December 10 - Dot's Nice

 
Home all day with Harriet, catching up with the Business As Usual videos, provisionally producing all the rest from IIb. Business As Usual through IIIc. Shane O'Donlon, but the latter, along with IIIa. You'll Drive It Out, seem kinda temporary, so may revisit tomorrow.  Discover the problem in iMovie '09 of video clips spontaneously becoming uncontrollably "unsilent," when nevertheless set to mute, only occurs after 3 minutes -- so, can conceivably come up with a work-around...  Also update copies of Adolph Deutsche's Some Like It Hot, Billy Goldenberg's Duel, and Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi, and acquire the Claus Badelt Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.  Other musical activities somehow take place as well (pdf page 8 and composition m16 respectively of Street Songs and Psalm 81, finishing latter).

December 9 - Dimly Proceeding

Spend much of another sunny day helping Harriet with MAP fund application re Matthew Owens's City of St. Francis.  Quite a lot of work: edit the four vocal selections done last weekend at DVC, deal with a monstrously large unedited audio file of the composer's Prison Songs (download Audacity, but wind up not having to use it... the program does provide motivation for doing a Dock re-organization after all this time on the MacBooks), edit two 2009 Fresh Voices excerpts (from Peter Josheff's Inferno and Patrick Dailly's Solidarity) on Wondershare and iMovie, then open a Vimeo account to post same as required by the grant.

After all this,

barely enough

time to do

errands down in

Pleasant Hill,

with delays --

certainly scenic --

on the way.

Swing round homeward and finally do Business As Usual: 2a. Caucasian Sketchbook and other musical endeavors (pdf for page 7 Street Songs, and composition of measure 15 Psalm 81) before fade out.  Also update copies of Jerry Goldsmith's The Great Escape and Maurice Jarre's The Train.

December 8 - Picture This

Last day of student teaching, last day of round four compositions, last day of regularly-scheduled Theory

(on another blindingly bright and wonderful late-season sunny day) -- we are all surprisingly efficient,

with no less than six presentations including Brendan's challenging chords (from open 5ths through 9ths) and Phil's offering of the Sergei Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 ("Classical"): III. Gavotte (graciously allowing for a bit of hijacking).

Student work includes fine performances from Jane and Ji, with Anand's last whimsical piece rounding up proceedings nicely.  A great class throughout the semester!

Homeward, it's time to revisit iMovie, making videos of the first three movements of Business as Usual: Ia. Torculus Man, Ib. Six Friday Nights, and Ic. The Second Death.  Also do pdf of page 6 Street Songs and compose 14th measure re Psalm 81.

December 6 - Hidden Delights

Begin pdf of Street Songs: II. At a Photo Shop before heading off to DVC for Week 2 Day 2 of student teaching with Jane, Rob, Sarah (sight-singing) and Anand (dictation), with brilliant compositions from

Hannah, Melissa, Miles, and Paul.  Linger afterwards, passing off quizzes with several, 

then home in calm conditions such that the season's inflatable

icons have returned.  Upon return compose the rest of The Cop and the Anthem (68 pages total) and 12th measure Psalm 81.

December 4 - Light and Dark

Catch-up and errands (including a comedy of broken and leaking bottles) are the order of the day, including pdf of eighth system Street Songs, composition re The Cop and the Anthem (64) and Psalm 81 (M10).  Harriet listens to the St. Francis mixes and is basically pleased.  Late night includes Facebook emails with Elaine, Brenda, and Dave.

December 3 - Threepenny Recordings

Acquire the original 1954 off-Broadway recording of Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera -- a welcome re-acquaintance!

After the day's pdf'ing and composing (seventh system for Street Songs; 63 and M9 for The Cop and the Anthem and Psalm 81),

rendezvous

at

DVC with Zoli

Harriet, Branislav, and

Sarita to record Matthew Owens's City of St. Francis Act I Scenes 1 and 3, thanks to welcome assistance from Doug (setting the stage yesterday) and Francisco.  Late night mixing before return.

December 2 - Valentine Out of Season

Collect the paper for the day, and immediately notice that it is unusually warm -- 68 -- and,

by

the

afternoon,

having made the way back to DVC to record the rap section of Matthew Owens's City of St. Francis, the temps are 73-75... marvelous!  And, once again, so much for early November being any rigid cut-off for balmy times.

Also do the Pdf of system 6 Street Songs, and compose page 62 of The Cop and the Anthem and measure 8 of Psalm 81.  Somewhere in here, acquire the Victor Herbert / Walt Disney Babes in Toyland (1959 / 1961) -- never before seen, other than in an old picture-book, often read to Crystal and company in days of yore.

November 28 - Lights in the Fog

Up unconscionably early,

but

for

a

good

cause,

through

darkness,

fog

and

glimmers

of light to Marin, where Crystal and Stanley arrive

for

our

weekly

walk --

above

the

stratus

to

Plateau

Hill,

then

back

within,

through

the

Eucalyptus

Forest

and

the

Crestwood

Grasslands

to

farewell;

followed by financial greetings at the post box, etc.,

and

the

jaunt

across the Bay and

Coast Range to

Diablo Valley College for the first day of

student teaching.

All goes well, sunny skies for the afternoon, errands,

and 

a return to other musical matters of the day re Street Songs (pdf of I. All My Relations, second system), The Cop and the Anthem (page 58), and Psalm 81 (M4).

Ah yes, midday also features a bit of wisdom from Doug re torrents of information, and -- lo and behold -- by evening, have miraculously enriched the digital music collection with items long absent from regular play (due to the inaccessibility of older formats), including:

George Gershwin...

Fascinatin' Rhythm
Piano Concerto in F
Three Piano Preludes
Funny Face
Embraceable You
Girl Crazy
Shall We Dance

Harry Partch...

Barstow (a less-distorted, though still scratchy, version)
Castor and Pollux
And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma (ditto re Barstow)
Daphne of the Dunes

Playlist for the day also includes:

Miklos Rozsa...

Quo Vadis
Ben Hur
The Robe

Leroy Anderson...

The Syncopated Clock
The Typewriter

Eliot Daniel...

I Love Lucy

Olivier Messiaen...

Quartet for the End of Time (at last the complete Tashi performance again)
Turangalila Symphony

Benny Goodman...

Body and Soul
Let's Dance (now close to the classic original version)

Burl Ives...

The Wayfaring Stranger


Samuel Barber...

Overture to the School for Scandal (welcome re-aquaintance with the Thomas Schippers version)
Adagio
Second Essay for Orchestra (ditto re Scandal)
Agnus Dei

William Schuman...

New England Triptych

Alberto Dominguez...

Perfida