Duet
It was only Tuesday that I finally finished writing a duet that my friend Alan and I are to sing this Sunday. It is a setting of Psalm 46, in honor of Reformation Sunday, which, to let the non-Lutherans know, always falls at the end of October. (As an aside, someday I would like to hear the explanation for why every year kids dress up as ghosts and vampires to honor Martin Luther. Really, I don't get it.) This duet is not accompanied. It is very tonal, but it has an austerity that might be a bit strong for my congregation -- we'll see. I was able to find a melody with lots of possibility for contrapuntal games. I even threw in a hint of nested counterpoint.
Oh nooooooooooo, somebody shut him uuuuuup! Shut him uuuuuup!!!! He's starting to babble on about that crazy nested counterpoint nonsense again. NOOOOOOOOOOO!Today, I'm revealing the score to the wide world. Here is the pdf file.
I plan to put up a sound file too, but that may take a bit. I made a home studio recording of the piece a few days ago and it was not a satisfying experience. First, working in my home "studio" meant I had to sing the tenor part. The top note is only an F-sharp, but at my best that note comes out at full baritonal holler. Then there were the usual shocks when one has not been recording much and must rediscover just how implacably cruel a microphone can be. Then, each part had to be sung against a click track and the mechanical nature of that approach sucked the life out of the performance. Finally, the exercise exposed weaknesses in my writing which forced me to change some notes, thus rendering the finished product obsolete. Very frustrating.
Ah well, it was a learning experience. That which does not kill me makes me whimper.
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
1 Comments:
I look forward to the sound file. (My sight-reading skills are lamentable, and I have no keyboard nearby.)
As far as dressing up &c to honor Martin Luther: for one, I really don't think that's why we do that, and for two, there's a quote somewhere in his writings to the effect that we should mock the devil and laugh at him.
On the other hand, a lot of Luther's writings that I came across trying to find that are things we (I'm a Presbyterian) really wouldn't like people to read. (I understand that his Collected Writings take a generous amount of shelf space.) All of which means little these days.
(Mike, www.rigoletto.com/blogger.html)
Post a Comment
<< Home