November 23 - Saving Time

Continue editing Psalm 41 (the next 10 pages) before vaulting over the Bencia Bridge to Diablo for dictation, solfege, and board harmony from Shelly Yen, Allison Lee, and Michael Sharp, finishing up the engaging student compositions of round four that have come in thus far.



Beyond this, to



Walnut Creek, picking up a 1/2 terrabyte external hard drive, for a second back-up and additional video storage, anticipating tomorrow's trip. Lunch and paper grading at La Fogata,



followed by embeds of Samuel Barber YouTube videos at markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com, then the evening class from Jester Hairston and Louis Armstrong (both b. 1901) to Muddy Waters and Benjamin Britten (ditto 1913).



Home to transfer documents, movies, music, and pictures to the new storage unite (which takes hours) and to respond to a plethora of positive comments from Owen Golden on YouTube (which takes minutes), somehow finishing up For My Brother For My Brother videos with



XIII. Sleepytime Burgers.

November 16 - Deja Viewed

Begin editing Psalm 40 "I Waited Patiently" and do some 21st-Century Music work before blasting off on the Diabloway for the last dictation / board-harmony of the semester with the Theoreticians: Sting's King of Pain (one of my theme songs). Perhaps the last



Elephant



Bar paper grading for awhile, given the abolition of booths in the bar (not as congenial for an old guy in relax mode) returning for more



Music History merriment, way behind, as we only cover through Harry Partch and Jester Hairston (both b. 1901), yet plunge ahead towards



parts known and potentially unknown. Out with Doug and Melanie thereafter, and home for whatever the next video is.

Oh, yes -- For My Brother For My Brother: 4. A Mother's Disappointment

October 6 - Diablos All

Psalm 31 page 3 edited, then pencil in the trip to DVC for Charles Ives's Variations on America Spanish variant for dictation / board harmony / keyboard-solfege. Blitz round-trip again for errant instructional material and R&B / 50's rock video embedding on the music history blog, rendezvous'ing at Monty Bairos's palatial office to go over the logistics for the changing-of-the-guard in the Wednesday evening class. Set up in adjacent classroom (with welcome perspective from Mark Steidel), as transition time in the assigned spot seems overly tight (Bruce Cooke holding a class there mere minutes before the appointed hour). The clock strikes whatever, Monty gives his quiz, then group and I head down hall for new venue, with music from



Joe Turner to Chuck Berry, with a guess-what next week (N.B. 8913 for Waters).... Seems like it all works, and time will tell -- for now, head back to finish up editing the Job: A Masque videos with



X. "Who Are You" and



XI. "Lord Blessed the Last Part"

April 20 - Parenthically between Earth and Sky

The early shift to St. Mary's up



Geary towards



Acalanes and



Briones Ridges, for a whistlestop tour of Renaissance and Baroque music, focussing on Josquin des Pres's El Grillo and G.F. Handel's Messiah: Hallelujah, with a bit of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, intervals, bass clef, and a late medieval recap of Guillaume de Machaut's Notre Dame Mass: Kyrie at the front end.



Mid-day Diablo



Valley College crew gets Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms: II for dictation and board harmony, and major progress is made, working in teams at the board, with close inspection.



Lunch



and



paper-grading



at



El Torrito,



evening



class (just a few above at the 11th [or rather, 10th] hour for make-up quizzes) from Jan Sibelius to Igor Stravinsky's Russian period, looking ahead to next week's



quiz (including that unmarked Whole-Tone Scale), bistro happening with Doug and Owen, and return for page 3 of Creation: II orchestration and beginning composition of Vespers: VI (a self-trope of previous setting of Psalm 121 [Vulgate = 122 King James]).

February 8 - Some Week

Do the first two movements of the all-treble version of Job: A Masque before levitating into the gloom near Mt. Diablo, for a sunny Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral"): IV. Ode to Joy (C major version) for Theory. Hatless, it is a class mostly in the half-light, with markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com -- re D Dorian, D Minor, and E Phrygian -- in the Gregorian Chant Chapter.



After, one makes one's way past Dinosaur and the




Briones Hills to



St. Mary's to do a dry run of the first day of the spring semester teaching at this august institution in



Dante Hall



Room 204.



Perhaps like 101, one knows what's in it before arriving, chairs in a semi-circle, just about enough room to set up the bells and whistles in the back. Have received a relatively 11th-hour proviso from colleagues that we meet 15 minutes before class to determine how the first day's time will be utilized, so, want to be prepared for any contingency.



Hazy



return on 24 homeward to the composition of page 24 composed for Vespers: II. Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus, and publication-preparation, page 7, of Psalm 5,

January 25 - Beginning Somewhere

And another semester at Diablo Valley College begins, with the perilous journey past



Mt. Diablo to the often perilous



parking lot, greeting



veteran Theoreticians (including Oren and




Nate) to



Music



Theory!



First session at Boards 1



2



3 and



4 (with a few corrections to be made, clearly) will be played tomorrow in class. No video today, and no keys in the Baldwin, much to our surprise (Chris was to have replaced the latter, but, tragically, his mother has passed away and he is detained) -- so, after our session, Doug heads out to replace a cord for the former (life in the music department often centering around cords and chords), while I look over the lab writing the fourth page of Vespers: II. Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus. Detour to Berkeley thereafter to drop off the March 2010 issue of 21st-Century Music for printing (also online at 21st-centurymusic.com and 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com), then,



via Pinole, home through heavy traffic to Harriet, more reorganization of the iTunes library (through Opus 100), more measures of Psalm 4 prepared for publication, and post all the Tritone audio for Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I) from



Abraham and Isaac through



Amazing Joseph at markalburgerworks.blogspot.com to honor requests from our new singers Theresa Nelson and Crystal Philippa.

January 10 - Sex and the Superstars

Sex and the Bible is up and running with Kristen, Robert, Indre, Kim, Maria,


Beth...


Liz, Marilyn, and Nanette -- premiering March 5-7 and 12-14 at San Francisco Community Music Center.

God / Snake / Lot's Older Daughter - Marilyn Pratt
God / Cain / Angel I - Elizabeth Finkler
Snake / Hagar / Leah - Maria Mikheyenko
Eve / Sarah / Rachel - Kimberley Anderman
Adam / Abraham I - Robert Benda
Abel / Angel II - Elizabeth Henry
Noah / Lot's Younger Daughter / Dinah / Tamar - Nanette McGuiness
Lot / Esau / Joseph - Kristen Brown
God / Rebekkah / Potiphar's Wife - Indre Viskontas
Isaac / Abraham II - Nathan Marken



After rehearsal, the merriment continues with the annual Goat Hall / San Francisco Cabaret Opera Fresh Voices Composer-Singer



Matchmaking Event,





with



Harriet March Page, Alden Jenks, Indre, Wayne Wong,



Robert Ashens, Daniel Felsenfeld,



John Bilotta,



Justin Marsh, Meghan Dibble, Maria,



Kate Offer,



Eliza O'Malley, Nanette,



Janet Lohr,



Roger McCracken,



Alexandra Jerenic,



John McGrew --




after which



some of us



linger.


Before this, produce percussion parts for Pini di Surriento and Salome Suite, and the drive towards Berkeley, with


Mt. Diablo



breaking



through



the



fog. After, stop off at the College to record



The Gospel According to St. Matthew:



L. The Last Judgement / The Annointment



(a parody-trope of Igor Stravinsky's Firebird: Infernal Dance of Prince Kaschai)

and

Magnificat:

III. Qui respexit



(triply inspired, as the rest of the piece, by the Magnificats of Claudio Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, and Alan Hovhaness),

returning home for page 5 of IV. Omnes generationes orchestration, plus more composition of The Vespers of 2010.