Archive for August, 2008

Best laid plans…

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

As many of you know, in addition to everything else, I am in the midst of a project to study one Beethoven piano sonata every month.  August was Op. 57, “Appasionata,” and I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t get to it as much as I should have, between website design, composition and the start of school.  I got to spend some time with the first movement, and listen to the recording a few times, and read Charles Rosen’s analysis in The Classical Style.  Other than that, I just didn’t get to it.  There was music to write and there were students to teach.

So… I solicit the thoughts of readers–what have you learned from this piece?  It is a standard example in music history class, so many of you will have looked at it at some point.  Let me know.  In the meantime, perhaps next month will go better.

There were similar distractions in Beethoven’s life… notably his efforts to gain guardianship of his nephew.  Hopefully, I will be writing piano music soon and have that much more incentive to dig into my Beethoven.  On to #24!

In the meantime, be sure to enter the contest:  www.martiandances.com/contestcategories.htm

And you can always check out my previous rants about Beethoven piano sonatas on my facebook page (using the Notes application).

‘Til next month!

Website in progress shocks composer…

Monday, August 18th, 2008

I have been working like mad on the “Interactive CV” portion of www.martiandances.com.  It is really the whole point of having a website, because people who don’t know me need to know who I am and what I’ve done.  For those of you not in academia, a CV, or curriculum vitae, is something similar to a resume.  It is not like a resume in that a resume is a summary of one’s relevant experience and accomplishments.  A CV, on the other hand, tells everything you’ve ever done in your professional life as it relates to the field you purport to be an expert in.  It gives detail that would be unacceptable in a resume.  My resume, which I keep up to date, is two pages when I print it out, depending on who is going to be looking.  My CV, on the other hand, weighs in at about 12 pages… it lists in detail my compositions, publications, classes taught, jobs held, honors, awards and generally gives the careful reader a fairly good idea of who I am, as an academic.

The point–I was working on my CV, because it should be nice and up-to-date, and for the online version, I have been inserting hyperlinks.  I went to search for my very first teaching position, McEvoy Middle School in Macon, Georgia, and couldn’t find a site for it.  Not a huge surprise, so I went to the school district’s website.  If you haven’t browsed many school district pages, you probably don’t know that most of them have at least a page about each school in the district.  I found no such page on the Bibb County Board of Education website.  Apparently, the first school where I was ever employed no longer exists.  There was plenty on the district web page about new schools that I hadn’t heard of and about redistricting, so it would seem McEvoy Middle School has gone the way of the dinosaurs.  It hasn’t been renamed, because none of the other schools had that street address.

Those of you who have known me for some time know that I don’t have many fond memories of that school, or of Macon in general.  Matt Specter stopped in Macon once on vacation and got food poisoning, and I think his experience was better than mine.

But it’s strange to think that, in this country anyway, you don’t have to wait very long before the places you once went every day no longer exist.  For me, it’s a short list–along with McEvoy Middle School, the only other places I can think of are some old buildings at the University of Cincinnati — Tangeman Student Center, Beecher Hall, and the old Mary Emery Hall (especially the Scrounge).  I guess I would throw in the first church I remember, Grace Lutheran Church in Sandyville, Ohio, built in 1830 and sold to another church when they built a new building.

Am I so old?

The first entry

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

The problem with blogs is that they are extremely self-indulgent, but it is also probably true that no self-respecting website owner would omit one.  I can’t say that I’m excited about having a part of this website where I am supposed to record in minute detail what I’m doing, what my ideas are, and how I feel about all of it.  It’s too much like the journaling I had to do in high school, except that it’s posted on the World Wide Web for all to see.  The point of journaling in sophomore English class was to free up our writing, making us fluent (if not effluent) in our use of written English.  I think it worked, in my case, anyway, but that doesn’t mean the process was pretty.  With the blog, on the other hand, it’s sort of assumed that I have something to say on a regular basis that people might be interested in reading.  That’s sort of scary, now, isn’t it?  My promises to you in this blog:

  • I will strive to not be merely self-indulgent; rather, I will write about things that may in some way impact your life, or may make you think about what I’m thinking.
  • This is a friendly blog.  I will not be taking pot shots or posting gossip, and histrionic discussions of politics (local and otherwise) will not be a part.
  • I will do my best to use complete, correct Standard Written English, but in a colloquial rather than an academic tone.  Today is the last time you will see LOL, OMG, LMAO, IMHO or any variation of :).
  • I will respond to thoughtful comments in a reasoned and timely fashion.
  • I will do everything in my power to make you feel like you have not wasted your time.

All that said, welcome!