FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
August 22, 2007 by Josh
“..what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance, and I heard nothing, or someone heard a shepherd singing, and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life; it was only my art that held me back.”
These poignant words are from Beethoven’s “Heiligenstadt Testament” of 1802, half suicide note and half artistic credo. They come from a period of severe crisis during the summer of that year while he was trying to desperately to recuperate in this country village outside of Vienna. But that summer provided little comfort as he became acutely aware of the extent of his deafness, an affliction that would plague him for the rest of his life. He was only 31 at the time!
What is absolutely astounding is how, during this general period, he completed his Symphony no. 2, an amazing composition combining elements of serenity–in the words of a fellow composer, “a delineation of innocent happiness hardly unclouded by a few melancholy accents”– and utter exuberance, even mischief. He even anticipates musical ideas that later re-appear more fully formed in his Ninth Symphony.
In fact, the narrative of moving from a sense of conflict to victory, from darkness to light, carries through many of Beethoven’s most famous compositions. Among them are his only opera FIDELIO, the Symphony no. 5, and his final symphonic masterpiece, the Ninth (”Choral”) and its “Ode to Joy.”
Lynne suggests: when you listen to these pieces we hope that giving you a sense of the context in which they were written will increase your appreciation of them and touch your own life in some way.
How was it possible for a brilliant young musician, threatened by loss of the very faculty that he most treasured, to transcend his fear and despair and find the energy to write a piece filled with exuberance and mischief? What does this have to teach us?
BLUES AIN’T NECESSARILY BLUE
August 7, 2007 by Josh
“My whole life has been happiness. Through all the misfortunes…I did not plan anything. Life was there for me and I accepted it.” Louis Armstrong.
The word “blues” or feeling blue is, for many people, inseparable from feeling sad and depressed. Certainly, looking at the word historically, one can trace it to Elizabethan times when it was a synonym for feeling melancholy.
But when it is applied to music, specifically, jazz, blues takes on a far richer, more nuanced meaning. In fact, surprisingly often the lyrics are about being resilient, about having the capacity to survive and move on.
When blues records were first commercially released in 1920 the collective memory of train travel was a very powerful one. Some thirty thousand miles of train track were laid after the American Civil War, north to south, and east to west. The image of the train taking one to a better place became irresistible, representing a certain independence of movement. Thus we find titles like “Goin’ Away Blues,” “Up the Way Bound,” Frisco Whistle Blues, ” and many more.
For example, in perhaps the most famous and most widely recorded blues of all time, W.C. Handy’s 1914 “St. Louis Blues,” we have the following lyrics in the opening choruses :
I hate to see de evenin’ sun go down (twice)
It makes me think I’m on my last go-round
Feeling tomorrrow like I feel today (twice)
I’ll pack my crib and make my getaway.
Sometimes, as in “Empty Bed Blues,” we have a song filled with puns about the sexual prowess of a lover, as when Bessie Smith sings:
He’s a deep sea diver with a stroke that can’t go wrong (twice)
He can touch the bottom and his breath holds out so long.
Or what about W.C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” ?
Folks I’ve just been down, down to Memphis Town
That’s where the people smile, smile on you all the while,
Hospitality, they were good to me
I couldn’t spend a dime, and had the grandest time
I went out to dancing with a Tennessee dear
They had a fellow named Handy with a band you should hear
and while the folks generally sway, all the boys begin to play
real harmony.
I never will forget the tune they call Handy’s “Memphis Blues.
Lynne says, When you listen to blues closely, you may be surprised at how often the messages are about resilience and the pursuit of happiness.
What are your favorite blues? What do you hear in them?
MUSICAL TIME AS MEMORY
July 23, 2007 by Josh
All music, the world over, unfolds within some kind of time frame, ranging from a few seconds to several hours or more. To make sense of what we are hearing, it’s essential for us to notice how musical patterns are organized within a time frame.
This is a basic skill to develop in order to truly enjoy a piece of music or perform it or dance to it with some degree of accomplishment.
Here are some key questions to think about as you listen:
What patterns repeat?
What provides contrast?
Is there some kind of development?
Is the music static? What makes you say yes or no?
How does time feel to you as you listen to a certain piece of music?
What role does memory play in helping you recognize musical “time”?
MUSIC AND DEEP FETAL MEMORY
July 23, 2007 by Josh
Our knowledge of embryology tells us that by the second trimester of pregnancy, a fetus begins responding to the sound of the mother’s voice, the music she is listening to, and her heartbeat. In short, we hear long before we can see.
We have eyelids, but no earlids.
And at the other end of the life cycle, patients in a coma have been known to respond by arm twitches or eyelid flutters to a familiar sound.
All through life, we are part of a vast vibrating, pulsating world, affected by changes in the weather, the seasons, day and night.
But it all starts with the heart beat and the rhythm of breathing itself in utero, which later becomes magically transformed into the beat of a drum and the many rhythms of music–and even the subliminal messages communicated by the music of commercials.
What do you feel when you let yourself become aware of certain rhythms in your body or in nature? What do you want to do?
MUSIC AND SOCIAL OR RITUAL MEMORY
July 23, 2007 by Josh
Music is an integral part of many of life’s rituals.
Who doesn’t have the urge to dance and sing at a wedding ceremony or certainly the reception or a special birthday party?
Is there a country without a national anthem? Is it ever possible to watch or attend a major league baseball game without hearing “The Star Spangled Banner”? July 4th and fireworks without Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”? Impossible!
For some, singing “Amazing Grace” is a must at every family reunion.
For those in the Civil Rights movements and many liberation struggles, the rallying musical statement was and is “We Shall Overcome.”
Is the celebration of Christmas complete without hearing a performance somewhere of Handel’s “Messiah,” or Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” or having our listening space saturated with Christmas carols?
What are some of your favorite pieces of music that belong to the social and ritual parts of your life?
MUSIC AND PERSONAL MEMORY
July 23, 2007 by Josh
Stardust strain, beautiful refrain
I hear you ringing in my ears.
“That’s my kind of music.”
“They’re singing our song.”
Is there any form of human expression more personal than music? How rarely, if ever, do we hear someone say, “That’s my kind of poem” or novel or play or painting?
Musical memories define so much of who we are and the many stations we pass through on life’s journey: your high school graduation, your first real love, your courtship, the first Broadway show or concert you attended, your loss of a loved one, your connection with your parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren.
For starters, think of such standards as “Memories of You,” “Memory Lane,” “Laura,” “Unforgettable,” or “Memory” in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Cats.
Or how about the Hoagy Carmichael classic, “Star Dust,” which is “a richly layered statement about memory. It is not simply a conventional ballad of love lost, but rather a song about a song, and the evocative power of that song, as a lover, solitary and forlorn, gazes at the stars, humming it in his head all the while” (Joshua Berrett, Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004, 166).
The list goes on and on. How many operas, musicals, and movies depend on themes and motifs to recall or identify a situation or character?
Think of John Williams’ music for Darth Vader or Princess Leia in Star Wars, Verdi and his Ethiopian princess Aida, Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, Bernard Herrmann and his soundtrack for Hitchock’s Vertigo, James Horner’s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, and so many more.
What do you hear and feel when you listen to certain music? What music lives in your personal memory?