Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Sixth Sense








 I recall a specific day as an undergraduate at the Cleveland Institute of Music sitting in theory class on a cold, snowy day.  I was probably tired from working the graveyard shift at Presti’s Bakery, nervous about my upcoming cello lesson in which I had to play Popper 33 from memory, or dreading the inevitable humiliation of singing atonal melodies or improvising chord progressions in front of a classroom of super smart, talented students.

There was a substitute that day, and he opened my eyes to the sixth sense I didn’t know I had.  He was lecturing on key signatures and recognizing modulations and tone color changes.  The graduate assistant commented that many people see colors when they hear certain keys – yellow for D-Major, green for C-Major, blue for d-minor, etc.

 Suddenly, I thought to myself, “There is an actual term for this?  I thought I was just weird!”  I came to find out that many people have chromesthesia on some level or another.  I am an amateur visual artist as well as a professional musician, and I wonder if my chromesthesia has something to do with this. 

 Synesthesia is “the stimulation of one sense alongside another: the evocation of one kind of sense impression when another sense is stimulated, e.g. the sensation of color when a sound is heard”.  Technically, synesthesia is an umbrella term for the ability to associate any one sense with another, and chromesthesia is the term for the ability to associate color with music.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Rainbow Analysis: G Major Allemande

This is a color-coded score I created of the articulation/bowing/phrasing markings in the 5 manuscripts we have available to us. Although it looks like a rainbow vomited all over the paper, I like to look at it as God's promise to me that I will one day understand what the heck Bach might have wanted :). This score is helpful in identifying over-all trends and tendencies as well as inconsistencies among the copyists as well as within their own manuscripts. It is difficult to always have 5 scores spread out on the floor, so combining them into one saves time and space.


A = Anna Magdalena Bach
B = Johann Peter Kellner
C = Johann Christoph Westphal?
D = Anonymous
E = First edition (anonymous)

Friday, May 3, 2013

Rainbow Analysis: G Major Prelude

This is a color-coded score I created of the articulation/bowing/phrasing markings in the 5 manuscripts we have available to us.  Although it looks like a rainbow vomited all over the paper, I like to look at it as God's promise to me that I will one day understand what the heck Bach might have wanted :). This score is helpful in identifying over-all trends and tendencies as well as inconsistencies among the copyists as well as within their own manuscripts.  It is difficult to always have 5 scores spread out on the floor, so combining them into one saves time and space. 


A = Anna Magdalena Bach
B = Johann Peter Kellner
C = Johann Christoph Westphal?
D = Anonymous
E = First edition (anonymous)


Sunday, March 31, 2013

March Madness




March started off with so much drive, passion and hope.  I had a purpose.  Now I feel unmotivated and directionless.

 Lafayette Elementary, the school where I have taught for 5 years, will be closed as of June 2013.  I have worked and struggled to help create a music program at this school and it is sad to see it disappear at the whim of a corrupt politician.  

The loss of this school brings many concerns to my mind: 

1)       My dear students will no longer receive a music education and are now forced to walk to a school outside of their neighborhood where they will be subject to gang violence, racism, and crowded classrooms

2)       A third of my income will disappear

3)      What will I do next?

I thrive on motivation, projects, and direction.  I have the projects, but am currently lacking the motivation and direction.  I am distraught over losing something that I never originally wanted, yet grew to love deeply and passionately. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Theorbo Does Bach








  Last week I went on a mini tour to Nashville, TN with a classical/pop chamber group.  I drove close to 18 hours in 3 days, played four concerts, and had a blast.  The only attention that Mr. Bach received, however, was during sound checks: a little Allemande here a little Sarabande there.  Within 12 hours of my return to Chicago, I immersed myself once again in the wonderful world of Bach, and it was good.
I share a teaching studio at Northwestern University Academy with an amazing guitarist who helps organize the Segovia Series at NU.  After teaching one day, he told me about an upcoming recital featuring Hopkinson Smith on the German lute (a.k.a. theorbo) performing the first three Bach Cello Suites.  There was no way I could miss this. Despite my crazy weekend of traveling and performing, I  canceled my teaching and decided to treat myself to an afternoon of baroque bliss.