Yes,
well,
a 56th birthday,
and hardly any time to acknowledge it,
the festivities of Opus 3 somewhat counting,
with Bette and George and Ann checking in with well-wishes at some point,
along with students in all classes and Harriet
(we'll have some sort of celebratory behavior a few days hence, including diner, cake, and ice cream).
Meanwhile there are classes to teach,
beginning with Theory, finishing up the second 16-bar period of Richard Rodgers's The Sound of Music: Do-Re-Mi, which has the more varied chord changes, and a perfect opportunity to begin Voice-Leading, looking forward to the "for keeps" notion next week. Directly following, substitute for Owen re Orchestration, the playlist being:
Mussorgsky / Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition: I. Promenade, II. Gnomus
Satie / Debussy - Gymnopedie No. 1 (2, in the latter's instrumentalization)
Ives / W. Schuman - Variations on "America": Bitonal, 6/8, and Spanish Variations
Ravel / Ravel - Mother Goose Suite: I. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty
Stravinsky / Stravinsky - The Five Fingers: I. (rechristened Eight Instrumental Miniatures)
Alburger / Alburger - The Decameron - First Day: I. Ser Ciappelletto Cheats a Holy Friar
Celebratory lunch with Carol thereafter locally,
then
homeward,
as
all
is
looking
up
in
clearing
conditions
that
stretch all the way to the North Lagoons,
via errands, for class preparation,
returning
in
the
Heraclitian
half-light
(yet brilliant)
to
proceed from
Alban Berg's Altenberg Lieder / Three Pieces for Orchestra: I / Wozzeck: Act I, Scene 3 and Act III, to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Three Piano Preludes: II, via Jelly Roll Morton, Sergei Prokofiev (Symphony No. 3: I and Peter and the Wolf), Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith (Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber: II. Turandot), Carl Orff, and Henry Cowell.
Next week's challenges and playlist -- more biggies, include:
Write a four white-note passage:
Forwards (Prime)
Backwards (Retrograde)
Upside-Down (Retrograde), and
Backwards Upside-Down (Retrograde-Inversion)
Draw (or List) the Instrumentation of Three Types of Jazz Band:
Dixieland [New Orleans Style]
[1-2] Clarinet[s]
[1-2] Trumpet[s]
Trombone
Banjo
Piano
Tuba / Bass
Drums
Swing [Big Band]
[4-5] Saxophones
[4-5] Trumpets
[4-5] Trombones
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Drums
Bebop [Bop]
Saxophone
Trumpet
Trombone
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Drums
Listening:
[8901] Harry Partch - U.S. Highball
[8903] Joe Garland - In the Mood
[8906] Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 1: II
[8910] Samuel Barber - Second Essay for Orchestra
[8912] John Cage - Sonata No. 5
[8913] Benjamin Britten - War Requiem: Dies Irae
Immediate beating hasty retreat home to Harriet, and late-night learning of the auspicious 13th Russian letter ("ehl") and composition re, page 6, The Decameron - Fourth Day: Novel II.
