Beff's semester finishes today, and she is due home after dark tonight. Tomorrow night we take Big Mike out for Chinese buffet
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| Which for me included three coaching sessions with each of two groups -- Take Jazz Chords people and Gli Uccelli people. I'd never had that much time with groups, and especially groups that were already so well-prepared, so I had a hard time thinking of more things to say. Other than "well, you missed the C-sharp this time". In addition, Claude and I gave back-to-back colloquia (I did the piano concerto spiel again) on Saturday and masterclasses on Sunday (I had a great time at mine, and the students were very different from each other), a pre-concert thing on stage Sunday afternoon, and the concert itself, on Sunday. Everything went very well, and Keith's new piece on the concert was earthshakingly new and different for him, and good! Then, the reception was at Keith's house, food was had by all, Claude and I got some Burger King on the way back to our hotel, and we left for the airport, thanks to that same Mike Bratt, at 9:15 ("the crack of dawn", Claude called it) on Monday.
Now there was all this talk about a major snowstorm a-ridin' up the east coast on Sunday night and Monday, and I had visions of flights cancelled and having to rent a car to drive back, but my plane left and landed on time, I drove back home from the airport -- the highways were clear but the further from a highway one ventured, the more snow was left unplowed, and I live somewhat far from highways -- had a bit to eat, put on a stupidass tie, and Beff and I then drove to Alewife in order to make that night's Collage concert, featuring Judy Bettina and the premiere of my Phillis Levin Songs. The concert was off, off, and back on due to the storm (Judy knows Karen Zorn, the president of Longy, who opened the building for them, and it turns out Karen has played my music with Judy's husband Jim "Jim" Goldsworthy), and the performance was the first time I got to hear the music. The concert itself was substantial and with a lot of hard music, and my piece came off very nicely. Though since I don't really remember my piece, I forgot to try and like it, so so far I don't because, like I already said, I don't remember it. But the fast stuff was very attractive on first hearing, and the slow stuff seemed too loud. Something to fix for next time. David Hoose did an amazingly good job for a big, big concert. And Beff did the driving home. Good thing, because Brandeis had a snow day (that's a non sequitur) meaning I didn't miss my Monday teaching. MWA ha ha! Tuesday I went in to have office hours to assist theory students who are writing songs, Wednesday I did my usual teaching, Thursday I did my usual teaching plus 3 office hours for theory students, and then my weekend began. And here I am! Typing! On a computer! Today after this is finished, Beff and I will walk downtown and do lunch at the Cast Iron Kitchen, which is always good because it's the only place I can get one of our old standby "tremendous" beers -- Rapscallion, which they have on tap. And at 3 we get our yearly furnace maintenance that comes with our maintenance contract. Other things to occupy my time include reading the daily Hecuba rehearsal updates -- at some point I am teaching the sung parts to the singer in the chorus -- and seeing in those updates how the music is being used, and now it has names that everyone uses. Including a Starry Night cue, which baffles me. I've also begun filling in my yearly Activity Report online, which is time-consuming, and, ultimately pointless, since it's a basis for yearly raises, of which there likely won't be any for the next three or four years anyway. Plus, I have indulged the obsessive side of my nature by "finishing" the plowing/shoveling job by widening the driveway, making it bow at the end, and making the front walk path less asymmetrical. And my LL Bean lighted cap's battery gave out, so Beff got me a new one online. It arrived, and has a different design -- mostly so that now you can actually replace the battery when it is expended. As to the old cap -- we threw it away! And the on-off button is now on the visor instead of on the back of your head. So there. What else have I done? Well, Judy Sherman sent the second edits and Amy and I sent in our notes. Now the Amy Volume 3 Toods thing has been mastered, I have a reference master CD, and I've paid the last for editing. It's ready to go, awaiting only production, the writing of the liner notes, and the selection of pictures and a cover. Not in that order, of course. As to the BMOP/sound CD -- I got e-mails from Hannah, the label's manager about production delays, with new arrivals predicted at February 18 and then March 2, and yesterday I got a note that they had arrived at BMOP and my comps were to be mailed out the same day. I expect them today, unless UPS or the Post Office suck as much as Them What Make. Or as my business class mates would call them, Them What Fuckin' Make. Of course that means some time spent sending free copies to People I Wish To Impress. I've already characterized this CD -- hey, 65 minutes of orchestra music, dude -- in my Activity Update as "take all my existing CDs, add them up, and multiply by 5. Add whipped cream to taste". Meanwhile, Geoffy played a mean and badass concert in Canada that included the world premiere of my prog rock etude (among other things), and he repeats that concert at Hunter College on Monday. Thus making it the AMERICAN premiere of my prog rock etude. As they say in the oboe magazines, I rock. As they say in the bassoon magazines, rocking is done by me. I don't understand the joke, either. If Stacy reads this update, I fully expect another "Hello, Mr. Wordy" e-mail from her. Because with her, accuracy counts. So I had banished Arctic outbreaks from this area of the country, but apparently my banishment expired at the end of February. We had two days of it after the storm, but now spring temps have taken root, and are forecast to do so for some time now. Now I'll be seeking out the first crocuses, and taking lots of pictures of them, which will be nearly identical to all my crocus pictures from 2001 through 2008. But they will be mine. This coming Wednesday is the date of the earliest ones in my Maynard history, and the Friday of the week after that the latest. So I give this new snow until Tuesday to melt, otherwise I will make it go away by other nefarious means not yet known to me. Beff is in Maynard for her two-week winter vacation, so there is much to do at home. Including actually cooking every night. She'll be away Sunday to Tuesday for chair stuff, but back she will be for the last bit of her vacation, and perhaps we will share crocuses. She is writing a piece that uses guitar, so the dining room has a guitar corner, which includes the appropriation of the organ bench as a guitar stand. Fascinating. One more thing -- while I was in Fredonia, Maynard Door and Window replaced the can't-really-open-it, deteriorating big door from the side porch with a new high quality model that actually has keys and can be opened all the way. Which is a good thing -- moving the chaise lounges to the porch from the gazebo had to involve the kitchen and living room. Now moving them back doesn't. Also, I tell you now, when the back lawn becomes bare up to the driveway snow pile, out come the Adirondack chairs. Because, dear reader, I am a big fan of false recapitulations. Upcoming is -- uh oh, I forgot I said I'd do this -- a colloquium at Brandeis, about me, and by me, on Thursday. It will actually be the first I've done in ten years -- the other being at the behest of Jim Olesen, who wanted to hear my then-new Orpheus piece and couldn't make it anyway because chorus meets at the same time. I was asked for a title for the talk, and I passed up "Some Crazyass Shit" in favor of "Fanfares and How to Read" because it's much more mysterious. And printable in a family publication. On the 21st Geoffy comes up to do a benefit recital for Musica Viva at the home of a local media celebrity, and I am to go, too (yes I will wear a tie, and nonwhite socks). It will be interesting to observe funding people watch a piano being played with the nose. On the 26th I drive to Maine after teaching Orchestration for Amy's U of Maine recital, where I will again give live program notes. And hope to eat a bit at the Sea Dog, because eating at the Sea Dog is what I do. Mr. Wordy. Today's pictures include the metro north station where I changed trains, as seen by my phone; our new door, roof ice from most recent storm getting a-ready to fall; a sapsicle on one of our maple trees (it is toward the center of the pic); the rhododendron looking for a reason to start flowering; and the back yard two days after the storm. Bye. MARCH 16 Dinner tonight was a Lean Pocket sandwich. Lunch was Trader Ming's Pad Thai. Breakfast was orange juice and coffee. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES SINCE LAST UPDATE 19.1 and 61.0. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS the slow movement of the Ravel Concerto in G. LARGE EXPENSES THIS LAST TEN DAYS Stepladder at Ace Hardware, $83. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: At the Messenger Street school -- a four room school teaching grades 1-4 and in my neighborhood -- we had a game we'd play before school and during recess. Someone we be "it" and called Mr. Fox, and the non-"it" people would collect at the edge of the schoolyard. One would call out "What time is it, Mr. Fox?" to which Mr. Fox could say anything. But if Mr. Fox said "Midnight!" then everyone had to run to the other side of the yard without being tagged by Mr. Fox. I don't remember any other details of this game, or even why we played it so much. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: They go out a lot now, and when there is nothing else to do outdoors, they just go under the gazebo. UPDATED ON THIS SITE THIS WEEK: This page, Reviews 4. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: zippamoosh, a prosthetic elbow for retired gunslingers. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST TWO WEEKS: 2. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE I can say and write "antidisestablishmentarianism" backwards on command. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: The headline "Cheney In the News Again" is forever banished from all media outlets. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 13,032. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE THIS WEEK: $1.87 in Maynard. THINGS THAT YOU DON'T USE TO MAKE PANCAKES my head, ladybugs, a tree trunk, manhole covers, 'Round Midnight. Intransigence returned for a curtain call, and the dogs loved it. Or at least they did until the batteries wore out and we all had to remove our socks. But when the doctor arrived, the chicken snot was so full of licorice that we had to make people out of straw, and we discovered that there weren't enough washcloths. Maybe the fortuitous thing is that nothing caused the pinkness. Oddly enough, another update a mere ten days since the last one. There must be something wrong with me, and shame on you for thinking that. Actually, much to report has transpired, and those of you who have been waiting with bated breath, and baiting with weighted breath about the appearance of the first crocuses shall have your answer. All in good time, my dear. But first to report that Brandeis continues to be USC, only even moreso. Secondly, we report that during most of this reporting period Beff was at home, and thus doing at home things, such as being at home. See, this is why Fortran doesn't allow recursion. She's been writing a piece for guitar and other instruments (or as they say in Italy, per chitarra ed anche altri strumenti) with an intrada and a galliard, and for the movement that was to be a sarabande, she asked for a hipper title, given that it had what she called "techno" elements to it. In our usual "what's my title?" walk, I suggested Techno Prisoners and Techno For An Answer, but those got shoved aside in favor of Zarabanda, which apparently was supposed to mean Big Sarabande. I suggested therefore Zanzarabanda, or Band of Mosquitoes. I won. I rule. And also Beff participated mightily in some very serious spring cleaning, thus making useless two of Beff's shirts. We removed the screens from the side porch, and Beff sprayed them all with the Tilex bleaching stuff, and she also sprayed the whole porch in areas that seemed to have accumulated mold. In addition, she was able to wash the INSIDE of the windows for the first time in maybe twenty years. So it's brighter out there. My only job was taking off and putting back the screens, which given how long they've been in one place, was not easy. Indeed, one screen could not be removed because in trying to remove one of the screws holding in it, I could only break the screw. So I used the stepladder that we had bought so Beff could get up close to the ceiling there to clean the inside of the windows, opened up, from the outside. Which was a real trip, considering that one of the four legs of the ladder had to be on a frozen snowbank. And meanwhile, I taught at Brandeis -- lower strings, with live demos, in orchestration, and Nuages in theory followed by performances of their art songs. I also spent a not inconsiderable amount of time working on my yearly activity update for my place of employ. I always wonder why one of the things you fill out is when your office hours were -- why does anyone care? And in today's theory class I did the cosmic lecture -- what makes something tonal, and how do you write music that's not tonal, and where do you get the permission slip. Etcetera. Meanwhile, as predicted, I got my comps plus fifty more copies of the BMOP CD (Winged Contraption), which has now been released and press released and is the BMOP/sound official March release. See link below for the press release (mwa ha ha). Being that I was so accustomed to the all the music on live recordings, it took me a while to get used to this CD's big big sound and different balances, but it is totally a-rockin', I tell you, a-rockin'. Gil's effort was Herculean, and I'm not sure which mythic figure to reference for Marilyn's effort, but it was big, big, big. I sent out a bunch of copies to people I wish to impress, gave some around at Brandeis and listened to it a few times with headphones. With headphones you hear traffic in Worcester during the piano concerto, but hey. And I didn't play ANY of it when I gave my Brandeis colloquium. Yes, I was made to do such a thing, and I played, in order: Violin Song 4, Moody's Blues (from YouTube), Sex Songs, Martian Counterpoint, and Cantina. I got funnier as the talk went along -- either that or people finally started understanding my accent. See Reviews 4 for reviews of Don Berman's New York concert that included the two "pretty" toods I done wrote for him, and reviews of the Collage concert with the Phillis Levin Songs. Did *you* spot which one called me Daniel? During non-teaching times, and especially when the weather was good, I did outdoor work around the stand of pine trees. Mostly, clearing out the crappy area that was formerly behind the fence we don't have any more because of the falling branches in the ice storm of December, and clearing out some more fence area. It involved 15 wheelbarrow loads of detritus, and a bit of repositioning of older branches. But we make some excellent progress. Soon Assabet Tree Service will have to come to take a bunch of this stuff away, and for the time being they may have a hard time getting their equipment in because the neighbor put a big pile of his snow in our yard -- right where the truck would have to come in. So Beff did a lot of raking, as did I, and I did the carting off. I also started clearing up the snowplow detritus from near our driveway, where there will have to be grass seed planted when the big snow pile finally melts. So there. We had two quite mild weekends, and dear reader, I am pleased to announce a new record for first crocus -- on Saturday the 7th, about 4 or 5 cropped up, and by Sunday -- which was near 60 degrees -- there were a few dozen in evidence. And no insects. True to New England weather, on Monday the 9th there was a 2 or 3 inch snowstorm, which the crocuses weathered swimmingly (so to speak), all the while remaining closed up. And true to New England weather, it stayed coldish through Wednesday even though it was sunny, so the snow slowly melted but the crocuses remained closed. By Thursday we were doing the side porch thing, and by the weekend it was mild again, and many, many crocuses were in evidence. So there. Other than that -- Beff had gotten me some more LL Bean baseball caps with the lights on the visor since the old one (remaindered, I think) ran out of battery and there was no way to replace it. The new ones DO allow you to replace the battery -- and I gave one to Eric Hill, who had drooled over the former, working version of the cap at a faculty senate meeting. This week there is -- duh -- more teaching, and at the end of the week -- Saturday evening, to be exact -- Geoffy will be here to do a benefit for Boston Musica Viva. I have been listed on the composer committee for that, AND Geoff is doing two toods at the benefit, being held at the home of a local retired media celebrity. Beff will go, too. And Beff rhymes with Geoff, even in an imperfect world. Next Thursday is Amy B's U Maine recital, and I will drive to it (a mere four hour jaunt) after I finish with Orchestration. On THAT day we will have looked at the pedal timpani and gone ooh and aah. Then just a week and a half of classes till Passover break ... The cats have much enjoyed the outdoors, especially this part where there aren't any bugs yet. Indeed, while I was sitting on an Adirondack chair, a fly landed on my leg and was too dumb to fly away when I swatted it. Oh, and the warm weather accoutrements now in place are thos same Adirondack chairs, the hammock (also needed to be sprayed with Tilex mold removeness), and the furniture and cushions in the gazebo. And the automatic door closer in said gazebo -- busted. I blame society. Stacy did indeed read the last update and said she craved accuracy not so much as she craved brevity. I replied, "Blp." Today's pictures include: this year's first crocus pic; Sunny on the gazebo on the same day; crocuses in snow; the screens awaiting a good a-sprayin'; the porch and the stepladder at the ready; a spread of crocuses a few days ago; and a before and after of part of the cleaned up area 'neath the spreading pines. Bye. MARCH 31 Breafkast today was orange juice and coffee. Lunch was Annie Chun's Kung Pao noodles. Dinner last night was a forgettable Lean Cuisine microwave meal. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES SINCE LAST UPDATE 21.4 and 64.6. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS Trumpet solo in the fourth movement of the Rakowski Piano Concerto. LARGE EXPENSES THIS LAST TEN DAYS Brush and ice storm detritus removal, $300; vacuum cleaner, $134. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: When Beff 'n' I got married, Jeff Nichols and Allen Anderson were there to help out with Bible readings. Beff's college roommate Joan was the minister who married us, and set up a nice gender-neutral ceremony. Thus she had to interrupt Allen in the rehearsal when he did his reading more or less from force of habit -- "What God has joined, let no man rent asunder." "Let no *ONE* rent asunder!". That was a close one. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: Since the cats go out a bit more often, Sunny is often out and gets excited at the drop of a hat, often climbing a few feet up the big trees before jumping down. Cammy still sleeps practically on my face at night. UPDATED ON THIS SITE THIS WEEK: This page, Reviews 4, Compositions, Bio. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: ploost, the fabric on the corner of a lace handkerchief. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST TWO WEEKS: 6. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE I haven't jumproped with my sweater in at least five years. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: Free coffee on Tuesdays.. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 13,077. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE THIS WEEK: $1.91 in Maynard, $2.06 outside of Bangor, $1.94 in Maynard. THINGS THAT TASTE BETTER WITH A DASH OF LEMON my head, ladybugs, a tree trunk, manhole covers, 'Round Midnight. Siblings are to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo what flashlights are to the economy of northern Brazil. Some of us remembered that on the test, but the points of light that seven of us didn't know about had been hanging at the end of a cigarette butt. The usefulness of that information was superceded by the color of a stick. Where does the time go? Into a sinkhole? It seems like yesterday I last typed in this space. As it turns out, it was two weeks ago. Turn around and she's a young girl going out of the door! The teaching of stuff continues on apace. We've been in a very pleasurable Debussy-Ravel rut in Theory 2, which has left a very nice Impression, and notice the capitalization there -- superious to Citibank's (rim shot). Tomorrow we do Berg and Dallapiccola, and what it is, too. In orchestration, we moved beyond string section writing into percussion, which turns out to be a huge topic -- I'll have to tie up some loose ends there tomorrow before I move on to the most confusing subject of all: the harp! Did Columbus Bring Enough Food to Go to America? The first of the percussion days began in the percussion practice room, where Josh, who is a student in the class, demonstrated a bit of everything from marimba to temple blocks (not alphabetically -- that went all the way up to xylophone, because there were no zygotes in the room). The second started in the recital hall, where everybody got to play with the pedal timpani. And at my urging, Josh showed them the suspended cymbal roll on the timpani with the pedal moving. Ooooh! I just hope that effect isn't like the octatonic scale is with a lot of composers -- something you regret ever showing them. That weekend with the Boston Musica Viva benefit (say that five times fast) was actually rather big. The "media personality" at whose house it was was Joyce Kulhawik, formerly the arts reporter at Boston Channel 4, and the living room, with its 20-foot ceilings and balcony seating, was well-suited for a Geoffy piano recital. Geoffy, of course, stayed here, utilizing Brandeis for his day's practicing and Joyce's house for his recital prep, and the next morning he had to be off bright and early. Which doesn't mean we didn't make breakfast for him (Trader Joe's microwave French toast, and bagels). Geoff did some Liszt and Ravel, as well as two toods by me (Schozz and Moody's Blues), encoring with mine own Dorianski Blueski. It was fantastic. Dignitaries were there being dignified, and there was calcium being calcified, and never did any of that twain stuff meet. Except, of course, for the long twain wunning. Somebody stop me. We had to get there in the dark, and what seemed on Google Maps to be straightforward turned out to be anything but, which made us glad for our Garmin. Geoff also brought programs from recent concerts where he'd done toods, two of which were the world, and then American, premieres of the prog rock etude I wrote for him, and on Rick Moody's suggestion. And he brought the recording of the American premiere, which I duly captured, and put into my webspace. Listening to it made me smile -- it is such a silly concept, and carried out sillily. See green "Prog Springs Eternal" link below and to the left. So then Geoff left, on Sunday morning, right around the same time as Beff. And then, as has been the case for much of this month -- the weekend weather was a-gorgeous. Beff had had to go back a bit early for a concert on Sunday, but we did that nice walk thing -- even making the complete river circle thing we do. And during the week that followed, Amy B came to Maine for a concert, and drove I there to do our patented live tood program notes thing. So after was done my teaching on Thursday, up drove I to Maine, getting to the University around 5. Beff and Amy were in Beff's office, and Amy had done her masterclass and practicing. So we had a light snacky dinner, went to the hall, and tried to warm it up with the stage lights. Because, you see, it was kind of cold. A small but very distinguished audience came to the concert, Amy did notes for all the pieces but mine, and her performances of nearly all the seven toods she did were among the best ever. After that, the three of us along with Jack Burt, the trumpet teacher, went to Woodmans in Orono for some beer and Buffalo wings (it was "b" night, luckily), and then at our teensy place in Bangor, we gave Amy the master bedroom while Beff and I took a futon on the floor of the computer room. The nice thing was the gel pillows from Tar-Zhay that Beff had secured, which were nice, and I liked them. And even brought them back to Maynard. Download 2.79 Mb. Share with your friends:
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