This Blog is a Political Statement

I know that the subject of the blog is music and that music, theoretically, is apolitical.  But think for a moment: Is that really the case?

Insofar as the country is now reeling under issues concerning the extent to which money controls the nation's electoral process, shouldn't we also be raising consciousness about the extent to which money controls the nation's taste --  but wait a minute, does a nation have taste?

That is precisely the point.  Individuals have taste.  What is taste?  The simple pronouncement: "I like it."  "I don't like it."

Sometimes we like things in spite of ourselves.  We start out not expecting to be moved and find ourselves vulnerable, in a new state of being, somehow altered by what we have just seen or heard.

No algorithms at work there!

And that is the source of these blog posts: Individual experience of what has come to be a standardized commodity, pre-digested for us by--by whom, exactly?  I used to think it was by the big-time producers of perfect renditions of classical music.  Now I think it is by the many individuals who no longer trust themselves to notice that they do or do not like what they are hearing.

Loss of Liberty

It is an increasingly hot political topic.  More and more people are feeling threatened by some entity they conceive of as "the" government.

The entity that deprives me of liberty to express myself is the commercialization of just about everything that reinforces a mindless conformity on too many of us. 

Every sign of life outside of those terms reinforces my faith in the power of the individual to say "I like it!" and really mean it.

Dreaming vs. Multitasking

It came up today in casual conversation about how different the lives of children are these days from when I was young, centuries ago.

I couldn't help but point out that, because I do not insist that my young students practice, they tend to work on the music in their dreams, so to speak.  The progress they make, though it would not get them into a music school, does get them to a rare level of rapport with Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn.

Could it be that dreaming is the cure to constant busywork, pretend learning involved in what passes for education in too many circumstances these days?

I asked one of my high school seniors (the one who told me once that she didn't have time to practice) if she had friends who liked Beethoven as much as she did.  No, she replied.  Why not?  Because they had had it forced down their throats.

Core Curriculum Debate

Whenever the powers that be, be they local, state, or national, decide that standards must be set they are actually restricting learning by tying it down to pre-existing standards, rather than encouraging the kind of curiosity that produces real knowledge and discovery in a changing world.

I was stunned to read in the paper this morning that the libertarian wing of the Republican Party has glommed on to this issue as another instance in which we are being robbed of our civil liberties.

For me that is not the issue.  At stake is the very fundamental nature of education, which is more than facts but which consists just as much -- perhaps even more -- of intangibles imparted by one human being to others.

Perhaps it is a tone of voice, a choice of a story to read, a song to sing, none of it according to a plan.

Beethoven, Sharps and Flats

The second movement of the "Moonlight" again: taking a really close "listen" to the opening triads yields a tremendous amount of information about consonance and dissonance on the piano.

It is hard for anyone trained in music theory to notice the subtle variation present here in the disposition of black and white keys, the various inversions, the octave placements of chord tones, etc.

Going over these sounds one by one was a fascinating exercise in how much trained musicians may miss in the pursuit of at least the illusion of ease with what we are playing.

It all started with noticing the actual sound of major triads on the piano:  They are not all the same, nor are they interchangeable.  Once having learned these notions it is very difficult, indeed, to face up to the reality of the sounds--a much more Beethovian requirement than any theoretical analysis will allow.

Incredibly Beautiful Choral Singing

At the Maundy Thursday mass at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in New York City the usually excellent professional choir produced some unforgettable moments, of two sorts:

First was when they stopped singing notes and responded to pure overtones.  At those moments, of which there were several, their numbers seemed to double.

Second was when their exuberance in Josquin des Prez's wondrously festive Pange Lingua mass  imparted a lusty energy, almost reckless in its joy.

These qualities reflect the brilliance of their young conductor/fellow singer James Kennerley, whose work I have praised before on this blog and will surely praise again in the future.

* * * * 

Several days after this writing, reflecting on this singing, I have become aware, as if reliving the entire service, of what a huge effect it had on everything that transpired that evening--not just on me, but on the celebrant.  It was a better-than-perfect merging of music and the listener.

Thank you!

Every once in a while, as happened yesterday, I receive an envelope with a foreign postmark containing a $20 bill and a note appreciating this blog.

It would be difficult to tally the minutes / hours / days of smile generated by that expression of support.  But it is far more than support if you stop to consider it.  And I treasure it.