March 31 - All Summed Up

The month concludes indeed with more than double the normal rainfall, but with a net result of still around half of typical precipitation for the 2011-2012 rainy season: on a day (Harriet out in the evening to see Verismo's Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly) also including another 21st-Century Music update, pdf re Merton Songs (53), a video of Suite ("Sol[ar]"): VIII. Saturn, and composition for The Decameron (62) and Psalm 91 (4) -- sending excerpts of the latter two (recordings and scores) for Sarita and Wayne, looking forward to the upcoming Fresh Voices XII: Not Shy and Retiring... Mark Alburger's 55th and Friends April 14 show.

Also watch in tandem to above, a marathon of Mission Impossible, Season 2:  5-6. The Slave,

7. The Operation, and

8. The Money Machine.

March 30 - Visions

Home all day with Harriet, with catch-up, including a video for the new Garishtone Ensemble recording of Suite ("Sol[ar]"): VII. Jupiter, plus pdf of Merton Songs (52) and composition re The Decameron (61) and Psalm 91 (3).  Also send out Triple Concerto for Bassoon, Contrabassoon, and Harp ("Family") pdf and parts to the Garveys for the April 14 show.

Watch Mission Impossible, Series 2: 3. The Survivors and

4. The Bank in conjuction with above activities.

March 29 - Comes the Dawn

The alarm goes off,

and all is clear and/or

cloudy in proceeding to Marin,

checking the

post box,

meeting Crystal and Stanley for our weekly walk (having been interrupted the past couple, due to rain, etc.).

A nice

catch-up,

then catch

the eastward

trend to

Diablo,

for

Quiz 10 with the

Theoreticians, followed by another stint (with Doug and coffee) in the lab to record:

Symphony No. 3: IIc, Op. 75
Psalm 75, Op. 197, No. 3 (on Jacob Handl)
The Cop and the Anthem: II, Op. 198
The Decameron, First Book, Novel III, Op. 200
Psalm 90, Op. 202, No. 1

By now, pretty regularly combining Garishtone and Tritone orchestral sounds (rather than either/or -- although Cop II is exlusively the former and 90 is produced in two forms).

Homeward

in

the

early evening to pdf Merton Songs (51) and compose The Decameron (60) and page 2 of Psalm 91.

Somewhat in the spirit of Dorothy Gale, who always had the power to go home, become re-acquainted with the Cubase LE version that has been on both MacBooks, but has not been used much, due to the absence of the Tritone Orchestra.  Now, however, that Garishtone is in place, decide to give the program a go, recording versions of The Cop and the Anthem: III and Quadruple Concerto: I (Op. 83).  As has seemed to be the case in related arenas, seems like one quality is sacrificed to achieve another: in this case, presence over control...

Also discover, in passing, that there are now 2,393 Alburger recordings in iTunes.  Wow....

Additionally, now at 114 MB (11.15%) of the 1024 MB, with roughly a month's space to spare...

March 28 - Speeding Forward

The day's 21st-Century Music update and out the door,

ever-careful to have plenty of time to spare,

towards Diablo for Quiz 10 review -- including new video excerpts of George Gershwin's Piano Prelude No. 2 and Anton Webern's Cantata No. 1: I, also GG's Rhapsody in Blue (two sections of Walt Disney's Fantasia 2000) and film of Porgy and Bess: Summertime, plus the Sergei Prokofiev themes from Peter in the Wolf, again from Disney, and an old movie re Kurt Weill Threepenny Opera: Ballad of Mack the Knife... all with notational examples, of course.  Finish up the latter's consequent 16-bars of melody, and really conclude for the session with Nicolas's mixed-mode Composition 2.  Again in the lab, producing Garishtone / Tritone Orchestra recordings of

Symphony No. 3: IIb, Op. 75
Psalm 74, Op. 197, No. 2 (troped on Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 8: II)
The Cop and the Anthem: I, Op. 198
The Decameron, First Day, Novel II ("Melchizedek and Jehannot"), Op. 200

Homeward

under

late

afternoon sun to produce the next pdf for Merton Songs (50), and ensuing compositional page (59) of The Decameron.  Also begin Psalm 91, mapped on Mendelssohn's analog.

March 27 - Balancing Act

Leave in plenty of time to arrive at DVC in a timely fashion, but, due to some special event and a paucity of on-campus parking, still not early enough (as opposed to the previous day, leaving late and somehow arriving early).  So evidently these things are not entirely under our control (surprise, surprise).  A walk from off-site, in the drizzle, and not feeling overly apologetic about the whole situation, either.  Nevetheless, we all seem to have a fine time in class: Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera: Ballad of Mack the Knife (first eiht bars) for dictation and board harmony, then engaging student compositions.  After yesterday's extended school session, think about staying in the local area, but when the time comes, bolt for the northeast, so quickly that somehow funds for the bridge toll are overlooked.  No fine for a first violation if one signs up for the electronic solution.  Hm...

Productive afternoon homeward, doing a video of Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1, completely catching up with Theory grading, and at least keeping apace with Music History.

Return for the latter, proceeding from the aforesaid through
 
Scott Joplin - The Entertainer
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 8: I
Arnold Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire: I, VIII; A Survivor from Warsaw
Charles Ives - Three Places in New England: Putnam's Camp
Sergie Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Ottorino Respighi - The Pines of Rome: The Pines of the Appian Way
Bela Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin; 
Piano Concerto No. 1; Concerto for Orchestra: I, II
Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird; Petrushka; 
The Rite of Spring; Symphony Of Psalms: I; Greeting Prelude
Edgar Varese - Octandre: I
Anton Webern - Five Pieces for Orchestra: IV

with the way ahead as above.

Chat afterwards with Doug awhile and return home slightly earlier than useual, doing a video of Anton Webern's Cantata No. 1: I, plus the day's pdf and compositional labours (re Merton Songs [49], The Decameron [58], and the conclusion of Psalm 90 [17 pages total]).

Rain falls much of the day and night, for a total of 1.72 inches (the second-highest rainfall of the entire season, topped only by January 20's 1.82) -- now at a welcome more-than-double-average for the month (6.82 vs. 3.26) in this much-below-normal-precipitation year...

March 26 - More Enlightenment

Write up both the Tom Nunn and Erling Wold shows as a joint review for Commuter Times, to also run in 21st-Century Music, then blast to Diablo

for

the

beginning of

Week 10 with the Theoreticians -- the dictation, keyboard-solfege, and board harmony being Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf opening.  Also show videos of King Oliver's Dippermouth Blues and Act I, Scene 2 transition and Scene 3 Lullaby and March of Alban Berg's Wozzeck; wrapping up the last major and minor scales with C#, G#, and D# Minor, and B Major; moving forward with I-IV-V progressions in C and Eb (the latter referencing Louis Armstrong's West End Blues, also played) -- followed by an extensive session in the lab and coffee briefly with Doug.  Record Tritone Orchestra versions of

Symphony No. 3: I, IIa, and IV (Op. 75)
Psalm 73 "Truly God Is Good To Israel" 
(Op. 197, No. 1, troped on F.J. Haydn's "Emperor" String Quartet: II)
The Decameron: First Day, Novel I (Op. 200)
Triple Concerto for Bassoon, Contrabassoon, and Harp: I (Op. 201)

Working on the last two, learn how to bring in Garritan instruments into Cubase -- perhaps a major breakthrough, with the sonic qualities of the former allied to the flexibility and control of the latter.  Nevertheless, the Triton sounds still have a presence and punch, with more range and variety, and sometimes just plain old actually sounding better, so more investigations are pending.

Return homeward to Harriet under darkening skies, with evening endeavors including pdf of Merton Songs (page 48), composition for The Decameron (57) and Psalm 90 (16), and acquiring the motion-capture film of

Herge's Tintin (1929 / 2011).

March 25 - Take That

Harriet at rehearsal in the city, while the pdf of Merton Songs, page 47 is done (beginning X. To Commerce [Barcarole]), as well as composition for The Decameron and Psalm 90 (pages 56 and 15), on a day where the rain, continuing its sole-for-the-season well-above-normal behavior, stops. 

Sometime after H's return, head out for a brief supply run, returning with the acquisition of the 1972 Hamburg Opera film of

Alban Berg's Wozzeck, creating new analysis pdf's of music from Arnold Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces, Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera: Ballad of Mack the Knife, and viewing  

Mission: Impossible, Season 2, Episode 2 - "Trek."

March 24 - Dichotomies

In the local area, with Harriet, all day -- producing pdf of Merton Songs, page 46 (finishing IX. The Strife Between the Poet and Ambition), and composing pages of The Decameron and Psalm 90 (respectively 55 and 14).  Also take in the Disney take on Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter (2012, originally, A Princess of Mars, 1912) and acquire the

second season (1967-68) of the Mission: Impossible series, taking in  

The Widow first episode.