ale.



6. Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs;

Nor bring us in no pig's flesh, for that will make us boars;

And bring us in good ale.



7. Bring us in no puddings, for therein is all God's good;

Nor bring us in no venison, for that is not for our blood;

And bring us in good ale.



8. Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is often dear;

Nor bring us in no duck's flesh, for they slobber in the mere;

And bring us in good ale.





Text #3:





Wassail, wassail, wassail, sing we

In worship of Christ’s nativity.



1. Now joy be to the Trinity,

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

That one God is in Trinity,

Father of heaven, of mightes most.



2. And joy to the Virgin pure

That ever kept her undefiled

Grounded in grace, in heart full sure,

And bare a child as maiden mild.



3. Bethlehem and the star so shen,

That shone three kinges for to guide,

Bear witness of this maiden clean;

The kinges three offered that tide.



4. And shepherds heard, as written is,

The joyful song that there was sung:

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS!

With angel’s voice it was out rung.



5. Now joy be to the blessful child,

And joy be to his mother dear;

Joy we all of that maiden mild,

And joy have they that make good cheer.



Wassail, wassail, wassail, sing we

In worship of Christ’s nativity.





That's all for tonight! Have fun; I look forward to seeing you again soon.