Sixty by Sixty

Still Overloaded

I was expecting some tired time after finishing the semester.  I wasn’t expecting to be exhausted for a few weeks after.   I’ve been doing the bare minimum each day: work, lessons, keep up on laundry and dishes and minimal cooking.  The trouble is, without school, I’m still working a full time job and a part time job.   It’s not like I suddenly have lots of free time now that I’m done with school.  My jury was April 25 and now it is almost May 25 and I’m still waiting for that feeling of relief that I’m on break. 

It has been busy in the last month.  I thought Holy Week was an overloaded week and then the end of the semester I was overloaded finishing up theory and organ. There have been many events since that time:  Sara’s Graduation and luncheon, played at the School First Communion, played for Ascension, Religious Ed First Communion, Confirmation, prepare for piano recital.  Lots happens in May - don’t forget Mother’s Day and family birthdays.

This last week was the hardest.  We’ve always had First Communion on Saturday mornings in the past and for some reason it switched to Sunday afternoon this year.  Sunday afternoon and evening is my only guaranteed free time and I was frustrated to have to give that up.  Because of the recital the day after Confirmation on Wednesday, I needed to move Wednesday students but couldn’t use Tuesday because of Confirmation.  So I ended up with students on Friday after school, Saturday morning, Sunday at noon and Monday until 8 pm!  I almost never teach on Sunday but I didn’t have anywhere else to put those students.  And of course lots of practice was needed to prepare for every Mass I needed to play.

I know it is going to get easier.  I’ve been thinking that since after Christmas break.  I knew being in school just put me over the top with being overloaded.  The second semester was more difficult in a lot of ways.  And to finish with that and then have so many other events, not to mention everything I put off while I was in school - it’s understandable I would be tired, overwhelmed and overloaded.  But when does it end?  Why does my life feel so impossible right now?  I haven’t slept well for two nights and I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next day and everything I need to do when all I want to do is sleep. 

… … … … … … … … …

I didn’t post this last night so I’m posting now - today was still overloaded but I’m cautiously optimistic that easier days are coming soon.  We’ll see - tomorrow.

Pipe Organ #52, Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Colin wanted to introduce me to this organ but there was a rehearsal going on when we stopped by.  After playing in the organ studio of Dr. James Kibbie, Colin’s first choice was the organ in the Blanche Anderson Moore Hall (BAM), but he also said I could play in the studio of Marilyn Mason.  When the organ in the BAM was not available, twice, we decided to go eat and then come back and check again.  When we returned the ensemble rehearsal was finished, and there was one person practicing the harpsichord.  When Colin asked how long he would be, he graciously let us spend a half hour and then he would return.  It made it a short visit, but Colin had plans to attend an opera at 7 and I wanted to back in Battle Creek before dark.

Colin playing.

This organ is gorgeous and the room is amazing.  The auditorium in located in the Moore Building at the University of Michigan.  The Moore building houses the Music Department.  The view above is what you see upon entering.  Steps down have seating on both sides and harpsichords on the bottom level.  Steep steps up on the right lead to the organ.  I imagine the larger steps on the left are risers for choirs to stand.  The walls look like they could be soft curtains but they are hard as rock providing great acoustics. 

A little closer.

This organ was built in 1985 by C.B. Fisk, Opus 87, and modeled after organs built during the time of J.S. Bach by Gottfried Silbermann in Germany.  The auditorium and organ were dedicated in 1985, the 300th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s birth.  A quote on Silbermann by Bach: “His organs are excellent; he is appropriately named ‘Silbermann,’ for his organs have a silvery tone and thundering basses.” The School of Music, Theatre & Dance named this organ the Marilyn Mason Organ, honoring Professor Mason for contributions to the Organ Department and the University of Michigan.

Closer still.

The console has doors.

The upper manual is the Oberwork which is the Swell, and the lower manual is the Hauptwerk which is the Great.  There are 56 notes on the manuals and 30 notes on the pedals which is less than most organs I’ve played.  There are 27 stops and 35 ranks. The inner stops on each side are the Swell and the outer stops the Great.  The lower stops are the pedals.  The coupler mechanism involves moving the swell keyboard partially over the great keyboard, called a shove coupler. 

We didn’t have much time so I played the Zipoli Verso, Pachelbel Toccata in e minor, and Pachelbel Fugue in d minor.  Of the pieces I’ve prepared, they were the most appropriate for this instrument.  I’m so glad I had a chance to see and play this pipe organ. 

Colin invited me to come back in the fall to play at his church and also at Hill Auditorium.  I only have 8 left, but I will be sure to save two for another trip to Ann Arbor.

Pipe Organ #51, Studio of Dr. Kibbie, University of Michigann

I was invited to this organ visit by a former piano student of mine who studied pipe organ with Jackie as a youngster, went to Interlochen as an organ student for his senior year of high school and is now studying organ performance at U of M.  He mentioned it via Facebook last summer and it didn’t work out to go in the fall.  As the semester wound down for both of us, there was one opportunity and that was Friday the 13th of April.  Colin was available after 2:30 so we planned to meet at the music building at 3:00 pm.   I left work at 1:00 pm and was on the road by 1:30.  It was a nice drive.  I worked as a computer programmer on Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor for 12 years, 22 years ago, and it was interesting to see how much the area had changed.

This is the longest I’ve ever gone before writing about an organ I’ve visited.  Friday, April 13, to Monday, May 6  is more than 3 weeks.  I hope I can remember the details.  I have a form for organ visits and always intend to take good notes, but they are never as thorough as I would like.  I hope the pictures will jog my  memory.

Dr. Kibbie’s teaching studio was designed by the well known architect Eero Saarinen and is used for instruction, practice, organ literature classes and seminars, and auditions. Ann Arbor artist Laura Latterner made the banners hanging over the console using designs by Dr. Kibbie.  They include quotes from J.S. Bach “There’s nothing remarkable about it. All you do is hit the right keys at the right time, and the instrument plays itself” and Cesar Frank “If you only knew how I love this instrument; it is so supple beneath my fingers and so obedient to all my thoughts.”  

Organ Studio - Better picture of pipes.

Organ Studio - Better picture of Colin

The organ is a 1964, 3 manual, M. P. Möller, Opus 9905.  The three manuals are Postiv, Great and Swell.  The Swell actually is a split swell, having two divisions Swell 1 and Swell 2, with a swell pedal for each.  I don’t understand the reason for a split swell.  Colin may have told me but it escapes me now.  The manuals have 61 notes and the pedals 32.

I played some of my Sixty by Sixty pieces and also the pieces I was preparing for my April 25th organ jury.  I didn’t play everything because we were planning on a second organ visit and I wanted to leave time for that and not play everything twice.  Colin helped with registration, asking what I had used on each piece in the past and finding suitable registration and making suggestions of additional things to try.  It was fun. 

I asked Colin if he would play something for me.  He played the 1st movement of the Widor Organ Symphony #6.  It was awesome.  Colin was preparing for jury also.

Graduation

After 25 years of having a daughter, or two or three in school, be it preschool, kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school or college, our youngest graduated on Saturday.

To quote Sara on Facebook: “5 Years, 4 Roommates, 3 Voice Teachers, 2 Majors and 1 Pink Tassel later, I have officially graduated from college!  Thanks to all who helped me along the way!” 

Years of classes, homework, tests, lessons, recitals, concerts, projects, music therapy practicum experiences, and more and now this chapter of her life is closed. Almost.  Her music therapy degree requires an internship before she can become certified by passing the board certification examination and therefore earn the credential Music Therapist – Board Certified (MT-BC).  So after a trip to the East Coast, and the summer as Team Captain at Catholic Heart Work Camp, she will spend six months in Illinois for her internship. 

There were four graduation ceremonies held at Miller Auditorium on April 28:

• 9 am College of Education and Human Development; College of Fine Arts
• Noon College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; College of Health and Human Services; Extended University Programs
• 3 pm College of Aviation; Haworth College of Business
• 6 pm College of Arts and Sciences

Graduating at 9 am meant there weren’t people leaving as we were arriving.  We were able to park at the top of the parking structure where I usually park for school and arrived an hour early which seemed to give us plenty of time.

Getting enough tickets for our family required two trips to Miller on Friday.  Sara had the four tickets each family was allowed and two more would be issued at 8 am, first-come, first-served.  I needed to get them from Sara on Friday because I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to connect Saturday morning, so I offered to pick her up to get the tickets and then we’d go out to breakfast after to celebrate finishing the semester for all of us, and finishing school for Sara and her roommate, Jordan. They heard people were going early so I was at the apartment at 7:15 and when we arrived at Miller before 7:30, I couldn’t believe how long the line was.  It was great to see how many young people were willing to get up extra early when they didn’t even have school, to stand in line to get extra tickets for their families.  Those who didn’t have tickets could still watch the graduation in Brown Hall, but being there was better, I’m sure.  There was another opportunity to get more tickets at 1 pm.  Sara and Jordan had a music therapy meeting at 1, so I hung around campus for three hours so I could get them.  A chance to practice, go to the library and have the last lunch of the semester at the Bernhard. 

Despite having tickets for 8 people including 1 baby, we were not able to sit together because we couldn’t save seats.  When we first got there we could save 3 but since we had more coming we waited for them and then we could save 2 and by the time most were there we could only save 1 and then none.  I didn’t understand it since everyone had tickets and therefore they weren’t going to run out of seats, but the ushers were just doing their job.  Once everyone was seated, the ceremony started promptly and having a big screen to see the stage close up meant that every seat was a good one.

As each student came on stage to receive their diploma, they could be seen on the screen, larger than life.

The graduation ceremony moved along and was over in two hours.  Of course there were the speeches, music by the Western Brass Ensemble, honoring those in the audience who were related in some way to the graduates, the parents, the spouses and partners, the grand parents, the siblings, the aunts and uncles.  Everyone had the chance to stand and be recognized.  The longest portion was of course reading the name of each individual graduate as they came on stage to receive their diploma and receive congratulatory hugs from the faculty of their particular department.

It was a great day for hundreds of students and their families.

Organ Recital # 7

This was the end of semester organ studio recital to help us prepare for our jury the following week.

I wasn’t concerned about this recital.  I felt really confident on the Pachelbel Toccata in Gm and the Pachelbel Fugue in Dm.  The hymn Lasst Uns Erfreun still needed some work but I had the day off work so I had plenty of time to polish it more.

The original plan for the week was to have my final organ lesson of the semester on Wednesday and then practice in the organ studio for two hours on Friday in final preparation for the recital.  I attended a funeral on Wednesday which required moving my lesson to Friday.  That worked fine since I had lots of flexibility on Friday. 

I had my lesson and we chose registration for the five jury pieces.  I only needed to play three but I needed to have three hymns prepared and the other juror would choose one of the hymns.  We didn’t pick registration earlier because much of the semester was spent working on lots of music for church which was the first priority during Lent and through Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  After working on so many hymns, I had many to choose from and decided on the three for jury last week.

Dr. Schrock asked if there was anything else I needed help with and I said I could use some memorizing tips since I was having trouble on one section of the Toccata.  He had a lot to offer.  I wish I could remember everything he said I would document it in my blog.  At least it helped me finish memorizing the piece.  I’ll have to ask him again.  I will need that information for future memorizing challenges.

After the lesson I went back to Battle Creek since I had 7 hours before the recital.  I still needed to practice. After running a few errands and having lunch, I went to the church to practice.  I really felt comfortable with everything.  I have come so far since last fall.  I was looking forward to the recital.  Sara was coming - her last opportunity before graduation.  So far at my Western recitals, Dave has been there, my friend Lorie, and sister-in-law, Sharon.  Now Sara - that made me happy.

I arrived at the organ studio with plenty of time and heard Emily practicing.  I realized at that point that I should have scheduled some practice time in the afternoon following the lesson.  This is a different instrument in touch and sound.  What was I thinking?  I needed to go through all my pieces with the registration to feel comfortable performing them.  Too late for that.  Instantly not comfortable. I sat there hearing Emily play and then Dustin, thinking about how I wasn’t prepared.  Not a good mind set.  When I changed the lesson time I should have changed the practice time to be after the lesson instead of before, as it would have been if the lesson was on Wednesday.  It just didn’t occur to me!  until now!!

Well, I got through it.  It wasn’t comfortable, but that’s the way it is.  It could have been worse.  Next time I’ll know.  Another lesson learned.

Waiting vs. Procrastinating

Procrastinating and waiting are similar in that instead of doing something now, you do it later.

The difference is procrastinating involves putting off doing something until later that you don’t really want to do.  Waiting means delaying doing something that you do want to do.

I have lots of experience procrastinating.  It’s easy to do, maybe some occasional guilt to deal with, but not enough to not procrastinate.  Waiting is something else.  I’m not good at it.  If I think of something I want to do it now or soon. 

Being in school while working full time and teaching piano part time should have meant I needed to wait on many things, but I tried to go on with my life as usual.  Lunches with friends, multiple trips to Chicago Ridge, reading fiction,watching netflix, swimming, shopping.  When I didn’t do well on my last theory test and was having trouble memorizing my organ jury music, I realized I needed to focus on school and wait to do the things I want to do.  Waiting is hard.  I had to put off lunch plans, writing in my blog, reading the newspaper, swimming, printing new business cards, working in the yard in the beautiful spring weather and much more.

Now I’m done with school and I could do something but I’m tired and don’t know where to begin.  I’m two weeks behind on the newspapers - that’s a bit overwhelming.  I’m behind in my blog and have posted out of order so I don’t know which one to do next - the organ recital which was part of school which I’ve kept up on.  Or my organ visits to U of M, which were before the organ recital.  But I already posted on finals and jury which was after the organ recital.  So I’m just mixed up.  There is so much I want to do and still not enough time and more than that, not enough energy.  So I guess getting on with my life is just going to have to wait a little longer.

Finished!

I just finished my organ jury.  It wasn’t wonderful but not awful either.  Grades will be posted at 2:30.  The time will go faster writing than standing outside the organ studio waiting.

I could not have worked any harder on my organ pieces.  I put in as much time as I could.  Most of my practice time this semester was spent on preparing music to play at church.  After Easter my jury pieces have been the priority and I play them well with the music but memorizing does not come easily to me.  I forgot a few notes during my jury, but I was able to keep going and that is a success for me.  Whatever my grade for jury or for organ lessons is, I know I’ve come a long way since my jury in December and I’m pleased with my progress.  And on the way out today, Dr. Schrock offered me one more lesson before summer.  That is a bonus! 

I believe I did reasonably well on the theory final.  I’ve given up hope for an A in that class but a BA would be the next best thing.  I have to wait until Tuesday after 5 to find out about that one.

Two semesters and fourteen credits toward my music major!  I will be taking three credits during the second half of the summer and six credits in the fall.  It feels good to be finished - I’m ready for a break.  I look forward to having more free time - I have a lot I have been waiting to do.

Final Day

This is it.  The last day of my second semester.   I’m practicing on the Noack in the organ studio from 7-9 am, reviewing for my theory final at 9, taking the theory final from 10:15 to 12:15, jury warm-up from 1 to 1:30, jury at 1:50. 

Am I prepared?  I tried to be.  I’ve been practicing and studying for days.  Last night I wanted to study, practice and needed to finish some paperwork.  There were the notes on the G Major composition for theory than had to be uploaded to e-learning, the Applied Music Report and program notes for my jury.  Once I finished those it was 9 pm and I decided I was not going to practice at St. Joseph when practicing in the morning on the Noack would prepare me more for the jury.  So I studied and then fell asleep. 

So it’s 5:30 am and I’m ready to roll.  Only eight and a half more hours and I’ll be finished!

Finals Week

It is hard to believe I will be done with my second semester in a few days!  It is wonderful to be finishing.  I look forward to a few of months of an easier schedule with no school in May and June and fewer lessons June, July and August.

The downside is what I still have to do to finish. 

We had our theory composition performance on Friday.  It went fine, and it was a relief to be finished after working so hard on the piece and rehearsing quite a bit considering it was only twenty-four measures.  Playing two parts on the piano was no problem.  Deciding which parts the singers would sing since both are tenors was not easy.  Somebody had to sing out of their range. 

The same day was our end of semester organ recital.  This is to help prepare for jury and wasn’t wonderful for me.  More on that when I have more time.

Remaining for theory is turning in the written theory composition.  There must be a version with the four parts separate, a version with all parts together on one score, a version of the complete score with all the non chord tones identified, all the non dominant 7th chords, all the secondary function chords, all the linear chords, all the cadences.  We’re sure to forget something!  Also a written description of our piece and how we chose the keys and what we are trying to convey. Trying to convey?  We had enough trouble just trying to meet all the requirements - it is supposed to mean something too? Mason and I are meeting on Tuesday to finish this project.

We’re also going to try to study for the final.  I decided on the weekend that I was going to read and outline all the chapters we covered in the theory book.  When I woke up Sunday morning at 3:45 am I decided it was a great time to start.  I did a few chapters before I went over to practice.  A few chapters after going out to breakfast with extended family.  Then I needed to go to Kalamazoo for an hour of practice on the Noack in the organ studio and then a scheduled run through of the jury pieces at 7.  I ended up staying and practicing until 8:30 and did a little more theory after work.

Monday morning I went back to the organ studio during my regular school time before work trying to master my pieces and especially trying to finish memorizing the Pachelbel Toccata in e minor.  It’s not like I put it off til the last minute - I’ve been working on it for weeks.  Memorizing just doesn’t come easy for me.  After work and after lessons, another practice session at church.  I actually was able to play the Toccata by memory 5 times.  I’ll go back before work in the morning and practice some more.  And see if I still remember the Toccata in the morning.  Oh - I must remember to write program notes for my jury pieces and finish my Applied Music Report documenting everything I’ve worked on in my organ lessons this semester.  It’s started but not finished.

So much still to do on Tuesday in addition to work and lessons and having our picture taken for our church photo directory.  Sunday and Monday were overloaded.  Tuesday is impossible.  Wednesday I have my theory final, project due, organ practice and organ jury.  And then this semester will be complete.

Pipe Organ #50, Holy Family Chapel, Nazareth, MI

Dr. Schrock had suggested that I call Sister Betsy at Holy Family Chapel to request permission to play the pipe organ there. It was built in 1925 and unchanged.  Many older organs are rebuilt, expanded, and have modern features added.  This one has been maintained in its original state. 

1925 Casavant Freres Ltee, Opus 1080, 27 Ranks, 3 Manuals, 1877 pipes.

When I talked to Sister Betsy to schedule the visit, she told me the on/off switch was behind the organ bench.  You can see it in the photo above.  Glad she told me that.  On previous organ visits, I’ve found the power switch in various locations on the organ console, but never behind the bench.

I visited on Easter Monday.  It was nice to have a free day and be able to spend time in Kalamazoo after my theory class and be able to play the organ in this beautiful chapel.  I could joyfully play Easter music in addition to pieces I’m working on in the organ text for my end of semester jury.  I enjoyed playing the organ.  It was fun to experiment with various combinations of sounds on the pieces I played. It had a nice sound.  I could have stayed/played longer.

Even though it doesn’t have modern features like being able to transpose, record, 99 levels of memory, or MIDI, it does have some interesting features.  Like a dial that shows the the amount of crescendo.  When depressing the swell pedal or crescendo pedal, it’s hard for me to tell how far my foot is and how much I have left.  This dial shows if it is off or depressed half way or all the way or any other possibility. 

There were other dials:  wind, battery or generator. 

And some couplers and presets.

Draw knobs of course.

When I left, I asked the receptionist if I could talk to Sister Betsy.  I wanted to thank her for letting me play and give her my card in case she wanted to check out my blog.  Little did I know it would take 10 days to actually post in my blog.  I haven’t been this behind since I started this project.  It was nice to chat with her about our musical backgrounds and more.  She invited me to return and I just might do that.  Especially since some of my pictures didn’t turn out.  The only thing is the organ is going to be worked on at the end of April and I don’t think I’ll have time to go back before then.