Tchaikowsky Champion

Last night, I had the great joy of hearing my new colleague and friend, Young-Ah Tak, perform Tchaikowsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra here in Lakeland. The performance was masterful and a work of art that persists vividly in my mind today.

From the beginning, Young-Ah demonstrated that she was in full command of this very difficult concerto, never even beginning to seem the least bit desperate in handling its demands. Instead, she played with poise and intensity, giving the audience an experience of the concerto, not as a vehicle of virtuosity, but as an expressive masterpiece.

Those who know Young-Ah's playing will rightly assume that the octaves were miraculously fast and clean and that the rapid filigree passages were incredibly clear and consistent. But deeper aspects of her talent made the performance particularly moving.

For example, numerous times Young-Ah listened so well to the orchestra's pacing (which may have been different from her own conception of the flow of the piece) and she bent her playing to meld with the energy of the orchestra. Because of this, the huge emotional waves that pass between piano and orchestra had a cohesiveness that I have rarely felt in this work.

At other times, she pushed in a way that was appropriate and exciting, in a way that emphasized the complex and dynamic relationship between orchestra and soloist in a Romantic concerto.

If you are a pianist with an International score of the piece, the rehearsal numbers in the following remarks will assist you in getting a good sense of what struck me so much about the interpretation.

Leading into #10: Young-Ah's phrasing and sound had a melting quality over the course of this passage that took us all into a deeply personal space.

Between 14 and 15, so much tension is built up, and I think it can be very hard to keep the rhythmic intensity going with a large orchestra exchanging chords with the pianist's octaves, but they did maintain the tension, and the way Young-Ah played the arpeggios just before 15 conveyed the essence of something elemental that had been unleashed and was spinning out.

At 20, there was no sense of diminished energy or sound when the piano took over from the orchestra. The seamlessness was amazing and invigorating.

In the cadenza after 31, in the passage with measures of alternating accelerando and a tempo Young-Ah played the a tempo measures in a beautifully contrasting fashion that returned us to that deeply personal space I mentioned before.

The opening theme of the second movement was played with great tenderness and inflection that still haunts me.

Just after 37: Young-Ah thoughtfully played one of these bars as a slight echo of the bar before.

The bar before 38: a wonderfully felt two-note sigh at this transition.

Also, Young-Ah accompanied the orchestral soloists in a lovely relaxed way at the a tempo before 39.

Given the right instrument, acoustic, and performer, 39-46 can be a colorful sonic feast for the listener. The sounds can be so good and varied that there is no need or time to think about them beyond registering that "This sounds great!" That was the case last night.

At 46: Again, poignantly personal melodic playing as well as amazing trills that fit perfectly into the line.

At the risk of sounding silly, I'll say that in the last movement, Young-Ah's energy was that of a giant cat and the orchestra was her ball of string. It was very playful on a monumental scale.

At 63, I couldn't help but smile at the sparkling suppleness of her playing, and I smile even more now when I think about the storm that was to be unleashed at 66. As Young-Ah precisely coordinated the beginning of the cadenza with that final timpani strike, I also thought about how nice it was to have our departmental chair, Dr. Tindall, as the timpanist. He is, as I have said, the most spirited timpanist around - a real musician.

The orchestra played with heart throughout, and Maestro Thielen listened closely and did an admirable job of coordinating all the effort onstage into a meaningful and unified expression.

Following the concert, there was a lovely reception in which warm remarks were made by the general manager, the conductor, and Young-Ah. Young-Ah spoke of making a connection, which is exactly what she did with the orchestra and the audience. It was an inspiring night that refreshed my belief in the tremendous value of the arts to humanity.

Feelings

Here are some ideas that help me.
I was reminded of them as I worked with piano students this week.


Be the best you. Noone else has the opportunity to do that.


Feeling the music is an expression of your intuitive grasp of the music. Your subconscious understands the structures of the music that you think about in theory class. Don't let the thinking-about stop the feeling. Being conscious ought to help you feel with greater sensitivity.


What should you feel as you play? Sometimes it's the momentum of a phrase. Sometimes it's conviction about a rhythm. Feeling and movement are linked. Some passages require that your body learn them through drumming or dancing, and that's what you should be feeling when you play them.


relevant paraphrases:

St. Augustine - rhetoric involves conveying structures with appropriate feeling

Fleisher - everybody has feeling, the job is to pour that feeling into the shape of the vessel (piece of music) before you

Hope

This post is dedicated to my late father who was born on this date in 1929.


Today, Kathy and I visited the Smithsonian's new air and space facility near Dulles Airport. The history of aircraft we saw there was a complex reminder of the ingenuity, bravery, and treachery of humanity.

In one tiny corner of the facility, there was a shining disc of hope, a golden record like the records of the sounds of earth that are traveling through space on the Voyager satellites. The inspiring inscription on the records reads "To the makers of music - all worlds, all times."

How meaningful and important music must truly be to our planet's civilization for us to have reached out to the universe in such a beautiful way.

The list of music on the records is here.

First Performances

One's first performance in a new town can be a little stressful, especially if it's a new town in which you plan to live for a while! The main reason for the stress is that you know that many people will base their understanding of you, your musicianship, and your abilities on what they perceive on that occasion. In addition, you never know who will be at such a performance or what they know or believe about piano playing. Often, some real connoisseurs show up, so you want to be at your pianistic best. As an insightful friend suggested to me, it can feel a little more like an exhibition than a concert. You want to give the audience a good sense of the range of things you can do well. Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that your competitiveness can kick into overdrive which can result in a distorted reading of the music and get you off-message. And that brings me to my point.

For me, the mature approach to these issues is to stay focused on the message of the music. The message has enough weight to replace the smaller personal concerns and competitiveness. Perhaps some of the really meaningful energy of performing comes from the confrontation and struggle between the message and the self on-stage.

What do I mean by "message?" I'm referring to what the music might be able to say to me as a human being and what its value is to my spirit. A good way to start to articulate what such messages might be would be to say what pieces of music might be about without using technical musical language. Imagine you're an audience member who is not a musician. What might you get from a given work?

At my first performance in Lakeland last week, I played Chopin's C-sharp Minor Nocturne Op. 27 No. 1 and a transcription of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata with flute.

From its very first measure, the Chopin is filled with a lot of uncertainty - and that might cause you to feel a little uncertain as you play it. As unsettling as that is, it might be okay and even appropriate. Preparing for last Monday's performance, I felt that the message of this nocturne is about the experiences of struggle and effort, the ups and downs of life, and the fact that the sympathetic God is with us through it all. I think it is a very affirming and honest work, moving between uncertainty and moments of hope, with great victories followed directly by defeats that seem beyond our control, ultimately concluded by a sunrise.

The Schubert is a lengthy work with many wonderful tunes but perhaps not the most compelling overall shape. As I tried to understand its drama and trajectory, I remembered that Schubert was a school teacher. For some reason, a lot of his music for instruments makes me think not of the dramatic moods of the poems he sets as songs but of more peaceful scenes at home. Picturing him in his classroom expands those feelings for me. I can hear both lovely and dreary moments of classroom life in the Arpeggione.

I imagine Schubert was a great story teller and probably told some stories that captivated the imaginations of his students - maybe stories about pirates. At any rate, they are lively stories, charming and colorful, but not actual events. I think that might express the tone of the piece, as well. There's a little more narrative mixed into this sonata than the title "sonata" would lead us to believe.

In the end, I think a big part of the spiritual message of most any work of chamber must be the enactment and celebration of cooperation.

Bloch Again

This morning's Sunday School lesson is on Ecclesiastes. To get in the mood, I put on Bloch's Schelomo while I was preparing to cook biscuits.

Our household is very in-sync with the music today. After the climax that's followed by a flutey section that always reminds me of a startled flock of birds after a gun blast, Danny (our cat) joined in by drumming on the corner hutch. To hear his tapping, and to see him spring into action at that precise moment, added to the mysterious and spiritual mood of the moment. Something about Danny's involvement made me think of Martin Buber (I seem to remember that he wrote a bit about his cat in I and Thou) and about moments of being on the razor-thin edge between the spiritual and the mundane, of moments when real encounter with that which is beyond us seems very near.

A while later, as the music reached its final climax, the tea kettle also reached its highest-pitched whistling.

Older post on Schelomo

I can also never think of Schelomo without thinking of Stephen Kates. I think the first concert Kathy and I attended together included a performance of the piece with Mr. Kates and one of the Peabody orchestras. I believe this was the first time I realized I was hearing someone put their classical and beautiful abstract technic into the service of such a raw and splenetic expression, sometimes even disregarding (or maybe I should say "transcending") those concepts of supposedly "good playing." Mr. Kates transcended my idea of being a classical cellist and become some sort of deeply human folk musician, connected with something ancient and authentic, seemingly grasping the infinite depths of meaning the music was meant to convey. The proper way to play at a concert seemed to have no relevance to him as he played (yet his performance was great through and through), and I think "the right way to play" was also the farthest thing from all of our minds in the audience as we witnessed this extraordinary event.

A YouTube link to a bit of Schelomo and photos by Bloch

Speaking of Bloch, some of you might recall that this blog was originally called "Blog About Bloch." That silly title came from a silly discussion with my organist cousin about the idea of opening a French-Romantic-pipe-organ-themed hot dog stand in Jackson, NC that would have been called "Franck's Franks." Neither of us had the money or motivation to throw away on such a business plan that would have had no chance of success, but the conversation got me thinking about writing a "Bloch Blog," which sounded fun since it sounds a little like "blah-blah" although the music of Bloch is very far from blah.

Compositional Diversity

A Facebook conversation between my friends Matt Lane, Beau Mansfield, and Lloyd Arriola led me to this thought. I tried to post the comment there, but something went wrong, so I'm posting it here in hopes that they might see it.

It occurs to me that the surface of one composer's music (by which I mean the organizations of all the notes we hear in his or her works) might be very diverse but might also be based on a small number of deeper ideas. Another composer might explore an astounding array of ideas regarding structure or could work from quite disparate sources of inspiration but express those things using the same musical language all the time. The work of the former might be perceived as very varied, while that of the latter (which might actually be the more experimental and imaginative) might come across as sounding less varied.

Together

A little poem about the experience of teaching, testing, and thinking:




They look at numbers under staves



They listen for tones that are not sounded



They are quiet and sweet




All right-handed, they tilt their heads to the left as they think

Some don't:

two pianists

and a trumpeter who looks really strong




The back row is engaged,

but why are they back there?



I gave them all next week's test yesterday



Stupid me



We are all together in Mod 3

New Job Wisdom

During the transition in my new workplace, I have been reminded of some important principles for musicians in academia, as well as folks in other jobs, to bear in mind.

1. College jobs involve much more than teaching the content area you expect to be teaching when you finish your own schooling. In addition to that content, you may be expected to teach writing, speaking, critical thinking, citizenship, ethics, etc., in your classes. Also, there are many other duties such as committee work and efforts to have interdisciplinary and institution-wide cohesion that require commitment. You need to learn to use relevant technologies for instruction and communication and learn how to address various types of learners. To some extent, you are also responsible for the physical dimension of the equipment and facilities you and your students use. Plus, there is usually academic advising that could involve students beyond one's own discipline. Finding new students can also be important as well as having good relationships with the community that supports your institution. Generally, you are evaluated on voluntary service to your institution and well as the community beyond, participation in professional organizations, and pursuing ongoing education. There is also the growing tide of assessments of all sorts to gather data about your institution so that well-informed decisions can be made at every level of the organization and in such a way as to please accrediting bodies and Congress! And, you are evaluated by your supervisor, your faculty peers, and your students as well as independent outside individuals brought into play as part of the accreditation process. Above all, you share care about students and cooperate with colleagues. All of this is par for the course and new-comers to the job may or may not realize that before they apply for employment.

To some readers, that description of duties and involvements might be surprising, or it might seem a little daunting or negative. I actually view it in a positive light as this sort of job challenges me to utilize many facets of my mind and to develop skills that I might otherwise not develop.


2. Moving to a new place as a musician may mean a gap in your performing activities or at least a major adjustment and some patience. Usually, you have to cancel a few concerts where you came from, and the official concert series in the new region are usually booked for the coming season before you know for sure you are moving there. This can be frustrating as there are moments when you think a year of your performing life may be going down the drain! But, with a little patience, flexibility, and perhaps some creativity, new opportunities do appear. I think it actually makes sense to get re-established gradually anyway. There will be more about becoming part of a new concert scene in a future post.

3. New jobs provide opportunities to recognize (and share!) the limits of your knowledge. There are many questions to ask colleagues about how things are done in the new setting from the details of software to be used to deeper cultural expectations and dynamics. I'm hesitant to ask some of these questions as they show what I don't know, but those questions are normal. Some of the smartest people I've known have been totally willing to ask lots of questions and had no embarassment about what they did not know.

As I ask questions, I also learn yet again how many really good college teachers there are. In every job I discover lots of people who care deeply about the work and the students and have a great deal of conscience and expertise in the conduct of their careers. It's inspiring. Asking and answering questions in such a community diminishes ego and builds collegiality and respect- all things I need.

More Theory Thoughts Again

Maybe I should just change the name of this blog to "Theory Thoughts."

I'm really enjoying the challenge of the new job - excellent students who are engaged with the material, faculty and administration who are supportive of exellence in our discipline, and an institution that encourages the integration of faith with one's teaching.

I'm particularly feeling at this stage that the teaching of theory is the central aspect of my calling here. I cherish the freshness and joy of gathering with my students at noon and sharing around music. It feels a little like church and also like I am at the pulpit. But the real challenge is this: this is the activity in my current professional life that I can pour my heart into the most. But caring a lot means it hurts more when things don't go so well! How to care? How to do well?...

Bringing one's faith to bear on such work in an intentional fashion takes lots of reflection. Doing the basic job of teaching theory excellently is hard to begin with. One basic of which we need to periodically remind ourselves is that the process is messy. That is, the process of adjusting our consciousness to the logic of the music at hand is a marvelous but messy activity. But I want to articulate that activity in a deeper and broader context. The temptation might be to go for too much - too much aiming for profundity and thereby turning one's self into a cliche. The challenge is to keep a framework that allows us to shift from the highest level of living and the universe and beyond, back to the most local details of the organization of the music and styles studied. Being conscious that this is a continuum or a multilayered endeavor should help to hold it all together for me and the students.

As first year faculty at Southeastern, we're reading Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach, and just in time for me, too, as it addresses the issues of identity and integrity as a person that I am facing in this new classroom setting. Two passages that have sharpened my understanding in our first reading are as follows.

Palmer writes:

Once again, when I seek my identity and integrity, what I find is not always a proud and shining thing. The discoveries I make about myself when I remember the encounters that have shaped and revealed my selfhood are sometimes embarrassing - but they are also real. Whatever the cost in embarrassment, I will know myself better, and thus be a better teacher, when I acknowledge the forces that play within me instead of allowing them to wreak havoc on my work.

Florida Scott-Maxwell, writing in her mid-eighties, made the point powerfully: "You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done . . . you are fierce with reality."

In the margin, I wrote, "This happens in performance." So many times, I have discovered what was actually within me while performing music. There's such an interplay between self and the work of art and the audience when we perform that we often discover feelings, ideas, and aspects of our identity that have very old roots or may even seem unfamiliar to us because we have tried to plan so much of who we are. This dynamic reminds me of the phrase from Fred Pratt Green's "When in Our Music God is Glorified" - "How often making music we have found a new dimension in the world of sound . . ."

This issue of being performers is something to which we musicians who also teach should be sensitive. A lot of good teaching involves active participation and creation on the part of the students. That has to be good for the majority of students. But we who were trained as performers are accustomed to presenting and developing our own ideas. What's more, as students, we sought out master teachers to give us their input and perspective. In the process, we discovered our own voices, but the process was traditionally designed to teach us the art and expose us to the voices of our teachers.

Here's the other passage that immediately shed light on what I'm doing:

How does one attend to the voice of the teacher within? I have no particular methods to suggest, other than the familiar ones: solitude and silence, meditative reading and walking in the woods, keeping a journal, finding a friend who will listen. I simply propose that we find as many ways as we can of "talking to ourselves."

These words made me realize that I might already be developing as the type of teacher Palmer is describing. What's more, since these are all things I do to some extent in my own way as part of my daily routine, maybe I'm actually a contemplative and just don't normally describe myself in that way. Ongoing reflection keeps me moving and refreshed in the midst of work that might seem like a draining activity to those on the outside of it.

Hooray for Florida!

I've just changed the template of this blog to reflect the sunny atmosphere of my new home, Lakeland, FL. It's a beautiful town full of scenic lakes, 1920s homes, a whole campus of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, and something always blooming that's unfamiliar to a mid-Atlantic sort of guy like myself. Hopefully, the overall effect on me will be the development of a slightly sunnier disposition!

One thing that's making a difference in my daily journey with students is the expectation of Southeastern that most classes will begin with a prayer. There's some real wisdom in that as I have noticed that when I don't start with a prayer, I usually don't remember to finish with a prayer. While that goofy-sounding statement is true, there's deeper wisdom than that in encouraging such prayers as I find that the prayer is an invitation to remember that we are wanting to live out our days in relationship with God, and we seek to understand our classrooms as holy places where we hope to engage in our work as a sacred activity.

More Theory Thoughts

One thing I learned from Dr. Falby, and a point that I should always stress with my students, is that music is multi-layered and full of meaningful intricacies. To put this in more poetic terms, great music of genius is, as he said once in Lasker, "saturated with glory."

This saturation with glory makes analysis (that is, pursuing consciousness of all that is happening in the music) complicated. But exploring the layers and intricacies can also be a worshipful activity as we are exercising our abilities to think, to discern, to imagine, and to celebrate wonders.

In this way, our creative work mirrors God's way of creating since the universe of which we are a part is, itself, multi-layered and full of fantastic intricacies.

I am reminded as I write that not only can music be incredibly rich in its internal organization, it also intersects with our lives and other disciplines in an amazingly diverse number of ways from dance, to math, to biology, to history, and religion to the deeply personal and spiritual . . .

Theory Thoughts

As I gear up for teaching music theory in my new job at Southeastern, I'm thinking about what a lot of music theory consists of, especially in the early stages of learning - recognizing and labeling musical materials. When I was a student, I thought those activities were pretty mundane and not very theoretical.

While I have come to accept that mastering some basic concepts is a normal and necessary way of entering into a discipline, I also believe there might be more profound and exciting implications to the seemingly simple act of naming things.

As described in Genesis, one of the first things Adam had the opportunity to do was to name the animals. There are many things I really like about that passage:

One is that it sounds like God made all those creatures because God was concerned about what things were good for us and what things were not good for us. It wasn't good for us to be alone. My dog and cat really are helpers and partners of sorts to me at times, mostly by accepting me and by being small, cute, energetic, and random creatures around the house.

I also like the freedom that is part of this Genesis scene. It doesn't seem like God commanded Adam to name the animals, nor does it seem that God caused him to call the animals anything in particular. Instead, I think God and Adam shared a wonderfully relaxed and uncomplicated communion. I imagine them sitting down over coffee and looking at God's portfolio of work. In this pre-fall picture, Adam's behavior is presented as really healthy and whole. He naturally sees, processes, and acts in a good way. It reminds me of the really bright children I worked with at Collegiate School in Richmond who were endlessly curious and had lots of innate learning skills. What's more, they applied those skills with joy as it was naturally fun for them to do so! Maybe those are more layers of what "coming as a child" means.

I'm also really struck by God the creator's desire to see what each aspect of the creation meant to Adam. That's exactly how we human artists are about our creations. We want to know the significance of the things we create in the experience of our fellow human beings. It is through their feedback that we know that we are, indeed, serving. Because of this, it seems to me that creativity is linked to relationship.

Now, back to naming.

I would think that naming took analysis and reflection for Adam, and developing words to represent creatures must have involved some creative fun. Organizing is an important aspect of the creative process as we know it. Sorting the animals by name was a way of bringing order to the human understanding of the world God had created. In this way, Adam was getting to partner with God in creating.

I'm intrigued by the fact that it seems like language already existed when Adam named the animals. I have usually assumed that we humans created language from its foundations. But in Genesis, God had already spoken some pretty involved sentences to Adam before Adam was given the opportunity to name the animals. Also, I had been thinking that language arose from a communication need between humans, but it sounds like Adam was the only one of us around when this naming happened. That seems significant to me because, while the language Adam was creating would be for the use of the race, at its inception, the language was just between him and God.

While naming, it seems that Adam realized his need for someone like himself, and when Eve was brought into being, Adam verbally expressed his need and prayed a prayer of thanks through the act of naming her.

Maybe God left the animals unnamed so that we could fully appropriate the created order to our experience through thought and language. Through the language aspect, we expressed the need for community with other people, and language went on to create a shared human culture once there were other humans with whom to share it. All of this seems to have grown out of relationship with God and the Creation.

So as we continue to see and name patterns and organizations in the both the created worlds of living things and physical phenomena such as sound, I think we are following through on God's invitation to name, organize, and create within our own consciousness. And through that exploration of what God has made, we can discover and develop community.

Moving, Canon, Calling, Peace!?

Our piano was delivered this week - two average-sized guys, a fancy dolly, and a truck with a lift made it possible. I think the lift is really crucial for a smooth move. The piano was mostly in surprisingly good tune for an instrument that spent several weeks riding around who-knows-where on a truck and sitting on its side in warehouses. The company is Modern Piano Moving out of Missouri and their trucks make big loops around the eastern states picking up and delivering pianos several weeks later. Each team delivers from 7 to 10 instruments a day. They also a have a giant logo on the side of their truck that looks like a very long piano with wheels, sort of like a drag racer.

Now, back to our public radio station. I think that what I've been enjoying about it so much during this time of transition is the affirmation of the canon of music that I love and have devoted a lot of time to here in a new place for me. It provides some consistency and resonates with my childhood revelation that, to some extent, music is my family. The fact that this music has stood the test of time, a fact with which I am very familiar and have heard time and again, is now ringing true in my own experience. It is okay and probably very good to be devoted to a canon since it is an inherent aspect of the nature of a canon that the preserved material has been found to be of value by generations. You can trust the music to be strong, dependable, even powerful.

Another thing that has brought me peace during this move, and something that has been pretty much a spiritual bottom-line for me, is the sense of calling to this place, this work, this home, and so forth. When I wake up and am surprised that I am living in Florida, I just remind myself that it's fine because I was called to make this move. When I'm out walking and am tempted to covet someone else's house, I remind myself that everything happened in such a way with our house as you let us know that we are in the house we are suppose to be in. And when I wonder what I should be playing and where, I can look for a sense of calling to repertoire and events, and all will be well.

It occurs to me that the concept of calling, which is so important to many of us, is rarely explored in our popular culture.

Finally, on a really different note, as I was eating an orange a few mornings ago (an orange grown near here, I think, but packaged in New Jersey for some reason) our lovely wooden wind chime, made by disabled veterans and bearing the single word "peace," fell from the ceiling to the floor. I wonder what that means!?

Welcome to Lakeland

We could not have asked for a more beautiful place to live. Tonight we took a long stroll around Lake Mirror and watched various water fowl and an alligator.

While I am really starting to enjoy the beauty of our new home, I also struggle with the emotions that go along with leaving home again and coming to a new place. The music I've been hearing on 89.7 FM WUSF has comforted me: Chopin 2nd Concerto, Weber First Clarinet Concerto, and Ravel Violin Sonata.

Murfreesboro Memories

Tomorrow, the moving truck arrives, and I'll be exchanging "Carolina Moon" for "Moon Over Miami" or at least "Luna over Lakeland." (I made that last title up). "Carolina Moon" was supposedly written on, or near, the s-shaped bridge in Hertford, NC. Hertford was the hometown of some of my ancestors. The last several years, I've been thinking of doing an Earl Wild-styled arrangement of "Carolina Moon." "Moon Over Miami" just happened to be playing as background music in the Human Resources office when I went to do paperwork at Southeastern.

I sense that my system is still a little confused about our move. Normally, when I leave my in-laws in Lake Mary, I go to Interstate 95 and drive back to NC. This time, I'll get on Interstate 4 and go to our place in Lakeland.

I'll miss looking at the Carolina moon through the pine trees in my back yard. I'll miss the silhouette of the water tower over the library. I'll miss walks through campus with Sophie (our beagle). I'll miss Murfreesboro's connection back to Lafayette and his time. And I'll miss long afternoon talks over iced tea with town and college friends.

I really enjoyed my three years living at 212 E. High St. in M'boro. Being there had a great mix of urban and rural that allowed me to enjoy both my Hulin and Harrison heritage. Being in an old-ish house in the region of my ancestors gave Kathy and me a sense of having lived at "the old homeplace," and has provided us with a psychological space to which I am sure we will often return as we interpret ourselves in new contexts.

There's so much newness involved in this move - new job, new church, new house, new neighborhood, new city, new state, new culture. Fortunately, lots of people have reached out to make the transition less intimidating.

We attended College Park Baptist in Orlando this morning. An inspiring report on youth missions was structured around verses of John Bell's "Will You Come and Follow Me." The depth and relevance of this text continues to reveal itself to me. The second verse, in particular, spoke powerfully to my needs today and to my belief in God's call:

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name? . . .
Will you let me answer payer in you and you in me?

The Past

It's a well-known fact that we southerners live with a great weight on our backs known as "the past." I'm acutely aware of that seemingly inescapable burden as I sort through pictures and artifacts preparing for our move. I don't even know who some of the people are in the pictures. Perhaps I keep their pictures thinking that somehow we'll figure it out. I can't quite envision a future, however, in which I sit with all these documents and actually do figure it out.

Keeping these things has something to do with an imagined future in which these items define me and add more to my life than they do now. But I don't think that keeping all of this will bring that about in any significant way. The mystery is part of the heritage, anyhow.

I am starting to think it would be a great relief to live lighter and to only keep that which is necessary for telling our story.

Also, much of this material stuff is really about someone else's life. I think of the phrase "let the dead bury their dead." Maybe we haul the dead around for too long and don't get around to living our lives fully. Maybe we do that in music, too. I'm not totally sure what that means.

Maybe I'm just tired of packing!

Hymn Society - Birmingham 2010

We had a great week at Samford with old and new Hymn Society friends. This week, I was most impressed by the good ecumenical experience that these meetings provide. Every time, I come home more aware and more interested in other believers and their heritage.

I put together my own little American music conference by choosing particular small sessions to attend. Several dealt with African-American hymn traditions including the work of Tindley (a composing pastor who served a mega-church in the early 20th century), research into the second oldest African-American hymnal (presented by a distant cousin of mine, Dick Hulan!), and a session on several female African-American hymn writers. In this last session, I learned Margaret Douroux's beaatifully moving "Give Me a Clean Heart." We also enjoyed an evening of shaped-note singing, a hymn festival led by James Abbington and dedicated to the music of "the unknown bards" who wrote the spirituals (the quoted phrase comes from James Weldon Johnson's poem about those spiritual composers), and evening prayer led joyfully by our friends Stefan Waligur and Kaaren Lynn Ray. These evening prayer times featured bagpipes and took place in Hodges Chapel, which is by far the most ornate worship space I have seen in a Baptist community. Click here for a virtual tour.

The personal lessons of the week for me highlighted two of my on-going themes: the deep meaning and significance of community and the importance of thinking for one's self.

The most emotional moment of the meeting was singing "We Shall Overcome" hand-in-hand with my fellow musicians and realizing the endurance, peace-mindedness, and heroism of the many great civil rights workers whose names and deeds I need to celebrate more.

Nearing the End in Ahoskie

Sunday was a meaningful day for me in worship in Ahoskie. Kathy and I have two more Sundays with First Baptist, I believe, so I'm reflecting more and more on the meaning of our three years in this community and on the culmination of our work and learning here.

The service started with "God of Our Fathers" utilizing the recently expanded capabilities of our pipe organ. As I was pushing buttons and making enormous sounds, it occurred to me that I was operating one of the most powerful machines that an individual can operate in our vicinity - at least a very big musical machine. Normally, power like that doesn't mean much to me, but the freshness of the sound on this occasion invited me to think of God's power in a way that moved and instructed me.

When I first started playing for worship in Ahoskie, I was feeling the importance of imaging contemplation and gentleness through the way I played in most of our services. I was also trying to make sure the voices of the congregation were supported but not overwhelmed and that the people never felt oppressed by the sounds of the organ. These ideas are still at the core of my approach and personality, but on Sunday, I also felt comfortable with the way power was expressed through the musical rendering.

Why? The text of "God of Our Fathers" eventually focuses on Heaven and the resolution of our earthly conflicts. It lends itself to what I like to picture: the slain lamb returning in such glory that all our attempts at having power are simply irrelevant. I wonder if God's laughing at us, as is sometimes described in the Psalms, is not so much that we are in derision but that we're just funny in our self-importance.

It seems to me that it is not enough to stress God's power, because power alone is not what we believe to be God's essence. God's power is coupled with a willingness to become infinitesimal and totally vulnerable, and to sacrifice self. I can see more of the unique quality of the God of Christianity in this combination of unimaginable power and willingness to become tiny. The Trinity helps me hold all these aspects together in a single deity.

In addition, God's power must transcend all earthly power to an astronomical proportion. An earthly expression of power must be like a cut-out paper doll compared to the reality of the universal God. At the same time, I wonder if the true lowliness of Jesus also dramatically transcends all our human efforts at humility and service.

During Sunday's service, I played "Jesu, Jesu" as offertory, and I played it as expression of tenderness and intimacy. I sensed that I needed to do so to connect back to the grandeur of "God of Our Fathers" so that, all added up, we provided a fuller, truer picture of God's way with us.

The approach to playing for worship services that I have been developing in Ahoskie became crystal clear to me at that time: there need to be a variety of expressions in worship that are combined meaningfully to best convey a sense of the unique character of God. Transcendence is a profoundly stirring part of that unique character to my way of thinking. After considering God's utter transcendence in both powerfulness and powerlessness, I felt as though I had worshiped more thoroughly in spirit and truth than I usually do.

American Masterpiece May

This May, we were able to hear two American masterpieces for our first time in person, and one of them twice:Porgy and Bess, then Bernstein's Mass, then Porgy and Bess again!

As I watch the Virginia Opera's production of Gershwin, I was struck by the fact that the opera is about a community, and a community of faith in particular, as it grapples with its own demons and those of the greater world.

I was also excited by the tremendous spectrum of musical styles that Gershwin combines into a sensible whole and by the many ways of sounding American in the realm of concert music that it seems like he established with this opera.

Glenn Winters, the superb outreach lecturer who works for Virginia Opera, made a connection for those of us who heard his lecture that I had never considered. When Gershwin is going for a sweeping lyrical romantic moment, his melodic style resonates with that of Tchaikowsky and other Russian greats as he reaches back into his own family's heritage (his parents having come to the U.S. from Russia).

Bernstein's work was technically exciting and had many moving moments for me, as well. After a while, though, there was a certain unconvincing whiny-ness about it that seemed to belabor the point for me. But maybe that's the real point. Maybe Bernstein was trying to provide a big group therapy session for America about our relationship with God. The work makes good sense when viewed in relationship to the progression of his symphonies, each of which can be viewed as dealing with conflicts of modern religion on at least the national scale.

A great thing about the work for me is the return of the priest, of God, when the people realize they want him. The fact that it is the child that reaches out to him and brings him back makes it even more poignant.

This pivotal role of a child at the end, as well as the priest's breakdown and troubled relationship with the people makes me think of similar aspects in Mendelssohn's Elijah.

More on Energy

I'm editing or adding to what I wrote in my last post about energy flow in performance. While I think there's definitely some truth to what I wrote, maybe the sense of fatigue that sometimes comes after performance is a sign, at times, that the performer has crossed the bounds of the style of a work and the taste appropriate for performing it. "Style and taste" might sound superficial, but they really aren't if they are a reflection of the articulation of the flow of energy that is essential to the music.

Chopin, Energy

This year marks the bicentennial of Chopin's birth. I've been commemorating this a bit by listening to some Chopin and reading Alan Walker's excellent speech about Chopin that was recently printed in the MTNA's journal. In the speech, he puts much of the well-known information and anecdotes about Chopin's life in a broader context and provides his own insights into the importance of Chopin's achievements.

In reading, I was reminded of Chopin's often-referenced idea that a pianist need not work for the equalization of his or her fingers at the keyboard but that we should explore and use the individual strengths and qualities of our fingers as though they were the varied voices of a choir. I don't think this means Chopin would have played unevenly, and it is clear that he had his own idiosyncratic approach to fingering choices. As I ponder the implications of his statement at the piano, it occurs to me that embracing something like his approach without losing the evenness of our playing may mean adjusting our overall sound concept at times so that the stronger fingers find a way to fit with the weak.

On a different topic, I've been contemplating music as involving the flow of energy. As we play, we ride the energy or at least try not to impede its flow. This is another way of saying that we look to play the longest line we can hear. Sometimes being sensitized to this flow of energy and managing it may really take something out of us in terms of concentration and personal investment. On the other hand, it seems like listening to music ought to give us energy as we receive that flow. It's probably really worthwhile for those of us who perform music to differentiate between the experiences of performing and listening and to prepare ourselves for each activity specifically.

Omni-

One of the really nice things about the rhythm of the academic life is that it provides the possibility of a little time to study and to be refreshed in one's thinking and discipline during the summer.

I've been reading a few different things this May and June, some of which involve theology, and it occurred to me for the first time this morning that in English we have fancy, sort-of-technical terms for God being all-powerful, present everywhere, and knowing everything (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient). I wonder why we don't use similar words to emphasize that God created everything, is all-loving, all-serving, all-sustaining, entirely holy, infinity suffering, and willing to forgive all of us.

Music in Afghanistan

I'm proud of my friend Lara's journalistic work that you can see here.

Watoto Choir

Here's a great organization that's using music to address one of the most horrific problems of our time. We heard them in Ahoskie earlier this year and were touched by their energy, discipline, joy, and hope.

Holy Week Thoughts

I've been listening to George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." It's a touching song that becomes profoundly moving when you imagine the words being God's words to you or to the entire human race. I have linked to a version in which the words are very clear and there are few instruments - good for meditation. If you want to use it that way, I recommend listening several times to let the ideas sink in as a message for you. Also, I'd ignore the images that are provided at the link.

I'm also wondering about the title "King of the Jews" that is often associated with Jesus. I think we sometimes assume that is an appropriate title for him, but I can't recall a time in scripture when he uses the title himself or approves it. Early in Matthew, others are looking for the one that is "born the King of the Jews," and towards the end of all the gospels, Pilate asks if he is the King of the Jews, to which Jesus responds, "You say so."

Finally, I'm thinking back to death of Pope John Paul II which was close to this time five years ago. It seems like it's been a longer time than that. That was a sad Easter. Reading a blogpost from that time takes me back to what that was like.

Chowan Pianofest 2010

This weekend was our third Pianofest here at Chowan and it fulfilled my hopes, as well as surprising me a bit.

The primary purposes of Pianofest, as I see them, are to refresh our enthusiasm here about pianistic work and to inspire us. Hopefully, the various events being open to the public also results in a general growth of interest in the art of piano-playing.

Our first concert involved my colleague, Paula Pressnell, playing the four impromptus of Schubert's Op. 90 in order. Between nos. 1 and 2, Mark Puckett played Chopin's preludes in e, b, D flat, and g. Between nos. 3 and 4, Josiah Antill played Liszt's B Minor Ballade. Mark, Josiah, and I experimented with designing powerpoint shows to enhance the audience experience of these pieces. Mark's show started with a few sentences about the context in which Chopin composed his pieces, followed by images inspired by the pianist von Bulow's poetic titles for those four preludes: Suffocation, Tolling Bells, Raindrop, and Impatience. Josiah's powerpoint presented the association of Liszt's piece with Byron's "The Prisoner of Chillon" and the subsequent slides led us through the phases of the poem as we listened to the piece.

We learned from this concert that Mrs. Pressnell is a particularly good Schubert player and that Schubert sounds especially good on the Grotrian. The first impromptu put us in just the right mood to experience the unique phenomena known as the classical piano recital.

While I'm interested in innovation and feel it is my responsibility to provide my students some introduction to basic skills in a variety of styles, it was good to be reminded that the piano recital is its own unique art form and was perfected some years ago in Europe. The piano recital can be, and often is, an experience of reflection, bordering on the sacred. It creates a container or clears a space for contemplating great Western and human values: the work of the mind and the soul, the the experience of longing, and the search for peace. Again, Paula's playing, as well as the student's powerpoints and pianistic efforts, directed us to such beautiful and lofty ruminations. And I don't think I'm just describing my experience as the sense of calm and engagement was palpable in the hall throughout the concert.

Special thanks to Terrell Batten for the great work with the spotlight, in particular at the close of the concert when he noticed that there was no other light left for Mrs. Pressnell's final bow and quickly remedied the problem!

I played our second concert, which was a concert built around the sixth Beatitude of Jesus: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. I chose various works to express the idea of purity through musical means from a pure experience of the sound of the instrument in Jahn Adams's "China Gates" to the pure quality of the transcription of Bach's Chaconne (originally for violin) for piano, left hand alone, by Brahms. I also played Haydn's Sonata No. 48, which took me back to my childhood, and managed to play it without mishap. (It was the first piece I had a memory slip in on my first solo recital around 25 years ago!)

The main message I got from preparing and performing this recital was to strive for musical purity in my work. By that I mean to keep my feet planted on the earth and to focus a little more on musical fundamentals like knowing the mood that is to be created, establishing and maintaining a tempo, analyze and plan to highlight the relationships of tones melodically and harmonically (phrasing and balance). . . If I want to add in something more imaginative or creative, it's probably safest to think of it in just those terms - something added into the basic work of musicianship, not something to completely and instantaneously transform my approach.

Along these same lines, as I worked on the Chaconne and looked for a convincing way to pace and inflect the music, my faith, which I sometimes practice, was affirmed - the answer was in the score. For me, the slur and phrase markings were a major key to interpreting this work. The breakthrough came when I started to think of them more like bowings. The longer the marking, the more energy went into the line and the less energy went into the individual notes. The shorter the marking, the less energy went into the line, and more energy into the individual notes.

Thank you, Taylor Yandell, for the photos of my first performance of the Chaconne.

I concluded the evening with Gottschalk's Berceuse. This piece is based on a song he wrote in which a mother sings to her baby while the father is away. I assume the father is away fighting in the Civil War. I had been wondering how the low bass octaves figured into this scene, and I had been trying to keep them in the background. During the concert, I realized that they might be thought of as the distant rumbling of the cannons of war.

On Saturday, I held a masterclass that was attended by a diverse audience including music majors, music appreciation students, several students from a studio in the next town, and a few interested folks from the community. I like teaching before an audience like this as it gives people who are not musicians some insight into the discipline of music. The young students played well, and it's always inspiring to hear the results of the hard work that developing pianists are doing.

Fulfillment

Last Wednesday, I went to church to practice organ. When I sit down in the choir loft to put on my organ shoes, I am always reminded to pray, even if I have not been praying much lately. I think it has something to do with the nature of the sanctuary, my role in shaping worship there, and my relationship with that house of worship.

On this particular occasion, I also thought of the fact that I've been playing piano for over thirty years now. It's odd to be old enough to have been doing something for over thirty years. Everyone who has been there must know that. But it can also be good.

It dawned on me that the deepening sense of fulfillment I get from musical work has something to do with the fact that I had many early childhood experiences with music. It seems to me that our early exposure must be a major factor in developing our potential for personal fulfillment. It would be hard to find a much better argument for a diverse education for the young.

January 2010

We've been enjoying a beautiful and much-needed, snow-induced sabbath these last few days. There are at least four inches, and some places, seven inches of snow in our region, plus layers of ice. It's a quiet time and great for eating homemade muffins and drinking coffee.

Last weekend I played two recitals with my good friend Jeremy McEntire at University of Richmond and Randolph Macon. I hadn't played at Randolph Macon before and enjoyed St. Anne's Hall, which is a small timbered church building with a nicely responsive Steinway and a warm acoustic.

One of the works we played was Rachmaninoff's Vocalise. I've played the piece many times with various instruments and voice. I always wonder at its falling lines, especially the long descent at the beginning. This aspect of falling is one of the things about Russian music that has mystified and depressed me by turns.

One of the lectionary passages for the day was Psalm 130 which begins, "Out of the depths I cry to thee, O thou Eternal." As I thought about that reading and Vocalise, I thought of a new way to understand those falling lines. I can hear them not as our sinking down but Christ's coming to be with us in the depths of our human experience. This removes the desolation and replaces it with hope, strength, and empathy.

What Music Can Do

Christmas Eve is one of the days of the year that feels sacred to me. It is a deep day that resonates with other Christmas Eves in other years and brings thoughts of both the spiritual meaning of the day and memories of the friends with whom I've spent it.

Today I find myself contemplating my blessings - friends near and far, family, work, home, the town where we live, and of course, music.

Several of this semesters's musical events have fed my soul and given me reasons for living. The first was Jim Guthrie's organ recital. To hear Jim playing so well and providing an afternoon of Frescobaldi made me feel like we really are holding up our end of the culture and that friends here are committed to the work of the arts that the world needs done. Jim played this music in such a way that even the casual listener could hear the various lines and their courses. And by playing this recital, he made myself and others personally aware of the greatness of Frescobaldi. The music has a sacred discursiveness about it. Its wanderings are like those of a soul in contemplation. Sometimes, tiny pipe sounds drew us up into a sense of some heavenly recess. There was always a sense of leading toward resolution, but it often came from somewhere other than where I expected, often culminating somewhere away from tonic. It was music full of thoughtful and unexpected harmonies that showed that lines can go many places. The experience refreshed my commitment to the art of music and its importance, as well as to my work here at Chowan.

The second invigorating event of the semester was the preparation for Handel's Messiah. Many of us at school and in the community were involved with rehearsals for this masterwork. Dr. Parker preached the texts of the work in these rehearsals, and we labored together as if we were trying to pull some great ship out into deep water so it could sail. The sense of being part of that huge process, of living life along that big trajectory along with many others, gave the semester shape and meaning. It was wonderful to be sharing this task with people of various age groups, races, and economic classes. And it was all done for the sake of the musical work and for its effectiveness when shared with the audience. I dare say that the world would be a better place if more people had something like this experience in their lives.

Finally, I think of how music can draw us into worhip. The Russian Christmas concert in Lasker was full of music that transported the listeners to other lands and sacred scenes. I look forward to tonight's Christmas Eve service which should do the same.

May our new year be full of more music that brings joy, peace, and meaning!

Christmas Images

Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming -

beautiful roses blooming in our yard on December first.

New use for a piano -

storage of musical Christmas ornaments at the Smithfield Christmas Store.

For Lasker Christmas pictures with music click here.

Christmas at Chowan 2009

Tonight was this year's Christmas at Chowan concert. It came just as we had our first noticeble frost and a little bit of ice.

I played Lyapunov's "Procession of the Magi." As I trudged home through the cold between the rehearsal and the performance, I thought about the inexorable quality of this music and how Russian music has as one of its specialities the unstopable march. I first noticed this quality in a Lazar Berman performance of one of Rachmaninoff's Moment-Musicaux.

As I played the piece during the concert, I felt a little like there were people present who weren't interested in this music. They may just be because of the unfocused feeling I get when participating in a variety show type of concert like this one. Or maybe it is because the music unfolds slowly and I become anxious that the listeners are losing interest. Whatever the reason, these sorts of thoughts are distracting and do not help me play well!

Maybe the slowness with which the music unfolds gives it the inexorable quality. As always, the music is to be trusted and the musician shouldn't worry about the audience's instant gratification if that isn't the way the music is designed.

Later on the program, I played several pieces from Rebikov's The Christmas Presents. That playing experience was better for me. The audience seemed focused with me and I realized how extraordinary it is for a room of 100 to 200 people to sit and listen intently to one man play a few quiet notes an a piano.

Excellent Song

This morning, we sang the classic praise and worship song "As the Deer" by Martin Nystrom based on Psalm 42. As the choir rehearsed it, I thought about what has given it its lasting appeal and its place in the canon of worship music.

And that is that it is an excellently written song. The tune does exactly what the words say, but in the best tradition of Handel, it does so without becoming silly. In fact, it's quite possible to listen to the piece over and over without being distracted by the text painting. But I think it makes the song more deeply meaningful.

The word "panteth" or "pants" is split between two quick notes that suggest the urgency of panting.

The two things longed for - "water" and "heart's desire" - are set with the longing gesture of an appogiatura. The appogiatura on "water" might also be heard as part of a wave that encompasses the words "for the water so my."

Next, perhaps the most important word in the line - the real topic of the song - "soul" - appears on the highest note of the phrase.

The following phrase ends "and I long to worship you." Here, the music bows down with the words.

In the third phrase, one note insistently repeated perfectly sets the words "You alone."

Then, at "spirit yield" the music also yields before it turns back to the tune and tonality of the first phrase.

Fall Break Review, Part II

On Saturday, I played for a wedding at Connaritsa Baptist Church. This was a lovely autumn wedding with flowers in fall colors and bride's maids in red dresses. It was also a fun experience because of the historic nature of the church being the fourth oldest Baptist congregation in our region.



The instrument at Connaritsa is an older spinet, and as I played it, I was reminded of one of my basic beliefs about making music - a belief that I think is really important, but not always so easy to live with. And that is that making music is about cooperation, not competition or domination.

When confronted with a smaller and limited instrument, my gut reaction is to force it to bend to my will. The result of that approach is usually somewhat tortured. The instrument strains and groans, and little joy is expressed. More beauty comes when I relax and look for what the instrument can do well. This may mean sharing my vision with a decent, musical, mid-ranged dynamic and not striving for grand effects at either extreme of the dynamic scale. I think the result is better music and maybe better being human.

On Thursday night, Ms. Pressnell and I gave our first faculty two-piano recital on the two Baldwin concert grands in Daniel Recital Hall. While the older of the two instruments has some problems on its own, it makes a very good partner for the newer Baldwin.



The concert was great fun to play, and we were both relaxed and focused on good piano playing much of the time. We played a chaconne on Dido's Lament by Purcell. It happens to be Purcell's 350th birthday this year. I thought a bit about the recent earthquake victims in the South Pacific as I got ready to play this lament. Next was the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony then the second movement on Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto. We concluded the first half with an arrangement of Hava Nagilah, which is about the happiest-sounding piece of music you're likely to find in a minor key.

The second half consisted of Saint-Seans Danse Macabre (which was the last thing we added to the program and turned out to be both our favorite and the crowd's favorite), three hymn arrangements by Nielson and Young - Come Thou Fount, When I Survey, and the Doxology tune - and several movements from Zwillich's Peanuts Gallery. We played a simple arrangement of Shenandoah for an encore.

One very specific comment I recieved a day or so after the concert was about the way I played the very last note of Shenandoah - living proof of the saying "God is in the details."

Last Sunday, I played a concert of parlor music for the Perquimans County Restoration Association. You can read about that here.

And now I'm reflecting all the way back to our season-opening faculty gala. That was my first solo playing on the Grotrian - Brahms: Op. 116, Nos. 1,2 and 3. I like the idea of the entire year of concerts here at Chowan (or at least my part in them) being one large work, and I hope our faithful audience members will connect the Brahms of the Gala Concert with the First Sonata which I plan to play during Pianofest in February.

That night was also my first bit of chamber music with the new piano. Dr. Parker sang several of Vaughan Williams's Vagabond Songs. The piano's capabilities were especially moving in that situation as it makes many many gradations of mezzo piano and softer possible. Also, its tone never competes with the timbre of the voice. Finally, it's possible to make much of the text-painting sound literally like the words and ideas being illustrated on this instrument! It's clearly a superbly-suited instrument on which to play songs of such high calibre with a fine and sensitive artist like Dr. Parker.

Worship, God's Image, Creativity

Daniel preached an excellent sermon this morning on worhsip. He drew our attention to the various words that relate to worship in the Bible. Of course, "worship" is an old English word meaning "to ascribe worth to." According to Daniel, the Hebrew scriptural word for worship actually means "to bow down" and the Greek New Testament word means "to serve." He pointed out that all of these concepts are verbs, not nouns - that worship is something we do, not so much an experience we receive (that would make worship into a noun).

Contemplating those three words, I note that the English word really means something different from the Biblical words. "To ascribe worth" suggests that we are somehow in a position to access the worth of our creator. That seems a little absurd to me. To bow down and to serve have none of that in them. Instead, they are acts of pure response to the Creator.

I've also been thinking once again about how we humans are created in God's image. Being in God's image, we, too, create. I think that means that on a fundamental, existential level, creativity has nothing to do with competition. At any rate, making music is a way of enacting being in God's image. The Psalmists repeatedly implore us to make music joyfully, and I think that flows naturally and logically from being made in God's image. What could be more basic and joyful than to recognize that we are creations and that we have a kinship with the Creator? There is nothing of the self to assert in this. Instead, we proclaim our gladness at being, at being creations, at being creations in relationship with the Creator, and at being something that the Creator has declared to be good!

Fall Break Review, Part I

Fall Break is right around the corner, and it feels like a good time to turn a corner in my year. We've been blessed with some actual fall-like weather for several weeks. That is, we've stayed out of the 90s for some time now. In addition, I actually felt a little bit of Christmas on the way as I walked home tonight. Maybe that's because I've just started learning a couple of Lyopunov's Fetes de Noels which, by the way, I'd highly recommend to any classical pianist wanting to learn some Christmasy repertoire.

Christmas is such a lovely time of year here with the cool weather, the historic homes decorated, and many meaningful festivities. This all reminds me that I really like being here.

Loving a place and being called to a place is a lot like a marriage. The love and the calling are much bigger than any one bad experience or interaction. But those things can distract us and cloud our vision, so we need to be smart in cherishing the relationship.

(By the way, Kathy and I try not to create bad experiences or bad interactions for each other, but sometimes we have to share bad experiences inflicted upon us by others!)

In addition to the approach of fall break, I had several gigs this week that brought a period of performing to a pretty satisfying conclusion. I have some time now before any major performing, so I can do some enjoyable, disciplined, and unhurried preparation. Also, I have some time to work on trying to do a little less but better, and getting in the habit of more consistent exercise and better eating habits, etc. . . . !

And that brings me to the real topic of this post: a little reflection on the piano playing I've done and heard so far this year. I'll cover these events in reverse order and over the course of a couple of posts.

Dr. White, our president here at Chowan, gave a concert this afternoon to raise funds for Chowan University mission trips. Dr. White studied some formally growing up and also listened closely to his grandfather who was a talented natural musician. One of the moving things about Dr. White's musicianship is his consciousness of this link to the past. He is conveying what he can reproduce of his grandfather's style to his own grandchildren and others with whom this way of playing strikes a chord. My favorite selection from this afternoon's concert was a rendition of the gospel song "Ivory Palaces" which was his reconstruction of his grandfather's playing and, to my ears, it rang with authenticity, particularly in its pacing and the interesting flowing tenor voice that provided a countermelody to the tune.

Another arrangement that captured my imagination was "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" which took advantage of the rich low bass notes of the Grotrian, each of which sounded like some great pillar put in place at the beginning of time. Dr. White indicated that this was one of his favorite songs, and the comfortable fluidity with which he played it suggested to me that the song iteself has been a long-time companion of his at the piano.

Two other selections that were of particular musical interest to me were a medley and a theologically-thoughtful arrangement of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." The medley combined several tunes that I never thought of together but make perfect sense as a group: "Fill My Cup, Lord" based on the story about the woman at the well, "Kumbaya," and "Holy Ground." These last two have very similar melodies that are nearly interchangeable at points.

Dr. White gave an explanation of his rendition of "When I Survey." The sections represent the vision of the cross, then the reality of death on the cross, then the fact that there is life beyond the cross. That narrative framework gave the arrangement integrity and meaning.

Fur Elise

I recently taught a lesson on that great warhouse of the intermediate literature, "Fur Elise." All of you who play or teach the piece are aware of several trouble spots, and the one I am thinking about is the bit where the hands trade back and forth in the A section when the opening theme is about to turn. More often than not, that spot serves as an invitation for students to apply their ingenuity to not dividing the hands as Beethoven indicated as well as playing music that isn't in the score!

In many instances, I am willing to rearrange hands and other things to get what I think is the best effect. But I feel like there are compelling reasons to play this passage as Beethoven arranged it:

1. It's Beethoven and his scores are as close to sacrosanct as we get in the classical realm.

2. Switching hands as Beethoven wrote provides a visual impression of brilliance even though the actual execution is not hard. In fact, it might just be easier to play with the hand switching than without it!

3. Switching hands nearly guarantees that the pianist will play the articulation that Beethoven indicated.

4. Beethoven's piano music was some of the first to so convincingly suggest orchestral music. Switching the hands provides for a variety of finger strengths and orientations for the same pair of notes. That's reminiscent of the changing of resources as Beethoven passes a motive around the orchestra from one instrument to the next.

5. On a structural and physical level, at least the A section of piece is a set of variations on the alternation of the hands. The very opening theme is permeated by one hand following the other. The passage in question is a more compressed manifestation of that idea.

A silly thought following up on #5 above - I'm surprised that I've never come across a Romantic-era transcription of the piece with alternating "Liszt Octaves" replacing the single-lined chromatic scale that occurs near the end!

A Great Story

Tonight I heard this inspiring true story that's well worth the time it takes to read it.

Servanthood

As a lot of you know, I feel some dissonance about the terms "leader" and "leadership" in the context of Christianity. As I've repeatedly noted for myself, Jesus invites us to be servants, not servant-leaders.

This morning, I started reading James since there will be a lengthty passage of James read in our worship service on Sunday. James begins "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

That led me to do a quick survey of the openings words of New Testament letters to see how the authors presented themselves -

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus
Paul, an apostle . . .
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John

Nothing about leadership there. Servant, apostle, prisoner - I believe these are all pretty un-exalted and are not power-oriented concepts. I'm thinking that "apostle" has a churchy and authoritative context for us today since we only use it in the context of referring to people who were pillars in the church. But I bet that word did not have those overtones when the scripture writers chose it. It means "messenger" or "one sent."

Chowan Inspiration

This has been the week of meetings, inventories, syllabus writing . . . oh yes, and meetings.

I like the awareness of tradition here at Chowan. Periodically, someone says "This is the day when . . ." or "Traditionally on this day . . ." This is something I often wanted more of at other places.

I was feeling particularly inspired after Thursday which was the day of the faculty retreat. It was a rich day that culminated with a look at the new "Murph's" which is our newly renovated, truly transformed, sport-themed space formerly known as the snack bar. And that was followed by a reflective walk with Sophie (our dog) - reflective except for the part when we were running!

On our walk, my love for Murfreesboro and my work here was refreshed. I thought of my father's inspiration for his work, particularly as expressed in his church newsletter articles from his days at Sylvia Circle Baptist Church in the 80s. There was a sense of heaven on earth for him that came not from things being peaceful but purposeful.

Joy comes in being part of perfecting a place, helping a community become whole. And that's what has been going on here for a very long time. One would be saddened to move on because that work is so fulfilling.

Strolling quietly after dark under the tall pines reminds me that God is present and working, and Squirrel Park (the university commons) has been particular mysterious and intriguing lately as a pair of owls has been making an appearance there around dusk.

MacDowell Columns building stubbornly looms up out of the night like a bulldog jaw or a great fist. It says "Wars have come and gone - but we are still here. Hurricanes have scarred our land, but we are still here. Doors have closed and opened agin - we are still here. Depression, Recession - still here."

And we're still here for the continuation of civilization. It seems that the whole project - civilization and intitution - exist and persist as a grace from God.

Great Grotrian

Yesterday was an historic day for all things piano at Chowan. This summer we have really been blessed by the incredible generosity of donors and administrators with an interest in music. One of the superb additions to our instruments they made possible came in the form of a Grotrian concert grand that was delivered yesterday by Famous Jerry of Disputanta, VA. Famous Jerry and his men were a model of teamwork with each one responding quickly to Jerry's expert directions and noone ever whimping out at a crucial moment.

Grotrian is a great old German piano company that makes instruments with a beautiful sweet sound that are incredibly responsive to the pianist's touch. for more on Grotrian, click here.

The moving process was amazing.

First, ramps were placed on the steps of Macdowell Columns building. The top ramp was secured around two of the columns to keep it securely in place as 1000 plus pounds rolled over it. The men doing the moving were by no means huge, but no doubt they were very strong. The one mover who was noticebly muscular was always at the heavy and bottom end whenever a piano was on a ramp.



As the piano made its way onto the Turner stage, those of us watching were moved by the athleticism and stunning nature of an 1100 pound piano moving so quickly (you can't let the momentum be lost on the way up the ramp!) and the sense of that massive object, being piloted by flesh and bone, in a moment of near flight moving from up-ramp to down-ramp as it cleared the lip of the stage.



Next came a bit of down time as the legs and pedals of the Grotrian were put back on and the legs and pedals of the Baldwin were taken off. There was a poignancy about those two giants meeting for a few moments this one and only time on the stage of Turner.



There was yet more poignancy as the Baldwin awaited its voyage from the hallowed halls of Columns to Daniel Recital Hall.



Next came intensity as the movers threaded the Baldwin through entryway of Daniel recital hall, the setting emphasizing the mass of the instrument as it was lifted and balanced at the top of the steps before rolling down into the hall. This Balwin is the heaviest model of piano made in the U.S., weighing in around 1300 pounds.



At the end, a little more lifting to put the Baldwin back in operable order -



After everything was back in place and the movers had left, Kathy I went to the halls to try out the instruments in their new homes. I was delighted to find that things are even better than I anticipated!

The beautiful and sweet sound of the Grotrian transforms what was a decent recital space into something that emphasizes the elegance of live classical music performance. While the instrument has plenty of power and projects with rare clarity, it doesn't reward aggressiveness. Instead, it encourages the pianist who listens to play lyrically and melodically.

In Daniel, the Baldwin demonstrates much more character than we knew it had in Turner. That's a real delight because it makes the room a much more rewarding recital space and will give our students much more to work with on their weekly recitals. Also, the old and new Baldwins are particularly well-matched as two-piano instruments.

Hymn Society

We returned this week from the annual conference of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada to the sounds of band camp rehearsal on campus and breezy evening walks that remind us that the coast isn't very far away.

I can tell by the way I feel - emotionally, mentally, and spiritually rejuvenated- that Hymn Society was very good for me.

Our flight to Minnesota for the conference was my first flight, and I think I might not have been as afraid of it as I thought I was. I was still nervous, though.

The conference was at St. Olaf, which is a liberal arts school with a very strong choral tradition in Northfield, MN.



Some major memories of the conference for me follow:

The first night's hymn festival for which John Ferguson played piano and organ - Ferguson is an incredibly gifted artist who draws the congregation into worship through his insightful playing and sensitivity

Carl Daw's profound and personal texts, many of which deal with peace and the Trinity

Witnessing Brian Wren's quick mind for finding just the right word to fit the theological and poetic requirements during a workshop for text writers

Learning about David Morales's terrific work with young people in inner-city Oakland - you can read Cantare con Vivo's mission statement here

A very moving hymn festival (in which Kathy read scripture) that was structured around the parables of Jesus

Plenary sessions featuring Marva Dawn and a talk on what types of hymns Dr. Seuss would like (this was light-hearted and challenging)

Breakout sessions about performance practice for Lutheran chorales, a new collection of Psalm paraphrases by Richard Leach, a new collection of settings of texts by Fanny Crosby - many recently rediscovered texts that speak to a broader range of issues that the best-known Crosby texts, and Djembe drumming to accompany congregational singing

Lots of fresh organically-grown food raised on-campus

Video of the hymn festivals can be found here.


After the conference, we went to Duluth, MN to visit our friends, Paul and Eileen Scaringi. While there, I read Paul's dissertation which deals with freedom, creativity, and the Trinity in the works of Berdiaev and Moltmann.

Paul is the pastor of the United Protestant Church of Silver Bay, MN, which is the oldest ecumenical church on MN and is aligned with several denominations including American Baptist, Church of Christ, Methodist, and Presbyterian. Kathy sang my setting of verses from Psalm 87 which I wrote for the occasion.

After church, we did a little hiking along the cliffs beside Lake Superior.

Learning Aesthetics

After the Festival, I took a trip to Charlotte, NC to visit a student. While there, I had a great time staying with friends in the Hyaets Community. I also took the opportunity to visit Rock Hill, SC where I lived from 3rd grade to 11th grade.

During the visit to Rock Hill, I was able to assess the town from a little more adult perspective than when I lived there, and I was struck that about two thirds of the town I knew consist of quite lovely neighborhoods with fine buildings and tree-lined streets. The other third of the town - where we lived most of our time there - seems to be a community in real need.

In the middle of the town is a gem known as Glencairn Gardens. I was very fortunate to have daily access to the gardens for several of my "formative years." On revisiting the gardens this time I had the very moving epiphany that my sense of aesthetics was developed in large part by the many times I visited the gardens during those years. On a daily basis, the concepts I mostly consciously learned later were played out in the physical realm all around me. Those experiences shaped me as an artist.

The gardens have a brilliant few weeks in the Spring when the azaleas are blooming. The amount of color in the landscape is unbelievable at that time. But year-round, the gardens pack a powerful impact because of issues relating to arrangement, proportion, etc.



The central feature is a multi-tiered fountain that flows into a large pool that is often full of waterlilies. The symbol of the fountain is powerful and beautiful. It essentially appears to be an inexhaustible spring from which life-giving water flows. Here, ideas and an image from the physical world go hand in hand, just as Emerson said they do. The fountain speaks of abundance and miracles. The way the water spills from one tier to the next certainly shaped my understanding of flow and its importance.



From some vantage points, the fountain is easily seen and framed from a distance and a higher elevation. From other directions, it is hidden until almost the last moment of one's approach. One can experience many shades of framing, approach, introduction, and context there.

Because of the hills, meandering paths, various fountains, and the surrounding streets, one is also drawn into a sonic awareness of the many aspects of the place which can be experienced simultaneously and constantly change as one changes location.



Reflecting on all of this, and on how these things shaped me made, me think that artists, and musicians in particular, need such places in our lives. We need to become alert to what things make for beauty and practice experiencing those things as we grow our own sense of proportion, relationship, and so forth.

Sometimes we are fortunate to live very close to a scene that was designed to embody principles of beauty. Other times, we need to travel to such places. I am thinking of giving my students exercises for discovering beauty in the physical realm around us - exercises for recognizing the nature of materials and the relationship of those materials - so as to fine-tune their understanding of the beauty of the musical objects with which they deal in performance.

On a deeper level, all of this is important because the gardens gave me a place to muse, to meditate, to imagine, and to grow. Experiences of beauty can provide sanctuaries for such deeply significant human activities. Maybe all these things are the spiritual content the world desperately needs, content that transcends the physical or the sonic.

Hulin Musicians

Another Hulin musician who has been brought to my attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IrSq1rOoL4

And don't forget swamp pop