A Sportsman's Goose Hunt Goes Bad.

Home From The Hill -1960 MGM Classic about a Sportsman(Who Has Issues)

Afflicted Fingerings, Biomechanics, and Energy Budgets

B    and B-flat, vying; then C and C#: yow! … all of which as if to reveal some hidden perversity in the interval itself, to show some concealed possible corner of the second’s personality … what the Second does when he’s at home alone, when no one’s watching.”
  —  Jeremy Denk, More about Goldberg Variations, ThinkDenk blog, 11-MAY-2009.

M y hand shifts to make a gradual transition in this Bach sarabande. I never fail to be impressed by how deeply afflicted this piece is. I think of these passages as several competing storylines crossing each other... chains upon [Dutilleux-esque] chains of expressive dissonances in the French Suites.


W hat fingerings might be best? Bach’s Inventions No. 1 and 2 have been the focus for studies by Yuichiro Yonebayashi, Hirokazu Kameoka, and Shigeki Sagayama at the University of Tokyo (link below). They represent the positions and forms of hands and fingers as Hidden Markov Model (HMM) states and model the resulting sequence of performed notes mathematically as HMM transitions. Or, for me just now, Bach’s French Suites, BWV 812-817, Markovian fingers, compelled by what other neighboring Markovian fingers just did.

F    ingering would be no problem were it not that music notes are preceded and/or followed by other notes.”
  —  Yuichiro Yonebayashi, Hirokazu Kameoka, and Shigeki Sagayama.

O ptimal fingering is essentially a problem of finding an optimal sequence of [reasonably] smooth state-transitions, from one state of each finger to the next. But the issue is not just about ‘ease’ or ‘reliability’ or ‘evenness’, even though those are of course important. The matter has also to do with texture and emotion. In fact, a thoughtful composer who is also a pianist knows very well what biomechanical ‘cost function’ or budget for effort or attention or energy expenditure will likely prevail for performers. If the composer’s intent is to devise an especially afflicted expression, then the composer chooses a key-signature and sequences of notes specifically with the intention of beleaguering or defeating performers’ biomechanics cost functions and built-in instincts.

W    hen pianos were first invented, they were similar in size to harpsichords. Hand size was rarely a limiting factor throughout the eighteenth century because the keys were short and narrow and the repertoire usually contained intervals no larger than the octave. However, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the piano gradually expanded in range and key size. The use of cast iron frames led to an exponential increase in string tension, resulting in heavier and deeper actions that exacerbated problems for small-handed players. Nineteenth-century concert pianos typically featured actions with 6 millimeters of travel depth, requiring 23 gm of weight for full key depression and string tension in the middle register that ranged from 12 to 15 grams. By the end of the century, string tension had risen to 80 kg in the middle register, resulting in a heavier action with 9 mm of travel depth, requiring 45 g for full key depression. Today’s Steinway grands feature even heavier actions and larger hammers: 90 kg of string tension and 10.5 mm of travel depth, requiring 50 to 60 g of key depression force.”
  —  Lora Deahl & Brenda Wristen, American Music Teacher, JUN-2003.

I  sometimes use 2-3-5 LH for triads and 1-2-3 for RH triads, leaving the thumb ready for 7ths or other contingencies. Also, my RH likes 1-3-5 or 1-2-5 when straddling black notes or for inversions or big gaps. But these produce tension in the hand—not just physical stretching but—I realize this now—brain stretching, too. Brain regions controlling the index finger and middle finger—fused under the influence of years of neuroplasticity—get anxious. They are apprehensive of more affliction that’s surely in-store.

T his Bach is undoubtedly about middle age and loss. Written in 1722 or a little earlier—two years after the sudden death of his first wife, Maria Barbara; now soon after his marriage to Anna Magdalena. Bach at 37—he hardly knew over-the-hillness first-hand, but he surely knew about loss. I realize that I am playing this differently now in my late 50s than I did 20 years ago, but I am not sure how to explain the difference in words.

I t has been more than 10 years since I played French Suites. The elapsed time is long enough to have lost any muscle memory I once had. Whole strategies and insights have vanished—and my old marked-up copy misplaced in one move or another along the way. Maybe my explanation for what is different is just that: beginning again, after some sort of catastrophe. Feels like physical therapy/rehab for someone who has suffered a stroke? You full-well know what your appendages ought to do, and you know the self-possessed sensations that you intend, but the body doesn’t cooperate—or even feel like your own self, really.

W hen working out your fingerings—even for a piece that is vexingly familiar and yet alien, like this one is for me right now—you often start at the beginning of a passage and plot your strategy forward from there. Sometimes, though, I prefer to first find the points that demand a specific finger. These points mark constraints such that you must have the requisite finger to proceed into the next phrase; such points are often the highest or lowest points in a passage. In the RH, you don’t usually want to end up with fingers 1 or 2 on the highest note (LH lowest note), nor do you want to end up on 4 or 5 on the lowest note of a RH passage (highest in the LH)—especially if the thing is going to immediately reverse direction. Once you’ve identified those constraints, you can work outward, both upstream and downstream, to plan your optimal fingerings.

I  mark each place that involves a finger substitution, a change of fingering on a repeated note, or crossings (4-over-5; 2-over-1; 3-over-1; 4-over-1; 1-under-2; 1-under-3; 1-under-4; 5-under-4). I used to do this in pencil, and sometimes I still do this. But in the last couple of years I prefer to do it with e-markups in MusicReader™ software, which I use with my AirTurn™ pedal.

I  mark more non-standard fingerings—the more afflicted the passage, the more non-standard it gets. For example, a passage may have a D minor scale in the RH, but it may continue to the octave E. One conventional fingering would cross to 1 on the high D and place 2 on the E. If it were then to return, you would have another crossing (1 - 4 on D to C) almost immediately. In this instance, a non-standard fingering such as 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 may be more effective. Bach as ‘rehab’; rehab as [self-] ‘discovery’...

• Dunning J. When a pianist’s fingers fail to obey. NY Times, 14-JUN-1981.
  
• Ferrario V, et al. Three-dimensional analysis of hand and finger movements during piano playing. Med Prob Perf Artists 2007;22:18-24.
  
• Harding D, et al. Minimization of finger-joint forces and tendon tensions in pianists. Med Prob Perf Artists 1989;4:103-7.
  
• Miyoshi A. Piano Method, Vols. 1-8. Kawai Press, 1998.
  
• Akiro Miyoshi page at Wikipedia
  
• Wristen B. Avoiding piano-related injury: A proposed theoretical procedure for biomechanical analysis of piano technique. Med Prob Perf Artists 2000;15:55-63.
  
• Yonebayashi Y, et al. Automatic decision of piano fingering based on hidden Markov models. Proceedings IJCAI 2007, Pp. 2915-21. [1MB pdf]
  
• Music Teachers National Association (U.S.)
  
• American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
  
• Performing Arts Medicine Association

Hunting Dogs 2

The Flyers go up 2 games to nil over the hated Habs. This is a wonderful development. Sadly, in this corner of the Sporting World there is a a development that is not so wonderful.
My hunting buddy Ned lost his Black Lab recently. Puddy was one fine waterfowl dog and damn fine in field pursuits as well. After a recent trip to the Vet, Ned was advised that Puddy was terminally ill. Puddy was pictured in one of my early posts about hunting dogs and the special bond we hunters form with these loving, good natured and skillful companions. Puddy is pictured above in his camo vest in a snowy field at our Hunting Club. That is how I remember the "Pudster" as I called him. I hunted over this chap many times...and while my sorrow is exponentially less then Ned's, I still empathize and feel the loss.
I have posted 2 pictures of my hunting dog Archie. One is when he is on point during a pheasant hunt and another is Archie posing with the days bag from a hunt in the following season. Archie is a tremendous bird dog possesed of a great nose and an artful point, a great household pet and a stalwart companion to this writer...he is already 10 years old and the loss of Ned's dog is a harbringer of the inevitable loss I will experience some bleak and sorrowful day hence.
The other shot is of a beautiful Irish Setter owned by another hunting buddy. The last shot is a print of a Lab on the porch of a duck hunter's cabin. The dog seems eminently sad at being outside and seperated from his master. I hope Puddy,wherever his canine soul may reside, does not feel as the Lab in the painting. Here's to you Puddy...hunt 'em up.

GO FLYERS

Friday night the Flyers accomplished the near impossible....coming back to win the series against Boston after being down 3-0. I had to follow the game on my Blackberry as the wife and I were at the pre Radnor Hunt Party.

All of us Flyers fans here in the City of Brotherly Love were astonished at the 6-0 hammering dealt to the hapless Habs. Seriously, they opened a six pack of whoop-ass on them...and sent their Goalie scampering to the locker room.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow night's game

An Accumulation of Energies, Nameless and Named: Evening Chamber Music in Prague

O   nce you’ve seen the signs about it [The Most-photographed Barn in America!], it becomes impossible to ‘see’ the barn,’ said Murray.
He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced at once by others.
‘We’re not here to capture an image; we’re here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumulation of nameless energies...’
There was an extended silence. The man in the booth sold postcards and slides.
‘Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see [and hear] only what others see [and hear]. The thousands who were here in the past; those who will come in the future. We’ve agreed to be part of a collective perception.”
  —  Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985).

A    ve Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Virgo serena.
Ave cuius conceptio,
solemni plena gaudio,
celestia, terrestria,
nova replet letitia.
Ave cuius nativitas,
nostra fuit solemnitas,
ut lucifer lux oriens
verum solem preveniens.
Ave pia humilitas,
sine viro fecunditas,
cuius annunciatio
nostra fuit salvatio.
Ave vera virginitas,
immaculata castitas,
cuius purificatio
nostra fuit purgatio.
Ave preclara omnibus
angelicis virtutibus,
cuius fuit assumptio
nostra glorificatio.
O Mater Dei, memento mei. Amen.”

W e hastily ran around the small central core of Prague—the Stare Mesto (old town) and the Hrad (castle). The evenings were dark and delicious.

W e found the astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall to be especially interesting, both symbolically and from an engineering point of view. At the top of the hour, the clock features a procession of figurines of the 12 apostles, preceded by the figure of Death (you can see him in the picture above, on the right-hand side) pulling a rope in his right hand, and inverting the hourglass that’s in His right hand. Each evening, we attended one or two concerts featuring Mozart, Vivaldi, local Czech composers—at the baroque Church of St. James, for example. The evenings had more renditions of Ave Maria than I ever knew existed.

E ach night from 8 p.m. onward you can find many—dozens?—of these chamber performances—in churches and other small halls. Very modestly-priced. Small ensembles, quartets, trios, duets, violin and piano, cello and piano, violin and piano and voice, voice and harp, violin and harp and organ/harmonium, string trio with trumpet, violin and harp and flute--anything and everything. Mostly, these are short programs less than 1 hour in length, cash admission collected at the door, with repertoire picked to appeal to a touristic audience and insure a nice extra income for the performers, many of whom are professional members of standing orchestras or chamber ensembles in and around Prague.

I nvariably, there is at least one version of Ave Maria.

F amous and familiar as it is, the most frequently performed is the version by Charles Gounod, who added melody and words to J. S. Bach’s first prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Mozart’s K.554 is the one next most common version on offer. Brahms’s Op. 12.

A ntonín Dvořák’s version, the one composed in 1877. Another one, Verdi’s, for his 1887 opera Otello.

R ussian composer César Cui’s obsession: he is one of several composer ‘repeat offenders’ who have set the text at least three times: Op. 34, for 1 or 2 women’s voices with piano or harmonium (1886), and as part of two of his operas: Le Flibustier (premiered 1894) and Mateo Falcone (1907). Anton Bruckner wrote three different settings...

S ettings by Bruch, Byrd, Elgar, Verdi, Saint-Saëns, Rossini, Stravinsky, Schubert, Massenet, and Perosi as well as versions by less well-known composers, such as J.B. Tresch.

J acques Arcadelt’s setting: in reality, a 19th century arrangement by Pierre-Louis Dietsch, based on Arcadelt’s three-part madrigal, ‘Nous voyons que les hommes’.

F ranz Schubert’s ‘Ellens dritter Gesang’ (D839, Op 52. No. 6, 1825), performed with the Ave Maria prayer sung in place of the original text.

A lso, Josquin Desprez, Orlando di Lasso, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Nights are cool, chambered Grace, full of Marys. Collective, maintained perception—sort of like DeLillo's most-photographed barn, or like Motif #1.

• DeLillo D. White Noise. Penguin, 1985/2009.
  
• 213 Ave Maria entries at IMSLP
  
• Mozart K.554 score at IMSLP
  
• Fauré Op.93 score at IMSLP
  
• Gounod score at IMSLP
  
• Schubert D.839 score at IMSLP
  
• Ave Maria text in various languages (Univ Dayton)

Radnor Hunt Races

This Saturday will find the Steeplechase afficianados tailgating in Willistown Township PA for the 80th running of The Radnor Hunt Races.This Meet raises money for the Brandywine Conservancy which preserves open space in verdant southern Chester County hunt country and beyond....a very well run and successful organization. The Radnor course...named after W. Burling Cocks, was redesigned a few years ago and is one of the best in the Country. The vantage points from all over the course afford great views and the Jumbotron picks up what the binoculars cannot.
There are 2 major races in this Meet: The National Hunt Cup and The Radnor Hunt Cup.

For the National Hunt Cup my money will be placed on Nationbuilder. This 6 year old Gelding won The Queens Cup in NC last month and while I am not really familiar with the Jockey...I think this big boned Timber Jumper has the speed and stamina to win on this demanding course. Left Unsaid,ridden by Ross Geraghty, will likely be another favorite and it will be interesting to see how the Punters make odds for this leg of The Sport of Kings Series. With a $ 50,000.00 Purse, be sure none of the Jockeys will be leaving anything in the tank.
Next, in The Radnor Hunt Cup,I have to again look to South Monarch. This horse was featured in a prior post and did win at Winterthur and also bested a class field at My Lady's Manor in Maryland. With the experienced and talented Jody Petty on board, I see this as a lock. This pick will not make money with bets at the Punter's easel...but you could sweep a nice pot at a tailgate betting pool.
Friday evening before the races, my wife and I will be attending the Wildflower Ball. This Black Tie Hunt Ball is held at the Radnor Hunt Clubhouse and is always a splendid night. Attended by major fundraiser/sponsors,trainers, Stable owners, and Club Members,it is a great equestrian group...the food, band and free flowing booze do not suck either. The real trick at this function is to maintain composure and not on-load too much in the way of Spirits...else the pounding head and booze-malaise can be vexatious during the following day of tailgating and racing.
When the races are over, those favored with an invite can watch the Preakness at a party under the Stewards Tower on the course finish line. This gig offers yet another open bar...yeah like I'll need it after 5 hours of Tailgating. Nevertheless, we always manage to persevere and knock back a few last drinks in honor of the events at Pimlico.
The photos in this post are courtesy of Jim Graham Photography...but I did sneak in a shot of one of my Daughter's horse shows.
Sunday will find me back at the helm of my Lacrosse team...coaching the kids in a late afternoon game against Radnor. Cheers and Jockeys up....