The Mudra healing has been combined with ‘Living with Awareness’ techniques here, to achieve any goal or objective. To understand how our mind works against our own goals and objectives, please read the following posts:

http://healbyrule.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/i-am-the-hero-and-the-villain-in-the-movie-life-directed-by-me/

http://healbyrule.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/dress-up-as-married/

Three Steps to Fulfilment

If you have a desire that’s not fulfilled (let us say you want to be an actor), then do the following:

1. Do the Acceptance Mudra and affirm, “I accept myself totally. I release my desire to be an actor”.

If you want to reduce your weight then affirm, “I accept myself totally. I release my desire to reduce my weight”.

Or you affirmation could be, “I I accept myself totally. I release my desire to look attractive”. Thus release all your desires to loose your weight.

Why should I release my desires? Even desires are a form of resistance to achieve our goals and objectives.

To see how to do acceptance Mudra:

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/acceptance-mudra/

2. Do Jupiter Mudra and affirm, “I release my resistance to become an actor”. If you have a desire that is unfulfilled, it means there is a resistance inside you. To reduce your weight, affirm, “I release my resistance to reduce my weight”.

Sometimes we want something consciously, but unconsciously we will be resisting that. This is called psychological reversal.

To see how to do Jupiter Mudra:

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/jupiter-mudra/

3. Do Movement Mudra and affirm, “I have become an actor”, “I have started to act in so and so film” as though the desire has happened already.

To see how to do Movement Mudra:

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/movement-mudra/

At least spend 5-15 minutes in each Mudra, in the order mentioned. Do them twice a day.

• To move forward in life.
• To feel fresh, especially if you are not a morning person, do this Mudra.
• If you are stuck up in a traffic.
• After 8th month of pregnancy is over, do this Mudra. Movement of the child will be smooth. Natural movement of foetus will happen and there will be an easy delivery.

Index and middle fingers touches the thumb.

Beat the Traffic – a Case History

Tom is not a morning person. He works for a software company. Timings are flexible. So he can afford to go late to office.

Due to some work pressure, though suddenly he had to go early to office. This he found it very difficult to do, even after setting up an alarm.

So after waking up, and until he got up from bed, he started doing Movement Mudra or otherwise called as a Kubera Mudra. After a couple of weeks, he was able to get up early without an alarm.

Unfortunately, the morning hour’s traffic was too much for him to handle. He started doing this Mudra, whenever he had to wait for the signal or when the traffic stops. Surprisingly he found that he could beat the traffic somehow.

Within a couple of months, he was asked to vacate his house. He found a house, which was closer to his office. He thinks there is a connection between this change and the movement Mudra, as he started reaching his office early without any effort whatsoever.

Also called as Aakaash (space) Mudra.

Keyword for this Mudra is “expand”.

• This Mudra activates Jupiter inside you and brings abundance in your life.
• It will expand your horizon and get wider views of life and you will become a good judge of the life’s events.
• The teacher in you will be activated too.
• Person who is mean minded and selfish will become broad minded and selfless.
• This generates blue energy and thus activates throat Chakra.

Chant Bija Mantra “Om Hum Namaha” while doing this Mudra.

Touch the middle finger with thumb on both the hands

Ram is working in a software company.

He developed a left shoulder back pain. I asked him whether he has any problem in the office. He replied that he has no role in the office and therefore, he is not working to his satisfaction.

The Message from his body is, “Because of your lack of interest, your contribution is less in the office. You are giving less than you are receiving. If you continue to do so, in the future you will get lesser appreciation. There may be a cut in the salary too. Even if you find a new job you will be paid less there. If you don’t want these things to happen then give 100% of your efforts”.  Otherwise your receiving will become lesser and lesser.

I asked him to affirm ‘I choose to find ways to give 100%. I stop resisting the present job. I accept it totally’.

Note

The moment he committed, the body pain was reduced. Please note that there is no right or wrong here!

Every God has their field day

Ramya

For Sivarathri we pray to Siva, for Pradosham another deity and so on. On specific days we chant mantras for a specific god. Thus during different days, we chant different mantras. Do we have to say so many mantras or do we have one mantra which takes care of all the gods.

Naran S. Balakumar

We chant mantras based on the trust and love and association we have for a particular god. Different people prefer different gods. This is based on mind of the person. All gods are one and the same. Why so many gods or energies? Each of those gods has a specific purpose behind them.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna

Of course there is one mantra that gives the benefit of chanting mantras for all gods. It is the mantra, “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”. If we take bija mantras for all mantras, then they are present inside this mantra. Combination of all characters of mantras pertaining to all Gods is found in this mantra.

I chanted so much, and thus ego creeps in

Whatever mantra you say then immediately you get attached yourself to deity. You feel proud that you have done so much. However, while doing a Japam, it should remove my ego too. There is no flaw in the mantras. But mantra should have the capability to shed our ego. Hare Rama Hare Krishna can do that for us. Nothing else is needed. That doesn’t mean we need not go away from mantras for other Gods.

Get a Total Satisfaction

People have attained Siddhis or liberation with all the mantras. Why then Hare Rama Hare Krishna mantra has a special place? If you chant Hare Rama Hare Krishna mantra, then you get the satisfaction that you get by chanting all the mantras. You feel complete because you have not missed out any.

Revathy on healing her knees – a Case History

Earlier, I use one leg to get climb the stairs to attend the classes of Naran. After chanting Hare Ram Hare Krishna mantra, I could use both the legs. My knees are so much better

1. Fulfilment at Your Finger Tips: the Mudra healing has been combined with ‘Living with Awareness’ techniques here, to achieve a goal or objective.

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/fulfilment-at-your-finger-tips/

2. Expand your life with Jupiter Mudra

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/jupiter-mudra/

3. Life is all about having a continuous movement. Do this Mudra to move forward in life. Avoid Traffic! Feel Fresh!

http://healbymudra.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/movement-mudra/

4. You may want others to understand you! You are afraid to face some confrontation that you expect! You want to know to whether your business or life partner is genuine or not! Then read the flowing post to find out how you can do that:

http://healbyanimalspirits.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/make-your-communication-effective/

5. The forgiveness pact you can make with your spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends and relatives:

http://findlifeanswers.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/forgiveness-pact/

6. Is there is one mantra, which will appease all gods?

http://healbymeditation.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/one-universal-mantra/

7. Give 100% to your work to get job satisfaction, get a better raise and avoid any future salary cuts:

http://healbymindbodymessages.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/give-100-to-your-work/

Every time we forgive someone,

            We talk the language of God

            We activate our own divine part.

            It also helps others to see us in a new light.

 In addition,

            If there is no forgiveness, then there is no understanding.

            If there is no understanding, then there is no healing.

            If there is no healing, then you will remain incomplete forever.

You want others to understand you…

When you think, others are not listening to you and that you are misunderstood, call upon the Animal Spirit Guide Cuckoo. Then the opposite person will listen to you thanks to Cuckoo. When you are praying to Cuckoo, either visualize the person or keep his photograph and then pray.

If something does not happen, to reach up to the divine time, keep Cuckoo with you. During situations, ‘So many years we are looking for a groom’, and ‘No promotion in sight’, Cuckoo will give you required patience.

Message from Cuckoo: if you sight a Cuckoo, then stop gossiping as you are talking bad about a person behind their backs.

Face any Confrontation without fear

If you expect a confrontation, take the picture of Animal Spirit Guide Crab and show it to them.

Crab helps you to quickly adapt to new situations and a new life. For newly married girl, give the picture of Crab. She will understand her husband’s family easily.

Find whether your partner is genuine or not

When you are entering into partnership or marriage, to find out whether they are genuine or not, take the picture of crow with you.

A business offer comes, you want to know whether it is good to accept it or not. Animal Spirit Guide Crow will help you to figure it out. Keep its picture in the pocket till you take the decision.

Write the name of the bride, draw a circle over it, and write the word Crow around it. She will invite the right partner.

Message from Crow: if you sight a crow in an unusual circumstance then something good and big will happen to you.

På fredag øvde jeg til gudstjenesten jeg skulle spille på på søndag. Her er et lite utdrag fra øvelsen. Takk til gjestestjerna! Haha.

While some writers need absolute silence to write, I need music to get the creative juices following. Here’s my top 10 albums for writing:

10. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D

I love this piece of music. It is the musical equivalent of the Roman virtue of gravitas – dignified and solemn. How I wish I could achieve the same goosebumpyness in my writing! Bonus fact: “Beethoven didn’t finish the music until the last minute.” (gee, I wonder what that feels like…)

9. Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony

Schubert’s music is great for writing: triumphant in some moments, spooky in others. Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony even sounds like a film soundtrack. And the fact that it is an unfinished masterpiece is comforting for people like me whose hard drive is cluttered with false starts.

8. Bach’s Goldberg Variations

Wistful and lovely. Very soothing. The BBC describes the variations as taking one from the “sublime to delightfully silly.” I am a fan of the piano version, which you may recognize as the music that Hannibal Lecter air conducts in Silence of the Lambs.

7. Phillip Glass: Notes on a Scandal (Soundtrack)

I love Philip Glass’s soundtracks, and this is one of the best. Lots of intense oboes and clarinets that reflect the psychological complexity of the film. It helps me get into the heads of characters and reminds me how good intentions can go awry.

6. Vivaldi’s Violin Concertos

These short pieces for violin are a wonderful alternative for those suffering Four-Seasons-fatigue. Like a good sentence, the orchestration is crisp and precise. I often feel inspired to take different directions while listening to the taunting violins.

5. Beethoven’s Symphony No 5
This is the dur-dur-dur-dur one. Someone once said, and it might have been Niki Gemmell, that you should write as if you were dying. The dur-dur-dur-dur is Fate, knocking on Beethoven’s door, waking him from sleep. Motivating stuff if one has a deadline.

4. Mozart’s Requiem

From the pounding Rex Tremendae to sweeping sadness of Lacrymosa, Mozart’s Requiem takes me outside of myself for a while, which is ideal for the creative process.

3. James Horner: Titanic Soundtrack.

Go on. Have your snicker. Titanic is very goofy and a little familiar but I find it invaluable for creating suspense and drama. In the early stages of a manuscript, it is a time for fun and being uncritical, although you have my permission to skip the Celine Dion track.

2. Phillip Glass: The Hours Soundtrack

Like Notes on a Scandal, the sharp, repetitive themes of The Hours help me enter the interior life of the characters, even characters I thought as being minor or unlikeable. Both movies were based on books, which might explain the complex moods of the music.

And the best music for writing ever is….

1. James Horner: A Beautiful Mind Soundtrack

Whoa. I love this soundtrack – and I’ve never even seen the film! Never heard anything quite as haunting, and it always gets me in the mood for writing marathons. Don’t think there is much more I can say about how much I love it!

Warning:

NEVER listen to music while re-reading and editing. In movies, even theworst dialogue feels poignant if accompanied by beautiful music. To spot bloopers, cliches, and typos, the text must be read in unforgiving silence. (I learned this the hard way when a mediocre short story felt more wonderful than it really was.)

What do you write to? Nothing? What’s your favorite? What have I missed?

i solisti di perugia

Giovedì 26 novembre Sala dei Notari ore 21:30

Palazzo dei Priori PERUGIA

Il rapporto tra musica e matematica, è questo il presupposto ideologico che ha spinto gli organizzatori  del IX Congresso della Società Italiana Storia delle Matematiche  ad includere  nel programma il concerto del sestetto de “i Solisti di Perugia” e del gruppo vocale, “Armoniosoincanto” diretto dal maestro, Franco Radicchia. Il cartellone prevede musiche di: Dufay, Lasso, Bach, Pachelbel e Pedini. Si comincerà con il Mottetto di Guillaume Dufay. L’opera si chiama: “Nuper rosarum flores” che fu scritta da Dufay nel 1436 e suonata in occasione della cerimonia di consacrazione della Cupola del Brunelleschi della cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore a Firenze. Il mottetto sarà cantato “a cappella” (sole voci) dal coro Armoniosoincanto e la stessa opera rivista nel 2005, dal compositore perugino Carlo Pedini, per coro e orchestra d’archi. In chiusura di concerto, quindi, la corale e il sestetto de “i Solisti di Perugia”. Il pubblico, quindi, avrà la possibilità di ascoltare la stessa melodia rielaborata secondo moduli matematici. Il secondo brano in programma è “Il Canone” di Carlo Pedini, opera che richiama – con il suo stesso nome – una formula matematica. Una forma musicale che fa passare, attraverso le voci, uno stesso tema che si rincorre attraverso i diversi solisti. Tanto per fare un esempio, il Canone più famoso è quello di “Fra’ Martino Campanaro”, dove una stessa melodia, ad una distanza esatta, è ripetuta tante volte creando una sovrapposizione che è, però, sempre consonante. Un gioco matematico perfetto, come lo è anche una “fuga”. Il tema, Pedini lo trae da una sua stessa opera: “Un giorno qualunque”. Con stile da “divertissement”, il compositore scrisse il Canone nel 2000 dedicandolo per l’appunto a i Solisti di Perugia. “Nel 2001 – ricorda Maria Cecilia Berioli, vicepresidente dell’Associazione i Solisti di Perugia – lo suonammo ad Atene in occasione delle celebrazioni della festa della Repubblica”. Il terzo brano sarà rappresentato da una prima esecuzione assoluta, anche qui un Canone, il cui tema è stato tratto da una grande opera concettuale di Johan Sebastian Bach: “Offerta musicale di Bach”. Si tratta di una raccolta musicale formata da due fughe, dieci canoni e una trio sonata a quattro frasi, dalla quale Carlo Pedini ha tratto il tema sul quale costruire il Canone. L’Offerta musicale di Bach non era stata destinata ad alcuno strumento. Tutto il materiale (di Bach) è basato su un tema musicale ideato dal re di Prussia Federico il Grande. Bach rielaborò il tema dato dal re in fughe per tre e sei voci e aggiunse una quantità di canoni, nei quali introdusse ogni difficoltà possibile per questa forma musicale, come una trio sonata per flauto, violino e basso continuo, in cui compare anche il “tema reale”. Il 7 luglio egli concluse l’opera e la dedicò al re di Prussia col nome di “Offerta musicale“. A settembre la raccolta era stampata, ma non fu mai destinata ad alcuno strumento. E’ una sorta di opera omnia della grande arte di Johan Sebastian Bach. Carlo Pedini ha, in sostanza, preso lo spunto da un “ricercare a sei”, contenuto in questa grande opera del compositore tedesco.

Il coro tornerà nuovamente a cantare a cappella – senza strumenti, quindi -, in “Bicinia” di Orlando Di Lasso (Roland de Lassus). Si tratta di canti a due voci relativi a composizioni di tipo aritmetico. Le voci si incontrano in stile contrappuntistico, in modo vario, e sempre creando delle figure geometriche.

Il concerto, , sarà chiuso dal Mottetto Nuper rosarum flores, rielaborato da Carlo Pedini sull’originale di Guillaume Dufay, cantato dalla corale e suonato dal sestetto de i Solisti di Perugia.

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di Lorena Tega

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The continuing saga testing the 1-2-4 Memory rule using Bach-Busoni’s Chorale Prelude – Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ…. 

After dropping it for two-weeks, the Bach/Busoni chorale prelude is back on the menu for review this week and today I completed the first practice session.  This piece is being used as the basis of the current study of the 1-2-4-Memory Rule.

It went very well, but…. I have to admit it , I cheated.  

Last week after playing the ‘Train Wreck’ Chorale Prelude it naturally flows straight into this one and two or three times I played this piece immediately following the other.    

So I think this distorts things a bit.  Bottom line I’ve played the piece maybe 3 times during the last two weeks, straight through and with no practice of individual component tasks.  But I like it, and I’m ‘allowed’ to play it! 

Today’s session went much better than the first practice session after dropping it for  1-week.  I was able to play the piece through straight away. Whilst there were a couple of slips and wrong notes there were no memory lapses at all.   There was a “feeling” of it starting to be not as instinctive as at the end of the review week and so  subsequently I ran through all the individual study tasks for this piece.  By playing hard phrases and sections very slowly I found some further weak spots which then got extra focus.   

Whilst I used the score for practicing sections and hard bars, I didn’t have any major memory slips during the end-to-end play throughs.    The plan is to continue practicing, polishing and enjoying playing this piece for the rest of the week and then to drop it for 4-weeks.   I’ll try not to play it! But I’m not making any promises.    In a similar manner, now that I’m working on the Train Wreck Chorale Prelude, I had thought of using it for a further test after another 4-month lay off.   However, I don’t think I can be disciplined enough to do this and my plan for that piece is to put it through the full 1-2-4-Memory rule.  

This also means that for some time to come, whilst there many pieces I’d like to start studying (in fact I enjoy reading and anlysing the score for these during lunch breaks in work) that I think my key focus will be recovering pieces that were previously started an not finished or have not been played for a long time.

Note: Solfeggietto was also back to review after dropping it for 1-week (and no cheating) this time…  It was actually very similar, I played it through at a medium pace (for me) with just a couple of slips.  The main problem is playing it much too fast (for the moment) using instinct rather than thought.  Some descending arpeggios/broken chords at the end were tricky so a new study task was created for these and 5 mins of focussed practice assigned.

Wayne McGregor comes to Leeds next week to rehearse Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT) dancers in his piece, Ossein, which the Company will perform as part of their NBT Gala on Saturday 12 December at Leeds Grand Theatre.

Wayne is the Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, the first in 13 years and the only one to come from contemporary dance. He is Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, a Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells. He is also the government’s first Youth Dance Champion.

He was last week awarded an International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence in International Dance.

Ossein, is choreographed to music by JS Bach. This will be the first time one of McGregor’s works will be performed in Leeds.

For further information contact NBT Media & PR Manager, Ruth Burke-Kennedy.

Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Sensational Five-course menu with wines paired from five premier Chateaux of Bordeaux hosted by Peter Althaus of Domaine A at di Mare Restaurant
7 pm till late

Bordeaux wine production seems to have begun sometime after 43 AD, during the Roman occupation, when they established vineyards to cultivate wine for the soldiers. An interesting concept……to send the soldiers into battle warmed by a red wine!

Although domestically popular, French wine was seldom exported until the 12th century (primarily due to a marriage). As a result, vineyards expanded to accommodate the demands from abroad especially after the export tax to England was abolished – what a wonderful idea!

Bordeaux’s reputation for fine wine is now unsurpassed. Its principles and methods of wine production are the benchmark for other wine regions around the world.

Complimenting the palate, is music to your ears from Australia’s violinist, Peter Tanfield. An international success, Peter has played with the world’s greats including Pinchas Zuckerman and Yehudi Menuhin, just to name a few. He’s performed as a soloist with some of the world’s great orchestras and made numerous recordings for TV and radio.

All of these offerings will be complemented by a sensational setting at di Mare, Karma Kandara’s premier restaurant set high on the cliff. Here you will enjoy a five course dinner along with some inspiring and imaginative stories and from our resident host, Peter Althaus.

If your wish is for the night not to end….then stay at Karma Kandara and enjoy all that is temptingly offered, including dinner and five-star service. An overnight package including a Luxury Pool Villa, breakfast for two and participation in the wine dinner is US$885++ for two persons.
Cost is US$185++ per person. Bookings essential

Please contact : +62 (361) 848 2200 or email : sales@karmaresorts.com for reservations

“this music is oceanic”.

Pomówmy o dźwiękach, co istnieją w odpowiedniej odległości, gdzieś w przestrzeni. I tylko czasem wnikają głęboko, głęboko pod skórę, pod paznokcie, pod powieki, jak miłość. Muzyka, jak każde uczucie jest raną, jak każde piękno, jest raną, którą chce się pogłębiać. Myśliwski pisał, że książki to świat, który się wybiera, a nie świat, na który się przychodzi. Czyż nie jest tak samo z muzyką? Muzyki, tak jak szczęścia trzeba szukać w sobie, bo nikt nam go nie da, jeśli sami nie ukierunkujemy się na nie. A szczęścia “czasem więcej jest w jednym dobrym słowie, niż w całym długim życiu”.

Prawdy i piękna szuka się jak dobra, czyż nie? Właśnie to jest to, co zawsze wydawało mi się najbliższe w literaturze, a co teraz z wielką radością odkrywam w muzyce, nieco bardziej świadomie wybierając ją i chłonąc. Piękno jednoznacznie kojarzyło mi się zawsze z czułością. “Są takie oczy, nie pozna pan po nich, że płakały. Wystarczy je otrzeć. A są takie, że płacz długo w nich stoi, nawet gdy dawno płakały”. Piękno zawsze było dla mnie ciepłem, stąd tak często wracam do powieści Borisa Viana, do wierszy Buntinga, Pasewicza, do książek Llosy, z których wieje taką nieodpartą potrzebą ciepła, zrozumienia i miłości, która jednak nigdy człowieka nie spotyka, mimo że czasem wydaje mu się, że się o nią otarł. Jednak nie sama czułość świadczy o dobroci, ale i prawda. A nie znam innej prawdy, niż tęsknota za pięknem. “Przeszłość to tylko nasza wyobraźnia, a wyobraźnia potrzebuje tęsknoty, wręcz karmi się tęsknotą. Przeszłość drogi panie nie ma nic wspólnego z czasem, jak się sądzi”.

Tak oto uzupełniają się te kategorie i, niby nóż, dźgają nam serce, ciągle popychając do rozwoju, do poszukiwania tak, byśmy mogli dogonić życie, i siebie dogonić. Spróbować się odnaleźć. Najgłębiej przecież kocha się przez ból, kochasz kiedy boli Cię czyjś ból. I czasem w tym, co uda Ci się przeczytać, usłyszeć, zobaczyć znajdujesz jakąś wiązkę czyjegoś bólu, który Cię dotyka, rani, kaleczy. Trzeba być otwartym na ten ból, na ten smutek.

Słucham dzisiaj “Lamentate” Parta w wykonaniu Boreyki i Hilliard Ensamble. Można by powiedzieć, że to utwór, który opłakuje nie śmierć, nie zmarłych, nie to, co minęło, ale to co mija, czego zaczyna nam brakować teraz – życie. Arvo Parta inspirowała rzeźba Anisha Kapoora “Marsjasz”, patrząc na niego, pamiętając o tym jak Apollo obdarł go ze skóry po przegranym turnieju muzycznym, autor “De profundis” wierzył, że obserwuje siebie, martwego. I miał poczucie, jakby jego ciało nie było gotowe na przyjęcie tego wyzwania, śmierci. Więc może stąd u ponad siedemdziesięcioletniego kompozytora tak dramatyczny ton, takie wołanie o posłuch. Czuję się onieśmielony wspominając te ciche, a zarazem przeszywające solowe partie fortepianu, które czasem rozrywa orkiestra. I ten moment, kiedy zbliża się finał i potęguje się ból. Uważam to dzieło za jedno z jego najważniejszych dokonań.

Chciałbym Państwu zwrócić uwagę również na ciekawą propozycję fińskiego kompozytora, Sasu Ripatti, niektórym znanego pewnie jako Luomo. Niedawno odbył się koncert jednego z jego projektów – Vladislava Delaya, na którym zagrał z Luciem Capece i grupą Food. Przed nimi wystąpił zespół eyebrow. Na stronie Arctic Circle Radio można posłuchać audycji, w której o tych bardzo utalentowanych artystach opowiada Collin Buttimer, dziennikarz i krytyk muzyczny BBC. Myślę, że warto, oto bezpośredni link do audycji. link

Na koniec coś, co przez ostatni tydzień budziło mnie i cieszyło. Dobre, ale nie najlepsze wykonanie, najlepsze mam na płycie tylko, youtube niestety – wiadomo. Koncert na skrzypce i obój J. S. Bacha, mov. 1, allegro. Wspaniały fragment. Miłego wieczoru Państwu.

I hadn’t played a piece for more than 4 months ( the Bach-Busoni Chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme [Awake! The Voice commands], BWV 645). 

On the first attempt I struggled to remember any of it. See the   Train Wreck article for full details.   Well I have now worked it up again and have the details of how much time  effort this took….

A recording of this piece was submitted to the Piano World ABF forum recital #15 and it hasn’t been played since.  The piece has been relearnt using all the information available from the first time around and currently it is playable from  memory end-to-end at a moderate tempo.  

The breakdown of time (mins) and days was:

The first couple of days I was trying to decypher my notes, section breaks and so forth.  I should have made much more detailed notes of the fingering in particular.

The count of individual tasks studied was:

 The second section (bars 13-20) seemed to require a lot of review.  I tried not to cut any corners and worked logically through the hard phrases first then the hard bars/sections then the sections.  I’ve only played it through fully (but from memory) during the last couple of days.

The total time (mins) on each task was:

So it has come back together in 9.5 hours and 9 practice days.   This contrasts well with the first time around (nearly 70 hours in 70 days of practice over more than 4 months).

The first time around  there  was little time to consollidate the work on this piece.  So the plan now is to run this piece through the full 1-2-4-Memory rule, starting tomorrow with a 1-day break away from the piece (next week 2-days and the week after 4-days etc).  I also want to continue work on the 3 hardest phrases (left hand mordants) that I find very awkward, and so hope to develop further drills and exercises to this end.

Summary:  This “train wreck” non-maintained piece has been brought back  with approximately 15% of  the effort  spent learning it the first time (both days of practice and total time).  Whilst this might  seem to be an admirable return on the initial investment, I would hope that if properly maintained the effort required to just relearn the notes, might have been better used improving technique, phrasing and interpretation.  But overall this has been a very interesting exercise.

The Large Hadron Collider

 The greatest wizard of all fantasy
once claimed that when you break a thing in hopes
to understand it you have left the path
of wisdom. We are bold apprentices
of nature, smashing bits to tease a truth
from mysteries exploding out of clouds.

Marc Ladewig
Author of Odysseus-The Epic Myth of the Hero

Friedrich Gulda (1930 – 2000) was an Austrian classical and jazz pianist and composer. In his youth he studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and won the Geneva International Piano Competition. He was thoroughly admired for his Beethoven, but became something of an enfant terrible in the 1950s through extensive forays into jazz and his vocal irreverence for the classical musical “establishment” in Europe. Perhaps his most famous piano student was the great virtuoso (and fellow black sheep) Martha Argerich.

This video is from a 1982 collaboration with American jazz pianist Chick Corea; apparently, Gulda decided to cleanse the palate between jam sessions with a little Bach, and the result is spellbinding.

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Perfecta para el día de hoy

Le foglie, a Padova, non sono mai state così gialle: lo notavo oggi, andando a fare benzina. Non so da cosa possa dipendere; forse, tiro ad indovinare, dal modo con il quale si è arrivati a questo 21 novembre 2009, cioè dalla particolare sequenza di piogge, siccità, sole, nebbia (tanta nebbia) che ha caratterizzato gli ultimi mesi. Di sicuro ha piovuto poco; o così, almeno, mi pare di ricordare. Di sicuro, nei 21 novembre degli altri anni, le foglie erano già cadute, e stavano marcendo sui bordi dei marciapiedi; oppure, ancora appese ai rami, presentavano una gamma molto più convenzionale, e autunnale, di marroni.

Non ho mai visto quadri in cui le foglie siano state rappresentate con l’esatta tonalità del giallo squillante che ho ammirato oggi, lungo la strada verso il distributore. Neppure nelle opere degli impressionisti, così attenti a cogliere i colori cangianti della natura. E se qualche pittore decidesse di mettersi con il suo cavalletto lungo i marciapiedi della mia città, non oserebbe riprodurre la realtà per quello che è: il risultato non sarebbe verosimile.

Eh sì, bel paradosso: ci sono casi in cui la realtà non è verosimile; succede con certe storie di cronaca nera, con i tramonti, con le nuvole, con gli amori. Con le foglie. A raccontarli per quello che sono, a disegnarli, a suonarli usando solo dettagli veri, si otterrebbe qualcosa di incredibile. Perché, per definizione l’arte inganna: con artifici (ah, quante cose svela l’etimologia…) di varia natura – le parole, i colori, le forme, le note – essa induce il suo fruitore ad espandere i limiti della propria credulità. E’ per questo che Platone riteneva che l’arte, a differenza della filosofia, fosse estremamente pericolosa per una società civile: perché induceva le persone al pianto o al riso per fatti che non erano mai accaduti, trasformando così gli ascoltatori in bambini ingenui, potenzialmente disposti a credere anche a ciò che non è buono e giusto.

L’inganno dell’arte arriva a livelli sublimi. Dalle persone di fede protestante, Bach è stato considerato, per almeno due secoli, il quinto apostolo: la sua famosissima “Passione secondo Matteo” (che ogni adulto occidentale dovrebbe ascoltare almeno una volta, come prerequisito per poter votare alle Elezioni Europee) veniva considerata come un vangelo; e tra i vangeli, come quello più suggestivo. Tutti erano convinti che Bach avesse tradotto in musica la sua personale, profondissima esperienza religiosa, e che l’elevatezza irraggiungibile (lo è anche per un ateo come me: il sentimento religioso non presuppone l’esistenza di Dio) del risultato ottenuto dipendesse, in modo diretto, dalla grandezza e dalla purezza di quell’ispirazione divina. E’ invece ormai condiviso il fatto che Bach scrisse la musica della Passione prima di decidere la destinazione che intendeva dargli (Bach era un musicista professionista, che componeva esclusivamente su commissione); i sentimenti, insomma, si suscitano con la tecnica: e non con il sentimento, come credono tutti gli ingenui del mondo.

In ambiti molto meno nobili, è risaputo che quando i comici si divertono, difficilmente gli spettatori ridono. E che non serve morire sul palco – morire davvero – per convincere il pubblico a versare qualche lacrima sincera. Mentre si girava il film “Il maratoneta”, Laurence Olivier, vedendo il suo collega Dustin Hoffman che correva per due chilometri per girare una scena in cui aveva il fiatone, gli chiese: “Ma non sarebbe sufficiente recitare?”. Gli attori impiegano anni per arrivare a gestire ogni aspetto del proprio corpo, del proprio viso, della propria voce, con un solo obiettivo: cioè recitare talmente bene, da sembrare veri. Ad Hollywood gira anche la battuta che Dustin Hoffman, prima di girare “Kramer contro Kramer”, storia dolorosa di una separazione, divorziò da sua moglie per applicare il famoso metodo dell’Actor’s Studio, che prevedeva una totale identificazione dell’attore con il personaggio: in realtà, Dustin Hoffman divorziò da sua moglie durante le riprese.

Il maratoneta

Scendendo ancora un po’ più giù, ci sono voci di cantanti che ci fanno emozionare fino al punto da indurci la famosa orripilazione, aka pelle d’oca (fenomeno trasmesso dai nostri pensieri ai muscoli dei peli attraverso il sistema simpatico: il che apre scenari incredibilmente stimolanti sul rapporto tra mente e corpo), e ci pare che questo effetto sia dovuto al gran cuore del cantante, capace di provare sentimenti con un’intensità tale da farli tracimare, e attraverso la proverbiale ugola, farli arrivare a noi intatti. Il caso di quella specie di idiot savant che è Amy Winehouse dimostra che le cose, probabilmente, non vanno affatto in questo modo: con i produttori si lavora per giorni sulla particolare raucedine da usare in un passaggio, fino a che questo diventa sinceramente toccante.

L’arte inganna; se non lo fa, allora perde tutta la sua potenza. Una fotografia diventa arte quando, rappresentando il giardino sotto casa, o il viso di una persona, il risultato sembra tutt’altro. Nei cartoni animati della Pixar, il realismo si ottiene anche riproducendo la rifrazione della lente della cinepresa – lente che non esiste da nessuna parte, se non nella nostra testa.

Per essere credibile, insomma, l’arte deve assomigliare all’arte. E il giallo inverosimile di questa mattina, credetemi, non si era mai visto in nessun quadro.

an interpretation of the fluidity of a Bach track back in my freshman year in 2005