Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, dear fellow!

[mahler10th]

Break a leg, Karl 
Sarge

+1  Not literally, mind you, but metaphorically.  You have many metaphoric legs Karl - breaking one of them will help improve things. One metaphoric leg lost in action is one less to worry about, and should reduce the overall effort required for a perfect performance.  This kind of thing...or whatever...   

[Karl Henning]

Okay . . . the concert can be heard on Instant Encore. I pray you listen charitably . . . .

[TheGSMoeller]

Okay . . . the concert can be heard on Instant Encore. I pray you listen charitably . . . .

On my way to the digital concert now! Thank you so much for sharing, Karl. 

[TheGSMoeller]

Just finished Irreplaceable Doodles, very well done, my friend.  Congratulations, Karl.

Kinda jumping around the program out of order, but on to the next one. Sound quality is good, detailed.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks for listening!

This little Micro-Trak jigger is surprisingly serviceable.

[Karl Henning]

There was a mother with a couple of youngsters in the audience, and the younger did some vocalizing.  I suspected that these (modest, really) sounds would not mar the recording, and in any event I did not want the mother to fear for our disapproval, hence my remark about our youngest fan yet at concert's end.

[TheGSMoeller]

There was a mother with a couple of youngsters in the audience, and the younger did some vocalizing.  I suspected that these (modest, really) sounds would not mar the recording, and in any event I did not want the mother to fear for our disapproval, hence my remark about our youngest fan yet at concert's end.

I did notice the child, and almost made a comment, not a negative one believe me. But afterwards realized it's not distracting, it's all part of the live experience. Plus, it's never too early to introduce a youngster to HenningMusik. 

[mahler10th]

Zen on the Wing
There is some brilliant pacing of the notes going on, they tend to add strength to what follows them, and I am hit by a sense of concentrated and sometimes uncertain curiosity...I wonder if this is a 'time sensitive' picture of instant enlightenment.  It is jolly damned interesting to listen to.     It has played seven times now (on repeat).  There is no enlightenment at the end of it.  Or is there?     This is perfect music for tending to our inner Zen Gardens.
Bravo Karl.  I may yet learn how to listen to Schoenberg  by listening to this stuff.  Great little piece.

[North Star]

Okay . . . the concert can be heard on Instant Encore. I pray you listen charitably . . . .

A very enjoyable listen, Karl!

[Karl Henning]

Many thanks, gents!

[Karl Henning]

Zen on the Wing
There is some brilliant pacing of the notes going on, they tend to add strength to what follows them, and I am hit by a sense of concentrated and sometimes uncertain curiosity...I wonder if this is a 'time sensitive' picture of instant enlightenment.  It is jolly damned interesting to listen to.     It has played seven times now (on repeat).  There is no enlightenment at the end of it.  Or is there?     This is perfect music for tending to our inner Zen Gardens.
Bravo Karl.  I may yet learn how to listen to Schoenberg  by listening to this stuff.  Great little piece.

And I'm glad it's sounding fair on your new gear, Johnnie!

[jochanaan]

Okay . . . the concert can be heard on Instant Encore. I pray you listen charitably . . . .

Not bad.  You could confuse everyone and call it "The Ninth"...! 

[Karl Henning]

I'm either tired, or confused myself.

All right: maybe both

[Karl Henning]

Okay, now that (a) the King's Chapel recital is in the can, and (b) my first Sunday in the saddle at Holy Trinity church is approaching, a certain degree of organization is called for.  Happily, the composerly couple in the parish, Charles & Nancy, have been a great help, largely taping out the coming weeks into Thanksgiving.  The M.D. I am succeeding served only for a year;  I am sure he is a fine musician, although it seems there were communication difficulties (in part a matter of English being an acquired language for him;  in part, possibly, a matter of his musical ambitions – not problematic in themselves, but possibly a poor fit with this choir).  Now, prior to his tenure, Chas & Nancy had done the dogsbody job of winnowing down the choral music library . . . they have thus made the job easier for me, but I do need to leaf through the files and see just what we've already got.

It is a task which I must approach with delicacy, certainly at first . . . but as I have hit the ground running, it would be to an extent easier if I can find a couple of pieces of my own to fold into the schedule.  There are openings in the anthem schedule for the two Sundays prior to Thanksgiving, and Nancy has emphasized how difficult they have found it to select Thanksgiving anthems.  So the two Henning scores to which I shall introduce them, in easy stages over these two coming weeks, are the two-part version of the Alleluia in D, and the SAB original of Bless the Lord, O my soul – both of which I originally wrote for the First Congo choir, which was not only a smaller group, but arguably less strong.

Part of the reason for delicacy is:  perhaps as many as half of the choir either do not read, or are weak readers.  (Even though they do not read, certainly they sort-of-learn to associate the music they should be singing, with what they see on the page.)  I don't think this a serious problem in the case of these two pieces of mine, which I can teach them by singing with them phrase by phrase, part by part.

I'm bringing my clarinet tonight, too, to read the Canzona and Gigue with "my" organist . . . this then leaves next Thursday for 'finishing', and we play them the morning of the 20^th.

[Cato]

Part of the reason for delicacy is:  perhaps as many as half of the choir either do not read, or are weak readers.  (Even though they do not read, certainly they sort-of-learn to associate the music they should be singing, with what they see on the page.)

That has always driven me nutzoid bonkers batty!   

How long does it take to learn to read music?!  10 minutes?   

I recall quite clearly around age 6 or 7 deducing what was happening from my grandmother's piano music: the black notes with the flags were subdivisions of the flagless and clear notes.  If you go up the ladder the notes get higher, and they get lower when you go down.

Pop "artists" I have noticed throughout the years wear their ignorance of reading music as a badge of honor: Paul McCartney comes to mind!

Oh well! 

[jochanaan]

That has always driven me nutzoid bonkers batty!   

How long does it take to learn to read music?!  10 minutes?   

True, true--yet it's a situation I dealt with constantly in church choirs.  Lots of people want to sing but can't read or read poorly.  But even there you can work with it.  It's the ones that want to sing but can't "carry a tune" that drive me up a cross!

[jochanaan]

I'm either tired, or confused myself.

All right: maybe both

My my, you must be really really tired!  I can't usually shoot a quip over your head! I was referring to the dominant musical interval...

[kishnevi]

I took violin lessons as a boy ("learned to play the violin" is perhaps overoptimistic),  and sang in Glee Club and took voice lessons in college,  but I can't really read music--in the sense that, if you put a piece of music in front of me with which I'm not familiar,  and ask me to sing any of it--even vocalize an instrumental part--I can--the result has only vague resemblance to the score.  I know how to read music, in the sense that I can follow along on a score or follow a musical argument.  But I can't translate unaided the notes on the paper into the corresponding sounds from my throat or imagine them in my head.  Beat, pitch,  note length,  all come out wrong.  To sing,  I have to hear it played on another instrument or sung by someone else at least once.  After that, my aural memory guides me.

[Karl Henning]

My my, you must be really really tired!  I can't usually shoot a quip over your head! I was referring to the dominant musical interval...

Of course! (Gosh, I must have been wiped out.)