February 10 - Running Around

More voice-leading in Owen's class, dealing with those pesky Dominant 7ths and Tonics,

one of which must be incomplete in the so-called Common Practice when Soprano movement is from Ti to Do.

(fifth lacking in one of the chords, resulting in a tripled root in the latter case).   Earlier, the 9:30 Theoreticians receive Louis Bourgeoise's Old Hundredth for Dictation, Keyboard / Solfege, and Board Harmony, our first exercise in full chordal harmony.

Before

and

beyond,

the

classic

transit: fog,

clouds, a bit of sun,

financial

errands,

eventually

heading

to

Berkeley,

picking up the belated January and February 2014 issues of 21st-Century Music,

then homeward through Alameda,

Contra

Costa,

near 

the refineries,

into Solano,

briefly

in

Napa,

and

onward

under

clearing

climatic

condition

to

Harriet and Megan, composing page 9 of Abducted by Aliens: III. 1561 Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon, and lateral over to begin editing The Decameron - Fourth Day: Novel III "Three Young Men Love Three Sisters".  

And there are

videos

amongst the labours...

February 9 - Follow Your Hearts

Design several images for

The Opus Project presents Opus 14 (8pm, Saturday, February 22, Berkeley Arts Festival, 2133 University, Berkeley, CA).

Thereafter,

decamp

in

the

rain (.95 inches today, total for the rainfall year thus far 6.61 -- still desertic) to

Alameda to take in

Harriet's performances as part of

Virago Opera's

Giuseppe Verdi Il Trovatore (1853) --

a very impressive presentation, also graced by the further excellences of

Eileen Meredith,

Jo Vincent Parks,

Robert Ashens, Gary Webb, Alice Chen, Joan Hadashi --

with friendly folks in the audience including

Megan, Allan Crossman, and Jane Goldsmith.

Homeward

still

in

the

moist,

in congratulatory mode,

to compose page 8 of Abducted by Aliens: III. 1561 Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon,

and finish editing (3 pages total) Psalm 120 "Ad Dominum cum Tribularer" (Greek Psalm 119), in company with Harriety and Megan.

February 8 - Pensive

February 2014 issue of 21st-Century Music produced, posted online at 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com, and sent to the printer.

A sortie library-wise for more video enrichment with Harriet and Megan,

including Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951, in its 1955 broadcast) and

Sydney Pollack's Sketches of Frank Gehry (2006), over composing page 7 Abducted by Aliens: III. 1561 Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon,  and a second sheet edited for Psalm 120 "Ad Dominum cum Tribularer" (Greek Psalm 119).

Meanwhile, on the rainfront, 2.23 inches today -- more than the previous days of this month combined (1.82 -- for 4.04 since February 1)... and all of these topping the precipitation of the past 7 months of the rainfall year (July 2013 through January 2014: 1.62) -- for a total of 5.66 (a desert-like situation thus far, less than the annual of Arizona's Phoenix [9.8] or Tucson [12], although not California's own Palm Springs [4.97]).

February 7 - Lines of Influence

Finally finish the January 2014 issue of 21st-Century Music, posting same at 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com and sending to printer.  Also compose page 6 of Abducted by Aliens: III. 1561 Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon, and begin editing

Psalm 120 "Ad Dominum cum Tribularer) -- a brass quintet acceleration, articulation, and orchestration of Hans Leo Hassler's setting (Greek Psalm 119).

Errands out

(including a new computer case -- fourth total, and third of this exact type, over the last seven years, since 2007) in the early rainy evening (.72 inches, keep it coming, we are obliged to say [total this month: 1.81, which is more than all of the previous months of this rainfall year since July combined... 1.62, for a total of 3.43 thus far] -- most rain in one day since December 25 of 2012, which had 1.11 -- that month received more than twice as much rain [8.26] than all of last year: 4.08),

finishing a re-reading of Edward Abbey's Cactus Country (1973) and continuing to catch-up with emails.

February 6 - Gray Settling In, Yet Hope

Make the commute

along slippery slopes

(one vehicle pinwheeling on an entrance ramp and narrowly missing blocking very heavily-travelled slower lanes),

for

Quiz 4 with the Theoreticians (featuring examples from Free and Florid Organum, Leonin, Perotin, Medieval Secular Dances, Richard Coeur-de-Lion, Guillaume de Machaut, Conrad Paumann) and

Owen's class, where, in the so-called Common Practice,

the movement from V7 to I, with Soprano proceeding from Ti-Do and the general requirement of Fa invariably moving to Mi, can only take place with a missing 5th in one of the chords (triple root in latter).  Upon return, note that this is indeed the case in Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1: I (Introduction), although, in J.S. Bach's 371 Chorales (published by son C.P.E. in 1784): 11. Jesu Nun Sei Gepreiset (Jesus Is Now Glorified), a different, apparently non-canonical strategy is utilized.  Also at home, composition and editing for pages 5 and 4 respectfully re Abducted by Aliens: III. 1561 Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon and Psalm 119 "Beati Immaculati" (finishing this latter).  By late evening, in much higher spirits, quite literally, on the home front and in an initial-catching-up on email, after more than a weeks hiatus...