THE VIEW FROM HERE
Plague - and Miracle
It felt like one of the Old Testament plagues. What had we done to deserve millions of tiny caterpillars appearing overnight? They were crawling up trees, houses and plants; crunching underfoot as we walked on porch, path or roadway; yes, even up our legs and arms. About one-and-a-half inches long, they had vivid yellow dots on back, and voracious appetites. Within two weeks the worst was over - and most of our trees were completely stripped of greenery. It looked like March again, before any buds had formed. The evergreens survived, as did a couple of hardy species that must have tasted bad. But alas! for the maples and birches.
They crowded so closely up the house walls that it looked like a modern painting, with tiny pathways in every direction. Sometimes a couple of inches thick at the foundation level, the population decreased as it went up to the eaves, but wherever they found a horizontal plane they suspended themselves from it like icicles. Imagine the picnic table and benches, and the clapboards of my house! They curled up on the leaves of the plants I had just set out, and I got rather vindictive about getting rid of them. There were daily sweepings of porch and deck, which often left behind gross stains and odors.
But two weeks later the birch tree next to the house put out a couple of green leaves at the very top (was it sunlight that aided it?) and now, in the last week of June, I'm again hemmed in by green on every side. I'm newly loving the movement of leaves in the wind, and the glimpse of white birch bark through that motion. Some hot, sunny weather has helped, and so has the recent deluge of rain.
The sole losses seem to be two old apple trees, relics from the early 19th century. They stand as stark skeletons against the burgeoning life, with perhaps deep memories of fragrant blossoms in the barren twigs. Pansies, marigolds, tomato plants, herbs and a million weeds have survived - and uncountable small white cocoons, Velcro-stuck to door frames and under leaves and siding. Does this portend a plague of butterflies? Maybe this is the true miracle.
Alice Parker
SONGS for EVE
We are delighted to announce that the long-awaited CD of Alice Parker's Songs for Eve is finally available through our 'bookstore'. A 70-minute cycle based on poems by Archibald MacLeish, the work is performed by singers Lucy Shelton, Jane Bryden, John Aler and Bruce Fifer, with the Manhattan String Quartet. It was recorded in 1983, shortly after the work had been performed at a celebration of MacLeish's ninetieth birthday, hosted by the Mohawk Trail Concerts who had commissioned it for their own 5th anniversary in 1975.
The poems present a very modern Eve, who turns the 'fall' upside down, and is earth-mother to us all. The music reflects the bliss of Eden, the guile of the Serpent and the paradoxical nature of our humanity through a lyrical language that allows the poetry to shine. After the first performance, the poet wrote the composer: "It's really lovely - adds a deep dimension as a setting must and almost never does."
To order, see our website at: www.melodiousaccord.org
LITERAL LITERACY
Editorial
I never cease to be astonished at people who think the page 'means what it says' - or what it seems to say. What a simplistic way of looking at a complex, many layered puzzle! Let's examine some of the layers, through asking questions of the page.
The Writer.
Who wrote this page? When, where, how, for what purpose? Has it been edited, amended, translated or paraphrased? How many layers are there between you and the original version? For whom was it originally intended? (One person? A group? A student? Colleagues?) Can you determine the style? (High art or vernacular? Amusement or edification? Can you supply some context? What about the writer, and the times in which he/she lived? What are the unspoken assumptions behind the original version? (For example, in drama, the set, lighting, staging, characterizations, movement on stage, emotional currents, etc. are only implied. All the page has is conversation, with a few hints for performance: the reader must supply all else.) Does the writer mean for you to read it literally - or is it metaphoric, fanciful or ironic? (Might it in fact 'mean' just the opposite of what it says?)
II. The Reader
Who is reading this page? Could the page possibly 'mean' something different to each reader? (Certainly it is different for the beginning reader and the experienced one; the novice writer and the professional; the teacher and the student. Then there's the sympathetic or opposing viewpoint, the accepting or the critical one.)
III. The Style
What kind of writing is it? A newspaper article should be a literalist's delight: "Just the facts, ma'am, nothing but the facts." But what are 'facts'? Are they something that can be sworn to in a court of law? (What are trials about?) Aren't conversations and events capable of different interpretations? Don't our memories play tricks on us when we recount past events? Don't we all 'see' and 'understand' differently? Scientific treatises are more facts - but the moment they venture beyond figures or graphs, literary style comes into play, and language can either buoy or bury the data. Sociological or psychological writings - the so-called 'soft' sciences - often purport to offer verifiable data, but who did the collecting, interpreting and conclusion-drawing? When? How? Under what sponsorship? Advertisements are intensely layered language, intended to influence (seduce?) the reader. Fiction is by definition not based on 'fact' - but great novels may get closer to fundamental truths of human behavior than any scientific study. Writers on Religion and Philosophy spend their lives trying to define the indefinable - i.e., trying to make words encompass the unknowable. This is slippery business indeed for the 'fact' seeker. Are the largest truths beyond our power to pin down in words? What causes this enduring challenge to attempt it? Why do we keep trying?
Poetry. We've been moving farther and farther from objective 'fact', and the person who tries to read literally the work of any poet (including contemporary writers of hymns, ballads and popular songs) is doomed to disappointment and frustration. For we are in the land of illusion/allusion, where things are not what they seem, and can only be expressed in the imaginative linkings of metaphor, simile, and other word games.
And we finally come to the page of Music. If you apply all I've said above just to the text of a choral work, or opera, or hymn, there is much to consider. But if you add the written music, you are exponentially compounding the confusion. For written music is even farther from the living experience of sound than written language is from speech. In both cases we miss the immediacy of communication that comes from the living language, from the face-to-face interaction of two human beings. Here, sound waves, assisted by all the other senses, carry physical, emotional and intellectual sensations to our ears. The page can only hint at this. If we are to interpret the page well, bring it to life again and perform it communicatively, we must add 'humanity' to it, and be aware of all these cross-currents of possibilities, these hidden unanswerable questions.
The next time you open a hymnal, or a collection of folk songs - or a daily newspaper, textbook or book of poetry - realize that you are looking at a deceptive surface, below which lie hidden depths of ambiguity. Move beyond a literal reading. Enjoy the paradoxes, and the search for their meaning. Formulate new questions each time you return to a familiar page. Be aware of the emotional states hinted at, the human voices of possible speakers and singers, and the different ways in which this particular page might be interpreted. It makes reading so interesting!
Alice Parker
New Collections Available
Carl Fischer and Alfred Publications (Lawson-Gould) have each released collections of favorite Alice Parker/Robert Shaw arrangements.
From Carl Fischer: Seven Carols for Christmas for SATB voices with piano or organ. Includes: Away in a manger; Fum, fum, fum,; God rest ye merry, gentlemen; Good Christian Men; Masters in this hall; O come, Emanuel; So blest a sight. (CMF 3)
From Alfred Publications (Lawson-Gould): Vive l'Amour, Love Songs for Men's Voices (L-G 25561) includes Loch Lomond, Green Grow the Rashes O, Stodole Pumpa, Down by the Sally Gardens and Vive l'Amour. The second collection from Alfred Publ., Singin' in the Spirit, 5 Spirituals for SATB Voices, (L-G 25559) includes: I'm Goin' to Sing, Steal Away, I Got Shoes, Deep River and John Saw duh Numbah.
Song Leading, June 2006
A week of lively discussions, hands-on practice and conviviality culminated in a memorable SING at the Church on June 23rd. The singing almost literally raised the roof, and the four new Fellows of Melodious Accord got a chance to hear the sounds that their leading could evoke.
Perhaps the best way to recall the week is in their own words. Bill Harley: "Music is in the air, not on the page." Cheryl Hetherington: "The sound for each song is hidden in it." Janet Janzen: "Loosen up! You get what you ask for from the singers." And Mike Orzechowski: "The restoring of music to the people should be on all of our agendas. Get blogging, folks!"
About "O Sing the Glories"
"The glorious music notwithstanding, O Sing the Glories is worth purchasing just to read the liner notes by Alice Parker, in which she succinctly describes her philosophy of composing. . . These 17 anthems . . . represent this icon of American choral composing and arranging at her best. They are beautifully sung by the 16-voice ensemble called Melodious Accord. . . Lovers of Charles Wesley will delight in the light and clean setting of Rejoice, the Lord is King. . ."
Houston Chronicle Religion Section, 4.8.06
Please Send Programs
Please send copies of programs and church bulletins from your performances of Alice Parker works to Alice at her Hawley address. Include date and location (with city) of the performance. This information is used by Alice in her applica- tion to ASCAP for their special ASCAPlus financial Awards.
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