Henning's Headquarters

[Cato]

Well, here I think it is . . . I'm coming away from it sort of thinking, egad, how horrid this is, trying to sing it in English.  But maybe it's not really all that horrid . . . .

e.g. Half notes for articles and prepositions are a hassle, but it could still sound fine.

[Karl Henning]

e.g. Half notes for articles and prepositions are a hassle, but it could still sound fine.

I can fix some of those, without difficulty.

[Karl Henning]

Okay, mildly improved Pueri Heb., and here is the Byrd Sanctus, too.

[Monsieur Croche]

I'd like to hear Karl compose a march. Am I the only who feels this way?

If the march is in 7/8 or 11/8, or something like, I'd add my vote to that request.

[Karl Henning]

I'd like to hear Karl compose a march. Am I the only who feels this way?

If the march is in 7/8 or 11/8, or something like, I'd add my vote to that request.

Well, perhaps that should be the character of the scherzino in the Clarinet Sonata.

[Karl Henning]

Okay, mildly improved Pueri Heb., and here is the Byrd Sanctus, too.

Given the fact that this music is rather a challenge for my doughty choir (plus the fact that the best musician among them, in the bass section, was absent), it was a given that nothing was going to be perfect last night, and that figurative sleeves would be rolled up.  We did make excellent progress;  everyone seems patient with the enterprise, and open to the possibility that the end result will be a musically satisfying "pay-off";  and we can now get through all of the Byrd, and the first three pp. of the de Victoria, and some of it is already sounding, I should not dare to say good, but certainly promising.  It is likely a realistic enterprise, after all.

[Karl Henning]

I smiled last night with all my musical friends' "Superb Owl" posts on Facebook!

[Karl Henning]

I have not exactly been idle, but there has been no progress on the Op.136, either.  I must punch out a few projects for my church choir and handbells, mostly for Palm Sunday & Easter.

[Karl Henning]

So:  I wanted to draw something up for the choir and handbells to perform together on Easter.  My first (arguably unimaginative) thought was the old Palestrina standby, "The Strife Is O'er."  One reason why I never really got to work on that idea, is, the organist;  must work with what we've got.  At any rate, in such cases, I count on getting an idea I like better still, and "What Wondrous Love Is This" is just the ticket.

One piece which I chose for the handbell choir for Palm Sunday is Charles's arrangement of "The Hebrew Children" (a spiritual?), but we need more ringers . . . so my current ringers are recruiting more hands!  As a result, I want to give them more work, so I am fixin' to compose a Paschal Carillon for Easter.

[Mirror Image]

Well, perhaps that should be the character of the scherzino in the Clarinet Sonata.

March on my man!

[Karl Henning]

Cheers!

Separately . . . my phone's calendar buzzed me with a reminder, which at first was entirely opaque to me. Luckily, I did think to open the item . . . still, it took me a few seconds before it registered. Sometime last fall I sent Ear Buds to Charles Peltz, who wrote back that there may be a chance of a reading, and that I should remind him, mid-February. Glad I had the sense to set this automated reminder! Not definite yet, but still a good chance, and if there is room for my piece, he needs the parts this coming Friday.

So that may be my first order of business tomorrow morning.

Pam Marshall & I have set a time to get together and play again; so (after I see to the church music project-lets) I'll get back to work on the new cl/hn duet.

[Karl Henning]

Lux Nova received an email message inquiring about three old pieces (two pieces, really:  two different scorings of one piece, and in addition the Hodie Christus natus est).  So my first "job" this morning was getting a Sibelius 6 file of the Hodie off to Lux Nova.

[Karl Henning]

I'm adding cues to Ear Buds. (The piccolo starts the piece with 66 measures' rest, e.g.)

I hadn't thought about the piece for months, in witness whereof when my phone buzzed an alarm for me yesterday which was titled simply "Ear Buds," I thought only of actual ear buds, and wondered what in blazes I meant.


On revisiting this piece, the chakra at my heart opens and warms, and I wonder at the fact that I wrote music which does this.  (I hope this doesn't come off as self-congratulatory or twee, but that's the best I think I can express it.)


How did the piece come to me?


I think I've told this story at least in part before.  I was walking at the pond, and there is a pine woods which is always one of my favorite places to visit.  That day, there was a young lady seated on a stump, back at a good remove from the path, listening to something on ear buds.


My first thought was (of course I did not say anything to the youth), here you are in this beautiful place, surrounded by simple wonders, and you are sitting in a bubble, tethered to an appliance.


I continued on my walk, and then I thought, Perhaps I am very unfair to the youth.  Perhaps whatever she is listening to, it is something which she needs to do at this time, and this is a beautiful, quiet place where she must do it.


Thus (and although I switched the gender, to "fictionalize/abstractify" the incident) I discovered the title Ear Buds (The dream of a young man in the woods, listening).

[Karl Henning]

Because of the nature of the piece, cues are vital . . . and it's a bit of a chore.  But gratifying.

[Karl Henning]

Parts are done!

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm adding cues to Ear Buds.

Because of the nature of the piece, cues are vital . . . and it's a bit of a chore.  But gratifying.

Parts are done!

I'm lost. What are "cues"?

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

I'm lost. What are "cues"?

Sarge

F'rinstance, here is the beginning of the piccolo part. The picc player has been counting all these measures rest, and is getting nervous as the first note approaches, not sure if maybe you lost the count in all them measures; so there is a cue marked, when the player hears that second in the chimes right at [ C ], it confirms his place, and he or she can enter with confidence.

[Sergeant Rock]

F'rinstance, here is the beginning of the piccolo part. The picc player has been counting all these measures rest, and is getting nervous as the first note approaches, not sure if maybe you lost the count in all them measures; so there is a cue marked, when the player hears that second in the chimes right at [ C ], it confirms his place, and he or she can enter with confidence.

Ah...thanks for the explanation. In my sax playing days, I never had to count so many rests; never needed a cue.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Also, those rests would be easier to count if the rhythm were regular, periodic. But it's mostly sustained notes, shifting colors.

[Karl Henning]

Last night, in between watching Aliens with the commentary and Part I of "Champagne for One" in A Nero Wolfe Mystery, I finished an arrangement of Thos. Dorsey's "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" for my choir's use this coming Sunday.  It's in our hymnal (in a copyrighted arrangement—shades of "I Want Jesus to Walk With Me"), so chances are some in the congregation know it.  The arrangement in the hymnal is plagued with, on the one hand, a rhythmic profile which feels wrong to me, and, on the other, rather peculiarly notated grace-notes, some of which are intended to convey "blue notes."  I should disclose that I came to know the piece at St Paul's, probably in the Wonder, Love and Praise supplement to the Hymnal, and certainly in a better, more musically notated arrangement (also, simply strophic).  My arrangement for my choir is modestly through-composed.  Perhaps like "I Want Jesus to Walk With Me," I am going to need to do some sleuthing, to make certain that my arrangement does not infringe any existing copyright.