October 14 - Lights in the Sky

Yes, a lot of the world gets up before 7am, including present company this morning,



turning on to I-80 and down the



680



corridor



to



Diablo



Valley College to sub for Monsieur Bairos in



Chamber Music, four self-starting ensembles (woodwind, brass, percussion, string), independent enough that one can finish the editing of



Psalm 32 (7 pages total). Guitar class is much more hands-on, and we make our way through 12-bar blues progressions, new chords, and syncopations. An hour-and-a-half break, more work on the Music History blog (mostly Bob Dylan),



Theory Quiz 9 (which could involve a glowing Cinderella pen) -- with examples drawn from Charles Ives, Scott Joplin, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky -- and lab recording of



Psalm 32 ("Blessed Is One") follow, as does more Music History Dylanesque blogging, before the Night Band, which has evidently been cancelled by a Facebook posting (suspected but not confirmed until the hour). Homeward it is then, for videos of



Deploration Passacaglias: IX. Mozart and



X. Beethoven.

October 13 - Explosive Findings

Third page of Psalm 32, a DVC explique of early 20th-century music techniques -- specifically Claude Debussy, Scott Joplin, Igor Stravinsky (the atonal folks eventually) -- and brilliant student compositions. After class, Bruce Cook asks me to substitute for three more Monte Bairos classes tomorrow -- following a bit of hesitation, this is accepted, and the rest of the afternoon is spent (after a bookstore run for lunch) with more Music History blog updates and embeddings, with the new evening History of Rock class going pleasantly/smoothly in its second installment, from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley, with a quiz on roughly the same




next week.

(N.B. re above:

Monophonic - One line of music, strictly performed
Heterophonic - One line of music, freely performed
Polyphonic - More than one line; lines of roughly equal importance
Homophonic - More than one line; one line more important than the others)



Home late, and yet still cannot settle down right away, so something like videos for Deploration Passacaglias: VII. Bach and



VIII. Handel are done.

October 12 - View from the Fridge

Second page of Psalm 32 edited, then Diablo Valley College for dictation / board-harmony on the finale to Igor Stravinsky's Firebird (piano reduction in C rather than B), lunch and paper-grading at Elephant Bar, back to the over-air-conditioned classroom (the warm outside beckoning) to embed more videos on the Music History blog, then evening Music Literature class from Johann Fux (watch that pronunciation and spelling!) to F.J. Haydn -- leaping ahead to W.A. Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, and



beyond. Stay up way late embedding more videos for tomorrow's night class and also work on the moving pictures for



Deploration Passacaglias: V. Purcell and



VI. Couperin.