Henning's Headquarters

[Cato]

Got a little more work done on the trio. The end is so near — and, of course, it needs to be completed soon . . . the three of us will rehearse on Monday, which (because Peter is heading out of town for a week) is the last chance before Wednesday the 18^th.

We're out tonight, but I think that between about 40 minutes of work once we're back, and maybe a lick of work when I get home from the museum tomorrow evening . . . I am optimistic.

The score is very inventive!  Have fun with a whirlwind conclusion!

[karlhenning]

Thanks! Berlioz helped, actually.

[karlhenning]

No, but really. R & J was lovely at Symphony Hall last night, and I briefly found myself thinking about the last page of How to Tell. I had to stop that, of course, and return to paying full attention to Berlioz . . . but I realized what I needed.

After we got home, I folded some work I had done yesterday afternoon into the Sibelius file;  I added the ending which I had already thunk up . . . but while I slept on it, I realized I hadn't quite done what Berlioz had inspired me to reach for.

Attached is the state of p. 18 as of last night.  This morning I composed more, and I think I've now got it.  But I thought I'd toss up the page with which I am not completely satisfied.

[karlhenning]

I really need to add more dynamics; and the clarinetist will complain that he doesn't have proper page-turns.

But, here it is:

[karlhenning]

I really need to add more dynamics; and the clarinetist will complain that he doesn't have proper page-turns.

For future performances (if there be any) I'll probably make some adjustments which result in actual page turns for the clarinetist.  Rehearsal schedule is tight enough now, that I am just going to manage it.

Separately: Funny choir story.  Paul was rehearsing the FCB choir Saturday morning, and we read a setting of Psalm 96 by an NEC composer, not badly written but (IMO) not a really inspiring setting. Certainly better than some music we've sung, to be sure.

Well, it's self-published, and (there's a back-story we won't sidetrack the present narrative for) Paul bought the piece, gave the composer a check and all.  Now, that would be all right, but (and here is one of those aspects of the work where having a publisher/editor who is some individual other than the composer himself) . . . we're singing a passage in two parts, tenors and basses, and Paul asks, "Ladies, why aren't you singing?" "We don't sing again until m.80 [maybe it was]." The score which Paul had been given, and from which he was playing at the piano, did not agree with the scores which the composer sold Paul, and which he distributed to the choir.

Says I to Paul, "That's a problem you never have with Henningmusick, you know . . . ."

[karlhenning]

Just finished rehearsal. In fact, I am at Mass Ave, waiting for the bus. The part for frame drum works so well, you'd think I've been writing for it forever.  We worked pretty hard, for almost two hours, but everybody digs the piece, it will go very nicely.

[karlhenning]

For the very initial reading, the broad accelerando of the last couple of pages was defeating Peter;  but when we stopped to re-group, and talked it through, and tried again, it started to lock in well.  The momentary trouble was that when the opening recapitulates at [ Z ], it's not yet at tempo primo, but still at MM=80 . . . and in stages, we get back to tempo primo (MM=104).  (And all that seems to have been how I addressed whatever I thought I was dissatisfied with from the first complete draught)  Once I pointed that out to Peter, he was entirely on board.

We fairly soon got the 'groove' set for the Poco meno mosso at [ S ] . . . Curiously, when we stopped to check something, and tried to resume playing in the middle of that section ([ U ], say) we had trouble locking back into it, and we found it easier to pull it back all the way to [ S ].  The frame drum plus extended alto flute technique groove at [ H ] works as well as I imagined it (Lord know how I imagine these things).

We really did work hard Monday evening (well, we had to . . . Peter is out of town now, so it won't be until Wednesday, day before the concert, that we three can meet again) . . . and at the end Peter asked me how long the piece is.  Will probably run 10 minutes as we play it at St Paul's, but there's a lot of living in those 10 minutes . . . .

[karlhenning]

I think attendance by co-workers here at the 19 May recital may be strong. Delighted that I shall be putting my best musical foot forward with How to Tell (Chasing the Tail of Nothing).

[karlhenning]

Ah, well . . . another week when I wish I had had more time to practice . . . .

[karlhenning]

Yes, welcome again to the edge (it's what some of us call Home).  Half of Frank's Duos are marked with tempi which verge upon science-fiction ; )  I've advised him that apart from questions of difficulty, those numbers are favored by an acoustic drier than we've got at St Paul's.  We'll do what we can.  Last night I found an alternate fingering for throat G which allows me the quarter-tone adjustments called for in Joe's Diversion; and I graphed out the seconds in the spatial notation . . . some of the systems consist of a single "measure" spanning 25", and we players just get lost in the temporal abyss.

And, fact is, I should have to practice How to Tell in order to bring it up to true speed.  No matter, even a bit under tempo it will be engaging, I think.  And, even under tempo, I have a couple of systems which want a bit more practice . . . where's the time? . . .

[karlhenning]

Program ready:

[karlhenning]

Very pleased with the rehearsal this evening (and we worked a bit later than I'd quite expected, though by no means too long). It will be a good concert tomorrow.

[karlhenning]

Here has the day come! Time for both play & fun.

[Luke]

Good luck, Karl! May it go smoothly and be greeted with the torrents of applause it deserves!

[Luke]

...and don't forget to post a recording if and when...     

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Good luck, Karl! May it go smoothly and be greeted with the torrents of applause it deserves!

Seconded.

[DavidW]

Yes Karl good luck tonight! And hold back a little on the honking, and add some wubba wubba!!

[Scarpia]

Good luck.  What is a "frame drum," by the way?

[karlhenning]

Thanks, you lads are the best!

Scarps, begin with thinking of a tambourine, one with a skin stretched on one side. Remove the metal jangles (and remove the holes in the drum which accommodated the jangles), and expand the circumference and the depth of the drum (the former more than the latter) and you've got a frame drum.

[Scarpia]

Thanks, you lads are the best!

Scarps, begin with thinking of a tambourine, one with a skin stretched on one side. Remove the metal jangles (and remove the holes in the drum which accommodated the jangles), and expand the circumference and the depth of the drum (the former more than the latter) and you've got a frame drum.

Is it a tuned instrument?