eric satie, 1866-1925. automatic descriptions, for solo piano. included tongue-in-cheek notes for the performer alone, as seen above: "withdraw your hand and put it in your pocket." a small critique of the idea of concert music and the role of the performer in relationship to the music, composer, and audience.

vernet, 1759, shipwreck.

when the enlightenement ideals of rationalism and empiricism had failed to do justice to the human experience, the germans responded with the contrasting aesthetic of sturm und drang, which was characterized by subjectivity and extremes of expression. 1760-1780. music was often in the minor mode, with a driving rhythmic force and jagged melodies. paintings often depicted shipwrecks or storms.

mozart's little symphony in g minor, no25.


i just love how everything goes together!

what is rococo?
fragonard, the swing.

Jean-Baptiste Lully. 1632-1687. He was keeping time for an orchestra during rehearsal by banging a long staff on the floor (typical for the time and a precursor to the baton) when he bashed his toe with the staff. The wound became gangrenous and he refused to have it amputated. He died three months later.

Carlo Gesualdo. 1566-1613. He took a young wife who had anticipated participating in the pleasures of marriage, but, finding none, found another man and kept her love a secret for two or so years. Gesualdo came to suspect her infidelity and so told her that he would be going on an overnight hunting trip. Instead, he waited until the middle of the night and burst into her bedchambers to find her and her lover in the suspected state. He stabbed her repeatedly and kept shouting, “She’s not dead yet! She’s not dead yet!” When the two bodies were recovered from the room, the servants found that her lover had beenwearing a woman’s dressing gown, while is regular clothes were folded and unbloodied next to the bed.

Henry Purcell. 1659-1695. Died at the height of his career "The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning home late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out."

Jean-Philippe Rameau. 1683-1764. Composer of graceful music but, according to accounts of his acquaintances, an absolute jerk. While on his deathbed, he reproached the priest administering the last rights for chanting poorly.

sometimes a horoscope can be freaky accurate. this one predicted the days i will be moving to colorado, with a family member (my father), the day i will be taking my placement exams and they day i will be paying for tuition.

All in all, it appears a new life is shaping up for you, dear Sagittarius. You are on the beginning of a huge cycle that is only beginning now, and from now on, it's onward and upward. This is a wave you'll be glad to ride, and if you had any setback in the past year, you will see it was only part of the plan, for it freed you to pursue something infinitely better.

john cage: some rules for students and teachers

RULE ONE:
Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.

RULE TWO:
General duties of a student - pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

RULE THREE:
General duties of a teacher - pull everything out of your students.

RULE FOUR:
Consider everything an experiment.

RULE FIVE:
be self-disciplined - this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

RULE SIX:
NOTHING IS A MISTAKE. There's no win and no fail, there's only make.

RULE SEVEN:
The only rule is WORK. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

RULE EIGHT:
Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.

RULE NINE:
Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.

RULE TEN:
We're breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.

HINTS:
Always be around.
Come or go to everything.
Always go to classes.
Read anything you can get your hands on.
Look at movies carefully, often.
Save everything - it might come in handy later.

god DAMN i want to go back to gimmelwald.

i've been hiding trashy romance novels all around my work, in boxes of lids, in coffee packets, in the freezer, and so on. it has taken them a month and more than fifteen novels to start wondering, is this a joke?



in two weeks i'm outta ohio and there's going to be a crescendo of books. in the baker's cooler. in the meat locker. in the box of hats. with the frozen chocolate chip cookies.




is somebody willing to mail one to my place of work from a location somewhere outside of ohio? or to fax the image of a trashy cover?

working on this piece (among others) right now. wonderful wonderful.

Untitled

Untitled, a photo by em_loeffler on Flickr.

Untitled

Untitled, a photo by em_loeffler on Flickr.

one day i will have something more interesting to say. it is hard to realize how awful these are. i mean, it is easy to realize but awful to address. budget amateur! c'est moi.