new mus(ings)ic

Fr. Alvin Kimel, whom some readers may know from his former blog Pontifications, has written a new post discussing why he does not believe in absolute predestination. It is, as are all writings of Fr. Kimel, excellent and well worth the time for those with interest in such things.

More specifically, it voices with much greater precision the same somewhat unformed impulse behind my own rejection of my former Calvinism. It was a revulsed impulse, and though I have not put the concentration into formulating precisely why that is (beyond a sense that it profoundly offends God’s justice and love and, hence, God’s core character), Fr. Al has: the doctrine of absolute predestination makes God capricious and unreliable–it makes of God a horror from which humanity needs salvation! It is responsible for the unhealthy fear in which at least Western Christians hold God (not the fear which more precisely signifies awe, and which is itself proper). This, in turn, lies at the root of the Medieval theological troubles which lead up to the Protestant Reformation–which unfortunately kept the same poison for itself, but dressed it in new clothes (I’m lookin’ at you, Calvin). Of course, Fr. Kimel spells all of this out in much greater detail.

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One semester, that is.

Exam week is officially and finally over! The last bits were an exam for Psychology of Music on Thursday evening and a counterpoint project and analysis due last night. That project was a four-voice fugue, which I wrote for wind quartet, and on which I actually started over mid-week after a while of struggling with too many loose ends. The end product is, I believe, considerably better. Tracy and I have joked recently about the Dirt Devil “Kone” commercials, and how I should do my own (with equal pretension, of course): “I’m Scott Blasco, and this is Fugue.”

De Profundis is very nearly done. I have a tentative final barline, but not everything up to it is entirely complete. It will be soon, though, and I have some performers interested in it already. I’m hoping for a March performance. Feedback from people who have heard what I have has been pretty uniformly positive, and I have one person down in Texas waiting for the final product to consider for his new music ensemble (more on that when/if it materializes).

That’s my story. Where I have been out of communication when I should have been in, that would be why. Sorry about that.

I just read (two days late) that composer Karlheinz Stockhausen died on Wednesday. I’m not about to get all “Ye sacred Muses” here or anything, but he was an important (if controversial) composer. I remember being distinctly weirded out by his vocal works as an undergrad, along with the peculiar mystico-universalist sort of spiritual leanings he wrote into many of his works (Stimmung, for example, calls out by name to a plethora of gods–”magic names,” as Stockhausen called them). His recently completed 7-opera cycle, Licht, was structured after the days of the week (employing all sorts of symbolism and [mis?-]appropriating spiritual and ritual traditions from all over the world), and the (to my knowledge) in-progress (and hence, now, incomplete) cycle of instrumental chamber works, Klang, similarly took their bases from the hours of the day. It remains to be seen what importance these rather ambitious projects will hold in the future (it is my guess that Licht in particular may have been intended as a modern take-off from Stockhausen’s long-departed fellow countryman’s most famous work).

Regardless, he will be remembered (for better or for worse) as an innovator in electronic music, and in odd sorts of performance practice (as in the Helicopter Quartet). He had fascinating, if unrealistic, ideas about performance space and time, specifying that some parts of music should be performed simultaneously with others, but completely removed from one another geographically. It was like a music-drama to fill the world–an extension of Wagner’s Gesamptkunstwerk?–rather than merely the concert hall. Over the years I have come to a limited appreciation of some of his works, although I’ve never devoted the time and attention to him that I have to Messiaen or Ligeti (who died last year).

It appears the old guard is leaving us.

Be soothed, gentle reader. I have not abandoned you, but merely sought to deepen our bond in silent fellowship. And look! Now I speak again!

First snow today! Sort of. It snowed over Thanksgiving in Michigan when we were at my mom’s house, and I even got to drive a little in that–first snow driving since early 2005, what an adventure. But that was brief, and this is looking pretty serious about staying. It’s about time for me to buy a winter coat. And boots, perhaps.

The wild semester is just about over: a paper and a fugue to finish (both well underway), one exam, a brief analysis project, a few odds and ends, and (of course) as much composing as I can pack in to the next week and a half. I’m ten minutes of completed music into the De Profundis I’ve spoken of previously, and have been having productive working days on it lately. My hope was to have it completed this semester–perhaps a long shot at this point, since I still have a stanza (and a half, depending on how you count it) left to set, but I’m still going to really try for it. Honestly, it’s not gonna happen. I’ll just have less to finish up over the break in order to start ambushing performers in January.

My composing has been helped considerably lately by the late construction of a composing office in our apartment. For the majority of the semester I did most of my composing in my office at school, which falls well south of ideal for such work: lots of noise and people around, the ambiance of a prison cell. Shortly before Thanksgiving, Tracy and I finally cleared a corner of the second bedroom (until lately, the box room) and set up my meager equipment, and I’ve been working at home more and more since. We added a bookshelf and desk for Tracy this past weekend, so she’s now doing her telecommuting work somewhere other than the kitchen table, as well. We spent all of Monday working on our respective workings together, which was really great and surprisingly not distracting. It’s nice to see at least some of our theology books out of boxes finally, too.

For those in the area, we’ll be spending a good amount of time in Michigan over the break, both in Grand Rapids and the Kalamazoo/Bangor area. With no papers and presentations to attend to, I will have time to hopefully visit and catch up with some people.

Dear reader, I have more of which to tell you, but for now these thoughts must remain silent. When they have percolated and gestated and <other>ated properly, then–AND ONLY THEN–will I share them. Generously. Lovingly. Musically?

Yesterday we made it back down to the BMV and got ourselves all officialled-up. I’m a pack rat, so I was sad they wouldn’t let me keep my old California driver’s license, but I was impressed that we actually walked out with our new licenses within minutes (no waiting 2 weeks for it to come in the mail). We had a fun moment when Tracy realized that hers listed her as male; thankfully, they were able to fix it right away. Funny, though. The BMV here is much nicer than the DMV in Pasadena. We always said that the DMV was where dreams went to die (and where newly-arrived Michiganders are intimidated by the bulletproof glass everywhere and the grumbling threats of riot from some of the less-satisfied customers). Here, the BMV is tastefully decorated, well-lit and friendly–not to mention comparatively speedy.

With our newly-minted hoosierdom of license and plate, we went and switched our car insurance… and found that full-coverage auto and renter’s insurance combined here is hundreds of dollars less per year than bare-minimum auto alone was in CA (which was, in turn, significantly and surprisingly lower than Michigan rates). Given our impecunious life of late, this was very welcome news, indeed.

I am enjoying the program here at Ball State thus far. Work continues apace on my De Profundis (apace-ish, given my usual rate of productivity). Perhaps the densest music (the introduction) is done, barring any revision work, as is the setting of the first stanza of the psalm. Those two add up to some 6 minutes of music, and I have probably another 4 or 5 in varying states of completion, and another 6 at least in planning. The integration of a rock trio into the large chamber ensemble is working very well, and thus far I think I’ve successfully avoided the dangers of which I’ve written previously. On top of this, the counterpoint class I’m taking consists mainly in composing after models of 20th century contrapuntal works (thus far a piano invention and a passacaglia for string trio, still in the works; soon a double fugue). I’ve also been very much enjoying my work with students here, as part of which I am finally learning solfege! About time…

Tracy is on the hunt for a job, which seems to be in short supply in the area. There are several colleges and universities in a commutable distance, but all of the open positions tend toward either entry-level administrative assistant or departmental directors. Prayers for success in this search would be much appreciated.

I hope all of you readers are well and enjoying the cooling weather. In Muncie, it is now about as cold as it gets in a Pasadena January, so we’re reminded of what we left behind, as well as what lies in store. I have also been reminded of the autumn allergies to which I am subject, and from which I enjoyed temporary reprieve in SoCal.

Blessings to all.

I’ve been wildly busy keeping up with school over the past two weeks, and will be again this week (especially after a weekend spent in Michigan visiting family and friends, but not getting any work done to speak of), so I haven’t been writing here. I just thought I’d jot down a note before bed.

We spent this morning in our old church in Grand Rapids, LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed… wow. Several things: I had forgotten how big a church it is. It is laid out pretty traditionally, but it is very large. It was also packed full. I haven’t been to a church service that was actually full since… well, since we left Michigan over two years ago. Even here in Muncie at the church we’ve been visiting, 3/4 full is a good Sunday. LaGrave packs ‘em in, with overflow into the foyer.

The most remarkable thing to me, though, was the very first sung note of the very first hymn: I had completely forgotten what it was like to hear that kind of singing in a church: not the weak, half-hearted attempts at hymn singing that we got out in our Pasadena church, but several hundred people all singing–in parts!–will full voices. The congregation’s singing is more like a choir than anything else. That’s the way to sing hymns.

Nothing much to add to that. I’m still reeling from the experience.