Today we leave for Grayling. But first we have to stop off in Whitehall which is not exactly on the way. Nancy needs us to pick up some stuff at Eileen’s Mom’s house to take to the cabin. This makes me a little crazy. But Eileen wants to do it so we will.

I have already done a load of laundry, dishes, and spent time on the bench at church practicing the music I chose for July  9. We are singing “I heard the voice of Jesus say” on that Sunday to the Tallis tune. Robert Lind has composed a series of voluntaries on the Vaughan Williams tunes and includes one on this one. I had thought that I would choose organ music without pedals for this Sunday so that I could practice the pieces on vacation. However, I was so charmed with Lind’s setting that I decided to use it. It’s not that hard but it does use pedals. Hence this is why I sneaked in some practice the morning we are planning to drive to Grayling.

For my postlude next Sunday I am reviving one of my favorite John Stanley voluntaries. I have been playing this ever since I sat down at an organ in Oscoda Michigan years ago. It’s nice to revive old pieces on the new organ since they sound so beautiful.

Eileen and I bought extra internet access time. We did this by changing our plan. The phone people told us to do it this way. We should be able to change it back the following month.  That way we and the rest of the clan will have some sort of internet access while we are at the cabin. How good that will be remains to be seen of course since it sometimes is spotty.

It’s surprising how tiring travel can be. Yesterday, my energy went quickly, but we managed to get quite a few things done like grocery shopping, picking up my new glasses, and checking on Mom. I had thought about practicing organ but it soon became obvious that that wasn’t going to happen.

I am seriously thinking of reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series on vacation. I read the first chapter of A Wizard of Earthsea yesterday. I may have read these before but have completely forgotten the plot.

I am trying to get used to having to wear glasses all the time. I have bifocals and that is a bit weird, always having to tip up my head to see close. I never thought about how often I am using my eyes to read or see something close. It’s most of the time really.

A couple things came in the mail while I was gone.

I ordered Twenty-four Contemporary Pieces for Solo Piano because it included my favorite Phillip Glass etude (#11) and hoped it would have some other cool music in it. I read through the first nine pieces yesterday and was disappointed. These composers seem to be writing in a sort of simple modern style that owes a lot to new age  music. So far they haven’t quite descended into George Winston but his aesthetic is not too far off. Probably these writers see their music as growing out of a sort of post classical age or something. Someone made a play list of the pieces on YouTube. I’m listening to it right now. The first piece has some effects added. Anyway, if you’re curious you can check out the playlist.

I first heard of Joseph Kerman when I was teaching Music Appreciation at Grand Valley. He wrote the text they use. He died a few years ago, but appears to have been a pretty prominent music dude. His Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology was published in 1985.  This book also came in the mail while I was gone. I read the first chapter.  Academic music and study is changing. For me, it is in a good way. Kerman attempts to broaden the discussion in his field, but is limited in this book by being pre-InterWeb.

In the first chapter try as he might he never completely sheds a fusty academic point of view. But since he was born in 1924 making him 63 when he wrote this book, he doesn’t do too bad a job of trying to reach out and connect different musics in Western culture. He admits to a bias that does not include Pop music and jazz but then attempts to discuss them a bit.

As the YouTube playlist continues to play, I notice that few of these tracks are actually solo piano but include other instruments and sound effects. I like the way so many people making up music these days do so in a freer manner. But if on the one extreme is a fusty connection to academic/historical/classical music, the other extreme dips into insipidity.. There is new music that balances these extremes and that is usually the music that attracts me.

I’m back in Holland. Eileen and I arrived safely at the Grand Rapids airport. She drove home. My sight has deteriorated to the point that when I am tired and it is night it is difficult for me to see the road signs. This is not safe. Eileen was not too tired to drive us home.

I go to pick up my new glasses today.  I’m looking forward to seeing better.

I read about a fourth of Al Franken’s new book on the flight home yesterday.

I started Eddie Izzard’s new book but decided it wasn’t that interesting for flight reading. What I need for reading on a airplane is something light that will draw me in quickly and keep me interested. Franken’s book did this. It’s fascinating how he moved from a successful comedy career in writing and performing to being a United States Senator from Minnesota.

It’s also reassuring to read a book by a politician whose politics I largely agree with and approve of.

This morning working on my Greek I realized that I have successfully reviewed my way  back to where I was a year or so ago. Now as I begin work on the chapter which uses Plato’s prose I understand the grammar much better than I did. This is good.

I haven’t heard from my boss about the funeral today. I am going to assume that I am not needed. I think she forgot I was on vacation as well. She seems to be stage managing this funeral from Vermont. The funeral isn’t on the church’s calendar. I’d like to sneak over and get some practice time in today, but don’t want to run into a funeral. I emailed the office but haven’t received a response.

In addition to reading Franken, I also started Ursula K. Le Guin’s Words are My Matter. I have admired her writings for years. I had to put her book aside because it was too thought provoking for a mind numbing plane ride.

However, this morning I gathered all the Le Guin I could find to decide which book(s) to take with me to the cabin. Here are a few thoughts from Le Guin that I did digest on the plane ride.

“So long as we hear about ‘women’s writing’ but not about ‘men’s writing’—because the latter is assumed to be the norm—the balance is not just. The same signal of privilege and prejudice is reflected in the common use of the word feminism and the almost total absence of its natural counterpart, masculinism.

“Reading is a means of listening.”

“Home, imagined, comes to be. It is real, realer than any other place, but you can’t get to it unless your people show you how to imagine it—whoever your people are. They may not be your relatives. They may never have spoken your language. They may have been dead for a thousand years. They may be nothing but words printed on paper, ghosts of voices, shadows of minds. But they can guide you home. They are your human community.”

This resonates strongly with me. My human community is not only my loved ones in the flesh but my loved ones who are ghosts, not only voices but voices that sing through the music I love.

Regarding how one reads these days, on paper or on screen, Le Guin observes

The technology is not what matter. Words are what matter. The sharing of words. The activation of imagination through the reading of words.

I love that.

I’m not looking forward to traveling by plane with Eileen today as much as I usually do. Negative reinforcement from our experience coming out to California.

Our plane leaves in the afternoon again so that means a late arrival time in Grand Rapids.

My boss emailed me yesterday about playing a funeral tomorrow. She thought I was back from vacation. I told her I probably could, but when she realized I was getting in late tonight she asked if she should contact a sub. I said yes, but I would do it other wise.

It has been a restful week despite the turmoil around trip out here.

I have been able to read, relax, practice, and be with my California fam. What could be better?

Later this week, Eileen and I will drive up to the Hatch Grayling cabin for some more time off.

I will want to take some actual books with me. I am discovering the limits of reading on a screen. It can be tiring after a while. I do have a few books with me but I have mostly been reading on my tablet.

I started reading Metaphor Wars: Conceptual Metaphors in Human Life by Raymond Gibbs yesterday on my tablet. This book was published in February of this year. It updates the current conversation about “Conceptual Metaphor Theory” and defends the theory itself but not uncritically.

Gibss (and others) are building on George Lakoff’s work.

You might recognize his  name from his 2004 book Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. But it is his and Mark Johnsen’s 1980 book, Metaphors We Live By, that seems to have kicked off the debate.

I am admirer of Lakoff anyway. He has been on “On The Media” a few times recently with wisdom about understanding Trump’s approach to the presidency and how to work with it in your own head as well as how to report on it if you are a journalist. As far as I can see, although the quality of journalism is definitely on the rise in response to the madness, not many are taking on Lakoff’s suggestions besides the people of “On The Media.”

It seems obvious to me that thinking of a presidential debate in metaphors of a boxing match or elections as horse races has to influence how we see them. But as Gibbs shows quantifying and understanding this clearly is not easy.

David has left for work and we have said our goodbyes with hugs and “I love you”s. Nicholas will leave next.

Eileen and I will shoot for leaving around 10:30 which will give  us an hour and half to forge through the traffic, return the rental, and actually arrive at the airport.

 
Tomorrow we get on a plane to come home from our annual California visit. I think it has been a good visit. It’s fun to see how my grandkids are growing up. It has been reassuring to see David after his illness. My daughter-in-law, Cynthia, is a conscientious and gracious hostess. Today both David and Cynthia work all day, Nicholas attends summer school. Eileen and I are home with Savannah and Catherine. I will probably go practice organ one last time.

I finished off The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer. It’s not a particularly bad novel. The most interesting part was the 99 year transformation of places the main character observes. It’s interesting that he experience the 19th century as a reprieve from the other visits and ends up, of course, in the Blitz.

I started reading Aldous Huxley’s 1958 book of essays Brave New World Revisited. He talks a lot about the coming over population but also about authoritarianism and dictatorships. Brave New World was written in the 30s, 1984 in the 40s. Huxley thinks his insidious benign dystopia was closer to what might actually happen than Orwell’s Stalinesque dystopias (1984 and Animal Farm). And, of course, he is right.

Huxley’s insight might be reduced to “we do it to ourselves” instead of Orwell’s “the state does it to us.”

As I said yesterday, vacation is going well. I had a chance to spend some time with David and Nicholas yesterday and that was fun. In addition I am having time to read and practice which is always good.

I’m returning to reading Pale Fire by Nabakov. When I was in my teens I had a little paperback copy of this book. It fascinated me that an author could write a story by making what looked like an annotated edition of a longer poem, all of it made up: the poem, the footnotes, the people involved. I recently figured out that Nabakov didn’t intend that one flip back and forth between the poem and the footnotes. Rather the book is designed to read straight through. This is helpful when reading an ebook version of it. 31% into it.

I’m sitting in the kitchen alone. I think I’m the only one awake. This is a still time in this busy household. A few years back I would be joined by Cynthia’s Dad, Butch. He has since passed away and is missed in this household.

Since no one’s around I feel comfortable quietly listening to this amazing music.

What does it mean for a journalist today to be a Serious Reader? – Columbia Journalism Review

Stumbled across this article this morning. I love reading about others reading habits. It’s encouraging to hear anecdotal stories about people’s love affair with reading.

I had leisure time yesterday to finish a long short story I had started in Murakami’s Men Without Women: Stories. I also spent time with my beloved Dylan Thomas.

I have read most of his poems so reading them usually means returning to old friends. Again I began reading Thomas when in my teens.

I’m still reading Outcasts of Time and Zink.  My ebook reader tells me I’m 86% into the former and 40% into the latter. They are both good light vacation reading.

I’m 85% into The Ballad of Halo Jones by Moore and Gibson. I read a lot of it in a library copy. The ebook copy is actually easier for me to read since I can enlarge the page and read Alan Moore’s fascinating dialogue and description easier.

I’m also dipping into John Donne’s poetry and the beautiful moving descriptions of John Muir of the area I’m visiting.

Then there’s Greek and some more nerdy music reading I have brought along. You can see vacation is indeed going well.

A Presumption of Guilt | by Bryan Stevenson | The New York Review of Books

I am a fan of Bryan Stevenson. He is doing some good corrective work explaining how our present problems in the USA form a direct line from our shameful enslavement of Africans.

The Torturers Speak – The New York Times

State criminals. As are most of our public national leaders from the last and this century.

According to the Writers Almanac, it’s Stephen Dunn’s birthday today. He is a poet I admire and read. Garrison Keiller read a quote from him that, though I am but a lowly church musician, I admire.

 “You must be a little driven, and what you’re doing must be crucial to you in order not to be defeated by the likely neglect that awaits you, the lack of rewards, and the fact that, by and large, your culture doesn’t take you seriously.”

Of course, I’m no Stephen Dunn, but I relate to the “driven,” “crucial,” “lack of rewards,” and not being taken “seriously.”

I was talking to David M. Lines yesterday and we both agreed that people like us (organists/musicians) do what we do mostly for love of it.

Eileen, Savannah, Catherine,and I picked up Nicholas after school yesterday. Then we took the grandkids for the annual bookstore visit. Earlier I had told Savannah we didn’t have to do this this year. It’s hard for me to fathom why people read. I’m always surprised when I find that they actually do these days. The kids all found books to read. I usually choose one book for them, but this I was at a loss. The Ancient Greeks had a word for this state: “aporeo” which also means “to be in doubt” and “be puzzled.” My Greek text mused that it was odd that English has no word for something so obvious. I agree.

I didn’t buy any books nor did Eileen. Instead, I perused my tablet while the kids chose their books.

After that we came home and Eileen made supper for everyone.

Today the “girls” are going out to swim meets and such. The “boys” will probably hang around the house. Eileen has assigned me to figure out meals for today and tomorrow consulting David discretely. The weekend is really the only time the whole Calif Jenkins fam is free this year so we are planning to spend some time together.

My BP has been down for a while now. I do think it helps me to see the extended fam in the flesh. Hugs help and are difficult to do on line.

Another good California vacation.

The Slants on the Power of Repurposing a Slur – The New York Times

Article by one of the members of the band. Interesting background. Not surprising.

They Call Us Right Wing — I Call Us Mainstream | The Rush Limbaugh Show

Only main stream because the majority of citizens are sitting on their ass or rather spending their time trying to keep their lives together.

I managed to get over to Riverside Methodist Church yesterday and get some organ practice in. The organist there is David M. Lines, a man I went to grad school with. While my friend, Bob Hobby, was visiting in Holland, I mentioned that I was on my way to the Riverside area to visit family and was wondering where I might get some organ time in. He mentioned that David was living and working in Riverside and would probably help me. As indeed he did.

It is startling to see someone you haven’t seen since 1987. Both of us have done a lot of living since then. David was extremely gracious. It was good to see him and good to see him doing so well. He has two adult daughters and seems to be living a good single life. He is much more relaxed than he was in grad school, but those were different times for all of us as I pointed out to him.

I’m planning on going over again today and maybe Monday. This weekend is Music Appreciation Sunday at David’s church. He was practicing Widor’s Toccata when I arrived yesterday. He told me I could report to our old teacher, Craig Cramer, that I “caught” him using rhythms to practice his Widor. I actually hadn’t noticed what he was doing when I got there, only that he was practicing. The secretary from the church office politely led me over to the church and let me in.

Later I mentioned to him that I don’t get down to Notre Dame much. He said he hadn’t been back since grad school.

As has been happening to me, an intended hour of rehearsal easily turned into more like two hours. It was good to return to some projects I am working on (In dir ist Freude by Bach and Carson Cooman’s Organ demonstrator, “Hiker’s Gear.”) as well do some reading of Frescobaldi and Buxtehude.

Vacation is going well. It’s good to see everyone and do some catching up. Definitely a relaxing time.

Aldous Huxley on the Transcendent Power of Music and Why It Sings to Our Souls – Brain Pickings

This little “Brain Pickings” offerings usually are a bit on the Reader’s Digest side. However, in this case, since the work is out of print, it  offers some beautiful quotes full of insights about music. It also seems that Huxley was writing at least one of his essays on a June night. Fun to read in June. Cool.

A Lost Art in the Arctic: Igloo Making – The New York Times

“The Last Runner” made me wonder about igloos. Here’s more info.

Emerging from Trouble at Ojai Music Festival

“Trouble” is name of a composition by Vjay Iyer. The prose is purple in this article but it makes me want to hear the music.

I CARE IF YOU LISTEN | New Classical Music News

So the previous review is from this blog/mag. The name comes a reaction to the seminal essay by Milton Babbit, “Who Cares If You Listen?”.

The Contemporary Classical Composer’s Bullshit Generator

When I subscribed to the “I Care If You Listen” newsletter they emailed me some links to old essays they think are cool. This one from 2011 is definitely funny. Code that generates plausible pretentious composer babble.

F*ck you. Pay me: Some Thoughts on Musicians and Money.

This is another of the essays “I Care If You Listen” linked in its email. You have to sift through it. Some parts are not so good. Like the section on recommending contracts then the author lets slip that he hasn’t actually DONE this yet. Sheesh.

However, the concept of remuneration and its discussion is one that is near and dear to this musician’s heart. And of course I love the title of the article taken from a linked 30 minute video that is tempting to watch.

At this time of life I notice that I am continually drawn to beauty. Not only beauty, but often a delicate form of it. This is my attraction to poetry. Often when I get up I check the headlines via Google News, the New York Times and Washington Post. But I can hear an English teacher from my high school pointing out that poetry was more important than news. This has turned out to be true for me.

I listen daily to the Writers Almanac. There’s a poem a day. Once in a while they pick a good one or one that I find attractive. Usually like so much I see around me the poems are pretty insipid. But I keep looking for the delicate beauty.

I think my attraction to music has elements of this in it. I am interested in the delicacy of the solo piano, the solo harpsichord and chamber music in general. Admittedly I do play an instrument that can play loud and not at all delicately when I sit down to a pipe organ or an electric organ. But I notice that so far I have rarely drawn the big ensemble stops on my new Pasi. Instead I bask in the beauty of one or sometimes two stops at a time.

I am thinking about Frescobaldi a lot. I didn’t bring my recently purchased historical annotated edition of his Fiori Musicali. I have much study to do about this work via this edition. However, he is still on my mind. The Fiori Musicali (Musical Flowers) turns out to be liturgical music. I am more interested in his vaster output of dances and variations. I think they will sound lovely on the Pasi. And delicate.

I am attracted to the delicate skein created by an artfully contrived and well written novel. Over the years my initial impression of the complexity of the writers I love like Joyce and David Foster Wallace focuses into understanding this kind of writing as delicate beauty.

All the more delicate in the noisy and flashy world I live in now.

Getting away from my usual routine helps me look a bit deeper into myself and understand these sort of things.

Vacation is going good.

Can Jonathan Haidt Calm the Culture Wars?

There are some rumblings on the right that have caught my attention. Specifically the Heterodox Academy seemingly founded on the idea on the need for diverse and wide conversations. However this movement has not shaken the fuzzy idea of equivocating the evolution of free speech with the repression of real people (of color, poor people, gender diversity). So I read this article with an alertness for distortion. And there is distortion there. Academics as so bad at marketing and branding and they are often used. The recent addition of Bret Stephens to the editorial page of the New York Times is an example of good intentions gone haywire, since Stephens is not a clear thinker. Clear thinkers on the right would be helpful right now since the right dominates the conversation (they won, remember? and have been winning for a while).

Berkeley author George Lakoff says, ‘Don’t underestimate Trump’ — Berkeleyside

Nothing particularly new here, but it’s good stuff. Unfortunately Lakoff reminds me of Ed Friedman who provided brilliant insights to many levels of our society (government, military, church) only to be basically ignored as Lakoff is being ignored.

Eileen and I made it. After missing our flight out of Denver to Ontario last night, we had to stand in line for hours to get a voucher for a place to sleep and meals. Rodeway Inn wasn’t terribly fancy but it was better than sleeping in the airport. I had a friend who offered to let us crash at her house not far from the Denver airport. Fortunately we did no have to do that.

We set the alarm for 3:30 so we could be ready for our taxi which was coming at 4 AM. Everything worked fine. It was startling how crowded the airport was at that time of morning. The security line was very long but moved quickly.

We flew from Denver to San Fransisco and then to Ontario. We are now at hotel California Jenkins style. The  mountains are still beautiful here.

On the way I entirely read an ebook copy of Brooke Gladstone’s new book, The Trouble With Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Times.

It’s quite good. I think she is much smarter than her co-host, Bob Garfield, whom I admire but has not been very helpful in this Trumpian era. He does a good interview. But Gladstone goes to the heart of things bringing together an amazing array of ideas from Neil Postman, Ursula K. Leguin, Philip K. Dick, David M. Eagleman, James Fenimore Cooper, Michael Signer, Ned Resnikoff, Hannah Arendt, George Lakoff and Jonathon Swift.

Many of these thinkers are on my radar but some are not. I’m grateful for all the Gladstone brings together in this book and am thinking seriously of rereading it soon. I’ll spare you details at this point, but I am thinking about this stuff.

In addition, I decided it might be fun to see if I could read the next little section in my Greek Text. I have been doing a lot of reviewing for the last six months or so. I’m beginning to think that I’m getting a handle on the grammar that the text uses Aristophanes’ The Clouds.

The next section is based on Plato and that’s what I attempted to read at sight while flying from San Fransisco to Ontario. I had good success. It helps to know the story which is drawn from the Trial of Socrates. I’ve actually read a good deal in Plato. I often disagree with him but enjoy stretching my brain cells.

Speaking of my brain cells, I think I’m going to rest them at this point. More tomorrow.

2011: What Scientific Concept Improve Everybody’s Cognitive Toolkit? Edge.org

Umwelt. Gladstone quotes Eagleton about it.

Russia’s ‘Gay Propaganda’ Laws Are Illegal, European Court Rules – The New York Times

At least the European Court is making sense.

A College Built for Canadian Settlers Envisions an Indigenous Future – The New York Times

Canada’s relationship to its indigenous population is a history of shame and belies their reputation as the “good guys” on the continent.

What the Watergate Committee Taught Me – The New York Times

LOWELL P. WEICKER JR  is the last living member of the committee. He wrote this article.

Paul Zukofsky, Prodigy Who Became, Uneasily, a Virtuoso Violinist, Dies at 73 – The New York Times

This guy sounds like a dink, but I’m still interested in him.

Derek Walcott museum closes amid row over Caribbean tourist developments | Books | The Guardian

A dead poet I like in the news.

Today should be an interesting day. Our flight leaves at 5 PM from Grand Rapids. This is the time my day’s are usually winding down and I have a martini. Eileen told me yesterday that I could still have my Tuesday martini, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. In a recent short story in the New Yorker, It’s a Summer Day  by Andrew Sean Greer, the main character, Arthur Less,  has an airplane adventure in which he ends up very groggy from sleeping pills. It’s a funny story, but it reminds me that I function most clearly without alcohol.

I think my wimpy vacation has begun. I say wimpy because many people do this better than me. I do think that visiting Mark and Leigh right after Trinity Sunday was a very good idea. Since then I have been able to convince myself it’s summer and I can goof off more.  Our annual visit to California necessitates one Sunday off. I have also taken the next Sunday off since we are planning to get out of town and hole up in the Hatch Grayling cabin with the rest of the Michigan Jenkins clan.

I am planning on traveling as light as possible. I’m seriously limiting the books and music I take, hoping that my tablet will do some serious substituting for bulky real books and music. I was disappointed in what Buxtehude was available on line so I’m planning to take my Dover Buxtehude collection. It’s a handy clean copy that I often perform out of, especially after consulting better editions.

In addition I found an interesting book online that looks like a good vacation read.

The Outcasts of Time by John Mortimer is a sort of a medieval sci fi something or other. Two brothers find themselves dying of plague and confronted  by some sort of being (The Devil?) who offers them a deal, They only have six days to live. Would they like to live them in the 14th century into which they were born or how about one day every 99 years? Well there would be no novel if they didn’t choose the latter. I’m on chapter 3.

I heard from an old colleague from Notre Dame who is the organist at First Untied Methodist, Riverside. He said I could practice there while visiting. I have his phone and will call him tomorrow. At this point I’m thinking I’d like to get some time in tomorrow, but I may be too pooped from the trip or need to hang around and not go away from fam.

Like probably many people in the USA I have been pondering the terrible rifts in our political situation. I have been thinking about the lack of self awareness of extremists. In fact I have been pondering lack of self awareness both in myself and others. I think  that acting as though there are other people in the world who matter besides the ones that look and think like you is a good goal. I have it as a goal and try to apply it to people who strike me as wrong headed and ill informed and even angry and violent.

There must be people all over the political spectrum (from extreme to non participative) who are attempting awareness. Social media distorts so many things about being alive and having relationships. Its broad reach to so many is impressive however, its tendency towards one dimensional presentation of self (and sooprise soorpise everyone seems so happy and successful), this tendency is not so impressive nor helpful.

I continue to ponder the characters In the movie, “The Fast Runner.” This movie does a good job of presenting the human condition. The actors are amazing. I don’t think there is a word of English in this movie, but the expressiveness of the actors is striking. The humanity of their characters and their social mores comes through in a charming way. Of course not every thing is sweetness and light, but I ended up with more hope for humanity (and America in specific) after this movie.

The people portrayed live life with humor and clarity even as they tolerate each other’s foibles. Not a bad goal.

How John King’s String Quartet Fuses Western and Arabic Music

I haven’t read this yet. I made a pdf of it for vacation. I did find the following YouTube rendition of a String Quartet by John King. I like it.

This morning I am blogging earlier in my morning. I have washed the dishes and made coffee. I have checked WhatsApp for pics and videos of Lucy and Alex (new grandkids)  to email to myself to show my Mom. Next is usually Greek. However, since by the end of the day yesterday I decided to skip blogging, I thought I should do this earlier.

My relationship to having a web site where I can leave a note and links everyday has changed since I began.

I’m not sure what year it was but it was in the 90s that I had the idealistic idea that the internet would be a good place to have conversation. I was inspired by the wonderful conversations I had in Grad school. Conversations that I had begun to sorely miss. I still miss these but have grown used to consoling myself with poetry, literature and music.

Then I began to realize that this was a good place for my distant family and friends to easily check in and see if I was alive and what might be going on with me.

This urgency has diminished. I see my adult kids immersed in their own lives. I like having adult kids and I like that they are independent as well as loving. This all seems about right.

Now I’m not sure why I am blogging.

It seemed no big deal when I realized I didn’t want to do one last night.

Instead I went to church and practiced organ for a couple of hours.

It might be that on Sunday night I will do what I did last night which was mostly read through music. I did rehearse a couple of Bach pieces on my radar, but then I turned to other pieces by Bach and Buxtehude.

People have asked me if I was excited about this organ all through the process including the finalization of its installation. I have to say what I mostly feel is like I am living in a waking dream.

I find that the beauty and integrity of the different ranks feels like a luxury. To be able to pull combinations of stops that actually enhance the music I am playing is new for me. Usually I have to use my ingenuity to not violate what I perceive is the spirit of the music. Now I just pull stops and go. Wow.

Eileen and I watched “The Fast Runner” last night.

I managed to stay awake through most of it. What I saw was spectacular. I was reminded that the woman at the eyeglass frame shop said that I would be able to see TV better. Though I don’t really have a TV I do watch stuff on the computer. Yesterday I pulled my chair closer to the computer in order to read the subtitles. I wonder what it will be like to see a bit better.

Tomorrow Eileen and I get on a plane for California to visit the branch of the fam that lives there. It will be good to make our annual trip out there and see everyone in the flesh.

A Thousand Thoughts by Sam Green — Kickstarter

A movie about Kronos String Quartet.

A Mother’s Death, a Botched Inquiry and a Sheriff at War – The New York Times

Leadership in 21st century USA: “He lies because he can.” Long excellent read.

Over the years, I notice that sometimes when I over function other people withdraw. Once I drove across the state to give a piano lesson. Of course, the student didn’t show. Yesterday, after all my preparation of materials for my strings to play through with me, one by one, they withdrew. My violinist canceled because she needed to drive her son to drivers training. My cellist then decided that with her upcoming retirement from her Hope College library job and with people visiting her that discretion was the better part of valor and canceled. My younger violinist didn’t show up at 1.

My two piano trio players offered to find a time today to get together. This would have been our third attempt to meet this week. We usually meet on Thursday, but that didn’t work for them this week. I suggested Friday at 1 PM. Everyone, including my young violinist, instantly agreed. But after people canceling I found rescheduling today a bit onerous so after I showed up at 1 PM with the possibility of meeting with the second violinist (who didn’t show or email me)  I emailed all of them that I would be out of town for a couple of weeks and we would meet after that.

And yes I had music ready for the younger violinist and me to play together using the organ.

It worked out well for me. I was able to spend an hour and half practicing Buxtehude.

In fact, the whole day went very well. I had an excellent meeting with Dr. Birky. Then when I arrived at church to sneak in some practice before lunch, I ran into an organist who had taken me up on visiting and playing. His name is Dick Hoogterp and is a gentle soul.

He was just finishing up. We had a nice chat. He consented to listening to the registration I had chosen for Buxtehude for Sunday and approved. He also marveled at the change in character in the closing hymn Sunday when played in two different keys. After he left I did get a little practice in.

I want to start the July recital with some sort of grabber. I looked through the Organ Demonstrators I own for a piece to begin an introduction to the organ program. Nothing. Then I realized that I have been working on a piece from the Orgelbüchlein for the heck of it. The piece is “In dir ist Freude.”

I like the way this guy plays it. But I think it’s a bit too fast. In this piece, Bach unusually does not quote the entire hymn, only snippets. It struck me yesterday that if we began with the version of this hymn that we sing quite regularly at church I could follow it with this piece. It would make an nice (and short) beginning to an “introduction to the organ.”

Here’s a nice sung version of the hymn I l like in what I believe is Hungarian.

We sing Delores Dufner’s text, “Day of delight, and beauty unbounded,” to this tune every
Easter. She wrote it for this melody. I think the melody and Bach’s setting capture a sense of joy (freude) that might be sort of a little theme for my recitals. Joy. And dance.

After practicing a bit. Eileen and I had lunch together and played a ritual three games of Boggle. Then the 1 PM rehearsal by myself (Ahh). Eileen accompanied me to my eye appointment and drove me home after they had dilated my eyes. I picked out frames which should be ready after we get back from California.

Movie Review – – FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; A Far-Off Inuit World, in a Dozen Shades of White – NYTimes.com

Vijay Iyer at Ojai, Part II: Shocks to the System | San Francisco Classical Voice

Okay, this guy is the object of my first Google alert request.

This article is a thoughtful treatment of some of his ideas. I especially like the following quote from Iyer.

This is the perspective that guides me as a music maker,” he told us. “Harmony comes from two different countervailing sources, two different perspectives: one is dynamic; the other is more static. One is about vibratory experience; the other is about motion.”

In metaphorical terms, that’s to suggest “simultaneous presence and then the experience of moving together.”

“Those are important metaphors for community and for collective action. I’m not trying to be evasive or mystical by putting it in those terms, but these are very meaningful to me, not only as a pianist but also as an artist and the way they frame some of the work I do.”

And this from Roscoe Mitchell.

“I’ve always been a big supporter of sound and silence,” he said, talking from his home in the East Bay. “My take on silence is that silence is already perfect, so when you interrupt silence you need to interrupt it on its level.”

And this… the music smiled on him!

 “some nights you walk out there and there’s nothing you can do wrong. “You’re great.” And then there are other nights when you’re out there and you’re working all the time. My experience with music is that you work real hard and then all of a sudden music smiles at you and that encourages you to keep working.”

I like this. It might not be your cup of tea, but I suggest hanging in there until the jingle bell player guy dances through the group. It totally makes the piece.

This morning I meet with Dr. Birky my therapist. I look forward to these meetings. Birky is smart and articulate and has a developed sense of irony and humor. It feels a bit self indulgent to pay him to listen to me and comment, but what the hell.

Later I am rehearsing with my usual piano trio string players, Amy and Dawn. I have also invited Margaret, so that means I have 2 violins and 1 cello. This is the number you need for baroque trio sonatas. The trio is between the 2 violins and the continuo which comprises two instruments, one that can make chords like harpsichord or lute and a bass instrument to reinforce the bass line.

I love to play trio sonatas. It seems that it’s just enough instruments to give a rewarding texture and interplay between the three lines. I own several of these, but unfortunately many of the parts for the strings have gotten away from me. Yesterday I spent some time searching online to see if I could find replacement parts. The  music itself is of course out of copyright.

So first I had to go to church and pull all the trio music. Beside the baroque trio sonata I found that I own a set of Frescobaldi canzoni which would fit this group.

I did find some of the missing parts to it online.

I also own two scholarly volumes about the trio sonata.

The one above which concerns trio sonatas in Italy and another volume like this which is about trio sonatas outside of Italy. Though these volumes were published in the 70s, the scholarship is quite high. Each volume has a lengthy essay about its topic followed by scores which illustrate the topic. I was able to find string parts for a “Sonata and Suite” by Dietrich Becker. It looks to be quite charming.

I also found all of Mozart’s Church sonatas online. There are apparently fifteen of them. They are scored for this group. I printed off number 15 in C major and numbered the measures for today’s rehearsal.

I could of course find trio sonatas online to print up but am trying to conserve on paper by first completing sets of music I already have. The silly keyboard part usually uses the most paper and I have keyboard parts to all of my trio sonatas.

We meet today at 1 and I have had corroborating emails from all players. This should be fun.

After this rehearsal I have an appointment to have my eyes checked. I’m pretty sure I need glasses. My far sightedness has been decreasing. The guy who operated on my eye for my torn retina said that I was okay for driving but might need glasses in the future. I think the time has come.

I have noticed that after a plane flight if I have to drive home in the dark it is difficult for me to read road signs. Not good. I will probably ask Eileen to drive next Tuesday when we arrive in California.

In my meeting with Jen yesterday, I showed her how different Sunday’s closing hymn, “Come, Labor On,” sounds in “A flat major” (the written key) and “G major” (transposed down a half step). She was surprised as I was when I discovered this.

It’s not only that “G major” is a bit more in tune. In fact, that’s not how I experience the difference. “A flat major” makes the hymn have a certain character that is difficult to describe. Maybe it’s a bit more aggressive.

In G major it is definitely smoother and feels more gentle.

Jen is intrigued by the ideas of equal and unequal temperament. She has a scientific mind and background. She understood quickly that the difference is a numerical one that can be understood in terms of specific frequencies. She also recognized that Pythagoras developed some of these ideas six hundred years before the Common Era.

I have listened to musicians insist that different keys have different qualities all my life. But I never understood exactly what they were talking about. Being a keyboard player, I have usually made music that is essentially out of tune or as I was describing it to Jen yesterday “out of nature” or “not in nature.”

I’m surprised to find that I can tell the difference in character between theses two keys in this instance. I remember that Kellner, the man whose tuning Pasi uses with some modification, evolved his tuning after studying Bach’s organ music. Presumably, the changes in character are ones that Bach was well aware of. And Bach wrote in all keys but did not subscribe to equal temperament. Instead, the story is told that he used to drive his organ builder friends a bit crazy by transposing pieces into distant key to evoke the “wolf” or the little buzz one gets in one’s head when something is out of tune. Not sure where I read that, but it’s a good story.

I’m planning on playing the closing hymn Sunday in G major. But I don’t think it would hurt to do it in A flat major. The tune was written by T. Tertius Noble, a historically famous and important New York City organist. Since he died in 1953, it’s likely that as a keyboard player he spent his life immersed in the fudged system of equal temperament.

I’m blogging instead of doing Greek first as I usually do. I have been thinking a lot about participles, both in Greek and in English. Unsurprisingly, in Ancient Greek, participles are simpler than in English. In Greek they are adjectives formed from verbs (so far, anyway). But in English they can be adjectives or nouns formed from verbs. I usually think of participles in English as ending in “ing,” but this is not the only way they are formed.

Thus “going” is a participle in English, but so also is “gone.” An obvious adjectival use is “working woman,” but so is “burned toast.” An example of is “good breeding,” “breeding” being the participle.

Since in Greek participles are adjectives they have an 8 fold declension. This means that endings are specific if a noun is used as a subject in the sentence (nominative), the object of the subject (accusative),  in possessive statements or phrases (genitive) and, most confusingly at all for me, indirect objects usually indicated in English with “to” or other prepositions (dative). In each case there is a singular form and a plural form. It’s not quite as bad as it sounds but it is a lot to remember.

Forty two years ago today, Eileen and I walked from the small cabin we were living to a nearby park on Houghton Lake to get married.

I was playing at the Argonaut Bar with a band.

I believe at this point we were playing weekends.

That meant that Eileen and I had a few week days for our honeymoon in Mackinaw Island.

My Dad married us. Eileen’s parents refused to come to the wedding because we were living in sin.

Many friends and family members attended.

Finding Eileen as a life partner was the best thing that ever happened to me.

To this day I enjoy her company and find her charming. Lucky me, eh?

I did end up deciding to perform a prelude and postlude by Buxtehude next Sunday. I chose a love three part setting of the chorale, “Danket Dem Herren.” Here is this first movement and a bit of the second.

Just so you don’t think I’m gettin’ too highfaultin’ here’s a cool visualization of all three parts back to back.

And here is a very cool recording of the second movement on Bendeleons, no less!

Kerala J. Snyder, Buxtehude’s biographer, suggests that it would be charming when performing Buxtehude’s chorale preludes to precede it with a setting from Schiedt’s 1650 collection,Gürlitzer Tabulatur-Buch. I actually own and quite like these little chorale settings. Unfortunately, the melody in this Buxtehude setting doesn’t seem to be in this book. But no matter, I think it will make a nice prelude for Sunday.

And I broke down and scheduled the “Jig Fugue” by Buxtehude as the postlude.

After practicing these a bit, I decided to read through Carl Heine’s “African Tunes for Organ.”

I keep running across African composers who are writing organ music that draws somewhat on the highly developed rhythmic African modes. They are challenging but fun to play. I worked on one yesterday in seven. It’s not too bad until Heine decides the pedal and both hands divide up the seven differently. He suggests using light congas or bongos with this setting. I think it would be fun to learn and perform. I think this is this piece these people are playing in this pic, but I couldn’t find a recording of it online.

Visa Shortage Spurs Vacancies, for Jobs, at a Tourist Getaway – The New York Times

Mackinac Island in the news.

I can tell that I am recovering my energy by observing the arousal of my curiosity about Scarlatti and Buxtehude.

My brother gave me an ecopy of W. Dean Sutcliffe’s 2003 book on Scarlatti. I love Scarlatti’s Essercizi and have almost played my way through them. I purchased a lousy multivolume used edition of them and am on the last volume. My plan is to begin again and play through them all a second time. Recently I have been comparing this old edition to Kenneth Gilbert’s more recent edition. Sutcliffe not only is helping my understanding of Scarlatti, he is helping me learn more about current musicology.

Yesterday, after visiting Mom, I went to church to practice. I was drawn there by the idea of spending some time with the beautiful sounds of the Pasi. This is a new experience for me. I am drawn to music for many reasons. I do like actually playing the music. I like the physicality of it. But I haven’t often had the privilege of playing keyboards with high quality sounds since being in school.  I remember many hours practicing and performing on my teacher’s lovely Martin double harpsichord.

When I helped Our Lady of the Lake purchase a Blüthner grand piano, I was drawn to the beauty of its sounds and subsequently often performed piano literature there.

Also, part of the fun of visiting my brother, Mark, and my sister-in-law, Leigh, is Leigh’s wonderful Steinway baby grand.

And of course I try to help my choir make as beautiful sounds as possible. So the beauty of the sounds themselves is important to me.

I decided to pull out my Buxtehude scores and try some of that on the Pasi yesterday. What a delight! I’ve always imagined that the sounds of Buxtehude were wonderfully mixed into lengthy reverberation in the churches where he played. But yesterday the clarity of the voices in the counterpoint and the sheer beauty of the sounds made the time whiz by despite the usual Sunday afternoon fatigue.

Oddly enough I had a memory attack about his “Jig Fugue.”

I played this piece in Oscoda years ago. I mostly remember practicing it on the old piano in the back of our used book store. I have performed it throughout the years, but it is a different piece on the Pasi.

I was looking over pieces I have done before as well as those I haven’t. I am seriously considering scheduling Buxtehude for the prelude and postlude next Sunday. I’ll figure that out later.

I have learned and performed a lot of music that will now be transformed by being done on the Pasi. And my tastes are such that I won’t have to repeat composers too often, something I try to avoid especially back to back from one Sunday to another.

This morning I ordered two books by Joseph Kerman.

It took me a while to figure out the American title, Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology was what Suttcliffe meant by citing the book Musicology by Kerman. Kerman died in 2014. I discovered him when I taught Music Appreciation at Grand Valley and was assigned his textbook, Listen.

I have several of his books and have found them helpful and interesting. I also ordered his The Art of Fugue: Bach Fugues for Keyboard 1715-1750.

I found used copies of both and spent around 17 dollars (including S and H).

I also delved into Kerala Snyder’s book on Buxtehude this morning.

I have read almost half of this book, but this morning I flipped around and read about what is known about his organ registration and also about his chorale preludes. I spent considerable time these yesterday. Snyder gives lots of helpful information about Buxtehude despite the fact that her book was published in 1987, the year I graduated from grad school.

So I’m feeling like my brains are slowly coming back into working order. Next Sunday is my first choir free Sunday in months. We didn’t take off a Sunday after Easter this year. I’m looking forward to the break.

Having a visiting youth choir directed by my old friend, Bob Hobby, made for a pretty easy Sunday morning for me. The small congregation sang up a storm. We had visitors from the Grand Haven church. But they were very participatory. It’s more fun when that is the case.

Bob’s choir was quite good. They helped out significantly on the John Rutter canticle I scheduled for this morning. They sang two anthems and both were very well done. Nice to hear 12 young people making music together.

I put up some of these pics on Facebook and had several people who went to school with Bob and me at Notre Dame “like” them. Bob is not on Facebook so it was good connecting and exposure for him and young choir.

I had all of them sign our new Pasi guest book. It was fun working with Bob and his singers.

They arrived last night about 4:30 and had made reservations at Eighth Street Grille. Bob called and Eileen and I met them for supper. Then we went to church and prepped for this morning.

After church, they all changed into traveling clothes, jumped in their two vans, and were on their way to Mackinaw Island.

After breakfast Eileen and I headed over to the farmer’s market. We bought lettuce, strawberries, cheese, and chevre. We dropped the stuff off at the house and then went to church.

We are expecting to host a visiting Youth Choir from Trinity English Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is where my friend from Grad school, Bob Hobby has been working since the late 80s. I’m not sure exactly when they will arrive today. They are taking care of their own housing and eating. Bob just said they wanted to sing at tomorrow’s service. i think they are on there way to somewhere else north of here. Bob did say he wanted to get into the church today so they could rehearse. So, I have already done all my Sunday prep. Eileen filed music from the past season while I prepared at the organ. We went and said hi to my Mom at the nursing home.

Now I’m sort of hanging loose waiting for Bob to contact me.

It’s a beautiful day in Holland, Michigan. I am hopeful that I can continue to do some resting and relaxing since the choir season is over.