Editing of Part I Psalm 30 finished (3 pages total), working out of key for awhile, then finding it to drive to Diablo Valley College and Quiz 7 for the Theoreticians, with examples drawn from J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Franz Gruber, and Frederic Chopin. Thereafter, head straight to Marin's Novato Toyota for standard maintenance, biding time and grading papers (again, all pretty strong, with -- as has been true some other semesters -- various people achieving perfect scores each week... rather than always the same folks...),
Page 2 of Psalm 30 edited before charging out the door for review work on markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com with the Theoreticians (re C Melodic Minor Scale, Bb and and Eb Major, B and F# Minor -- the latter both in Natural and Harmonic forms; plus Sonata-Allegro form as exemplified in the Mozart K. 545 first movement), Franz Xaver Gruber's Silent Night for dictation and board harmony, and notatble student works. Coffee and lunch with Doug, then more embedding videos on the Music History blog (now Rhythm-and-Blues and 50's Rock ones, in continuing preparation for the new evening class), but the power cuts out in part of the Music Building, and then the internet goes, so move to lab, where the internet works long enough to log in before cutting out again. Seems to be nothing to do but take an early dinner at China Garden, where the internet turns spotty, again, at best. Upon returning to school to meet with Monty re the changing-of-the-guard for the course, barriers have been placed before the entrance driveways, and signs announce the cancellation of classes for the duration of the day. Heading home unexpectedly early, there's time to begin a catch-up, including eventually the videos of Sequence Music: I and
Well, here we are in Music Literature taking the evening Renaissance Quiz -- you don't have to thank me... -- and looking ahead to the
Baroque. Before that, in roughly reverse order, was embedding YouTube videos on the Music History blog over lunch at China Garden, Music Theory dictation / keyboard-solfege re the W.A. Mozart Sonata in C Major (K. 545, first 4 bars of movement I -- followed by wonderful student compositions), some 21st-Century Music work with Laurie Curran of EBSCO, and the beginning editing for Psalm 30.
After, a departure into that good night with Owen, Doug, and Melanie; and return for the decidedly different musical bar lines of video for
Nocturnes for Insomniacs: I. Night Music I and
II. Day Music -- somehow appropriate, given the hottest night of the year, making for challenging rest...
Finish editing Psalm 29 (3 pages total), do some 21st-Century Music work with Laurie Curran from EBSCO on the phone, and leap forth to Diablo Valley College for dictation/keyboard-solfege on J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 140("Wachet Auf") (first five bars), thereafter beginning the second round of engaging student compositions with animated and beautiful music by Xavier Travis and Danny Allegria. Coffee with Doug, and lab time follows, Tritone-Orchestra recording recent work:
Psalm 28 ("Unto Thee I Cry")
Psalm 29 ("Give the Lord, Ye Mighty")
Leaving DVC, it's home to Harriet for dinner, beginning the editing of Psalm 30 and producing videos for Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical"): XII. We Want Foreigners (a. at top and b. below).
Home all day with Harriet, and very welcome after a very busy week, with time to do the next edited page of Psalm 29 and two more Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical") videos: IXa. Rather Have an Earthquake and
SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Mark Alburger, Music Director
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
8pm, Saturday, September 25, 2010, Old First Church, San Francisco, CA Mark Alburger and John Kendall Bailey, conducting
Program
Lisa Scola Prosek Piano Sonata
Jorge Liderman Flautando
Michael Cooke Love Letters I. GAC II. Minerva's Dance
Mark Alburger Animal Farm: Grand Zoological Fantasy-Variations Part 1 - In Cold Blood I. Wasps II. Flies III. Spiders IV. Crabs V. Sharks VI. Frogs VII. Turtles VIII. Snakes
Intermission
Loren Jones Banyan I. River II. Forest III. Desert
Terry Riley In C
***
Begin editing Psalm 29, then off toward the Vaca Mountains, to get the requisite buzz-cut, adjacent to
intriguing enterprises,
swinging
by
print shop to prepare Animal Farm for tonight's performance, then homeward for Harriet, who will be narrator in same. Poetic superscriptions are
The Wasp Ogden Nash
The wasp and all his numerous family I look upon as a major calamity. He throws open his nest with prodigality, But I distrust his waspitality.
The Fly William Blake
Little Fly, Thy summer's play My thoughtless hand Has brushed away.
Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me?
For I dance And drink, and sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life And strength and breath And the want Of thought is death;
Then am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die.
A Noiseless Patient Spider Walt Whitman
A noiseless patient spider, I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
Strayed Crab Elizabeth Bishop
This is not my home. How did I get so far from water? It must be over that way somewhere. . . .
The Maldive Shark Herman Melville
About the Shark, phlegmatical one, Pale sot of the Maldive sea, The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim, How alert in attendance be. From his saw-pit of mouth, from his charnel of maw, They have nothing of harm to dread, But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank Or before his Gorgonian head; Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth In white triple tiers of glittering gates, And there find a haven when peril's abroad, An asylum in jaws of the Fates! They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey, Yet never partake of the treat -- Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull, Pale ravener of horrible meat.
The Frogs Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A Pool was once congeal'd with frost; The frogs, in its deep waters lost,
No longer dared to croak or spring; But promised, being half asleep, If suffer'd to the air to creep,
As very nightingales to sing.
A thaw dissolved the ice so strong,-- They proudly steer'd themselves along, When landed, squatted on the shore, And croak'd as loudly as before.
The Turtle Ogden Nash
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks Which practically conceal its sex. I think it clever of the turtle In such a fix to be so fertile.
What the Rattlesnake Said Vachel Lindsay
The moon's a little prairie-dog. He shivers through the night. He sits upon his hill and cries For fear that I will bite.
The sun's a broncho. He's afraid Like every other thing, And trembles, morning, noon and night, Lest I should spring, and sting.
15 minutes before the show, the place is filling up (always a good sign), and the concert goes very well, returning for the evening's Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical") videos --
Finish editing Psalm 28 (four pages total) and head to the city for the dress rehearsal, at Old First Presbyterian Church, of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra Animal, Vegetable, Mineral show, including Lisa Scola Prosek's Sonata, Michael Cooke's Love Letters, Mark Alburger's
Animal Farm: A. Cold-Blooded
Jorge Liderman's Flautando,
Loren Jones's Banyan, and
Terry Riley's In C. Home for more video madness with Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical")...
Page 3 edited for Psalm 28, Quiz 6 for the Theoreticians (with musical examples from Carlo Gesualdo, Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schutz, Archangelo Corelli, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach), lunch and grading at Elephant Bar (in lieu of Celia's given the day's circumstances), then off to the third rehearsal, at Park Presidio United Methodist Church, of the
San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral show. Later that evening, do videos for
Twelve Preludes and Fugues: IIIa. The Collective Brain and
A second page edited for Psalm 28 and J.S. Bach's Passacaglia in C Minor bassline and schematic harmony in Theory, whereupon Monty Bairos appears after class to say, "Can I talk to you? It's good news," the latter, of course always good to hear. Actually less good for him, as, per doctor's orders he must stand down a class, but am delighted to pick up same, which is A History of Rock course. So, at that moment, plans for the day are changed -- lingering in the lab to catch up with SF Composers Chamber Orchestra business, respond to Micrologus's positive comments re the DrMarkAlburger channel, and discover much of the Historical Music of Anthology (HAM) online. After taking a coffee-and-sub run to the bookstore and breaking with Doug, meet with Monty in his impressive, palatial upstairs office to discuss the course transition, then attend class that evening, for a lecture on Country Music. Will begin next week with 50's Rock, etc., but for now, head home for videos of
Begin editing Psalm 28, then Theory dictation/board-harmony re Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas: When I Am Laid. A double-paper-grading outing of China Garden (mid-day class) and Elephant
Bar (evening) follows,
returning for Music History, finishing up Medieval Music and looking towards the
Renaissance.
Out with Doug and our
favorite waitress thereafter, before a proceeding homeward to the videos du soire as
Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical"): IVa. Death Is the Rain and
Edit Psalm 27 (12 pages total) before a Theory dictation/board-harmony of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Ofeo: Tu se' morta, thereafter playing three Youtube videos -- Psalm 6: 1-5; The Twelve Fingers: VIII. Sonata; and Ecclesiastes: III. For Everything -- latter two by request, all quite well received.
Tritone-Orchestra record Psalm 26 in the lab then
blitz out
across the Bay
and through
town to second
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
San Francisco
Composers Chamber Orchestra
rehearsal.
Home for more Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical") videos... VIa. The Examined Life and
Off to San Francisco for a Goat Hall / SF Cabaret Opera board meeting and Theatre of Yugen's production of Alice -- a stunning yet fairly faithful update of Lewis Carroll, including music from Philip Glass's Company. Before this, finish editing Psalm 26 ("Judica Me") (through page 14) and a video for
Twelve Preludes and Fugues ("Topical"): VIb. The Examined Life.
Making the jump
southwest,
reunions are welcome, though
lines less so. But when the end result is impressive
Mark Alburger (b. 1957, Upper Darby, PA) is an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer of postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He is Music Director of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music (P.O. Box 2842 San Anselmo, CA 94960) and New Music, Music Critic for Commuter Times, and Instructor in Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson, Joan Panetti, and James Freeman at Swarthmore College (B.A.); Jules Langert and Ted Blair at Dominican University (M.A.); Roland Jackson at Claremont University (Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger has composed 181 major works over the past 35 years, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue is being issued on discs from New Music ($15 / P.O. Box 2842, San Anselmo, CA 707-474-7273).
YouTube/DrMarkAlburger,
markalburger.blogspot.com,
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com, markalburgerevents.blogspot.com, markalburgermusichistory.blogspot. com, 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com
