9:15 p.m. - 2007-01-18
In Which My Mastery of the Comma Fails Me Once Again
It appears to still be January. A little snow fell the other day, which refreshingly transformed the landscape, if only fleetingly. It's weird how the winters of my childhood went on for months and months, were dreaded and harsh and barren. Now, winter, or rather the real winter weather we've been experiencing lately, is more of a welcome respite. Still, January's a little boring. All the thrill of New Year's Eve is a distant memory but President's Day is still a way's off. The days are gradually growing longer, not long enough to offer hope, but only enough to underscore each new day's tedium.
Do I know tedium? Bet your ass I know tedium! I just spent the last three days making parts. Music parts, you understand, painstakingly, by hand. Well, not so much painstaking as hurriedly, since there's nothing worse than copying out parts. Of course, it's not true that there's nothing worse: there are lots of things worse than copying parts that people have to deal with. I should be thankful that I've got such an easy life that copying out parts seems like a terrible ordeal. One of the great mysteries of affluant modern society is why people like me, who have really cushy lives, complain about their lot constantly, despite being all too aware of the horrors endured by others, usually for no better reason than the circumstances of their birth.
But the parts. The parts are for a suite of klezmer pieces to be performed by Kia's chamber music band. I arranged an adapted Abe Schwartz Roshishesher, literally "assload of shers all strung together", and a favorite of mine from the Yid Vicious book, "Por Que Llorax la Blanca Nina". Kia arranged "Terk Yale". The enemble consists of bass, cello, bassoon, horn and clarinet. Heavy sounds, baby, HEAVY sounds! I'm pretty excited to hear how it will sound. Kia's playing the horn parts and as far as I know the other musicians are good, so the arrangements are in able hands.
Funny thing, arranging: You take something you may or may not have composed and then you assemble its components in such a way to suit the circumstances of its performance. In other words, you "arrange" to have the music played a certain way. It's not composing, performing, cooking, or curling. It's arranging. It seems to require a certain detachment but also intimate familiarity with the material. Maybe it's like movie editing. Or pipe cutting.
Did I mention that I just got a pipe cutter? Because I did. Also, some pipe, copper and galvanized steel. Also, a couple of clamps and a hacksaw. Because, Gentle Reader, I've got major plans.
NEXT: More About My Major, Major Plans
