Category Archives: Music

New on my bookshelf, and some music stuff

Yes, I know, I know, it has been rather quiet here on the blog, and I hope to change this in the days (weeks) to come.
I have been busy. Doing a lot of stuff on the weekends, like teaching first aid, playing the organ, playing the accordion, going to family gatherings, knitting… and occasionally reading books.
I have read Frank Westworth’s „The corruption of Chastity“ and I read „A last act of Charity“ to make myself more familiar with the world of JJ Stoner. There’s a separate blog post coming soon where I will also explain why I read the books in the „wrong“ order 😉

Recently, Ben Aaronovitch (https://twitter.com/Ben_Aaronovitch), whose books I adore, recommended a new novel (the first?) by Andrew Cartmel (https://twitter.com/andrewcartmel): „The Vinyl Detective“. I finally got round to getting the book and started reading this morning on the train. What should I say, I almost missed my stop because I was immediately hooked. It’s a page turner, at least for me. And it deserves a blog post of its own which I will write when I’m done with the book (I need a few more train rides, though).

Linda MacFadyen (https://twitter.com/LindaMacFadyen), who organised the wonderful „Thin Ice“ blog tour, mentioned Natasha Walter’s „A quiet life“ which is next on my reading list and already sits on my bookshelf. Well, to be honest, it sits on the kitchen table, but will move onto the bookshelf soon.

What else was I reading? I re-read „Punk Rock People Management: A No-Nonsense Guide to Hiring, Inspiring and Firing Staff“ by Peter Cook, „Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations“ by by Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone, and I read lots of music. 😉

Speaking of music, yesterday evening I had the pleasure of playing a nice small grand piano at a service held by and for women. Men were invited, too, but none came. So we were a female-only congregation, and, as it often happens, I was the youngest.
I played Clara Schumann’s prelude in B flat, an Andante Espressivo by Hedwige Chretien, and another Andante espressivo by Helene Liebmann. Also, I played a piece by Margreeth de Jong, originally for organ, but it was manuals only and sounded quite nice on the piano. And of course I accompanied all the songs we sang during the service.
Afterwards, the pastor came to me and said that the piano hadn’t sounded so good for ages. I accepted the compliment gracefully (I hope!), but wondered at the same time who the other people might be who play that piano regularly. The perfectionist inside me didn’t think my playing was that good, but I made her shut up 🙂

Thanks for coming back to the blog in quiet times, and I hope to see you again soon!

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Organ music by female composers – part 2

When I wrote the blog post on organ music by female composers in December, I knew I would have to do an update one day. This day is today. It would have been perfect if I had managed to write this post on time for international womens day, but, hey, we can’t have everything, and perfectionism is often not helpful anyway. At least in my case 😉

So, the music. In my first blog post I mentioned several composers and publishers (if you haven’t read it yet, you can do so here: https://andijah.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/organ-music-by-female-composers/ ) and I would like to add some more today.

One publisher worth checking out is Vivace Press: http://www.vivacepress.com/
For example, they have done an album called „Organ Music by Women Composers before 1800“.
I don’t own this yet, but I own the „Women Composers‘ Album“, pieces selected and edited by Charles Callahan. It’s a lovely collection of not too difficult pieces for organ, both manuals only and with pedals. The publisher is Morning Star Music.

On imslp.org I came across the works of Carlotta Ferrari (born 1975). This is her website: http://carlottaferrari.altervista.org/
I had already mentioned that imslp lists more than 300 names in their section of women composers, but so far, I haven’t got round to checking who has done organ music.

Today I’ve made an alphabetical list (sorted by first name) of female composers who have written for organ. Maybe some day I shall find the time to sort this list by historical period or difficulty, but let’s start with the simple list. I haven’t mentioned the composers again whom I had mentioned in my other blog post, and any addition from my readers is most welcome!

Adaline Shepherd
Anne Sheppard Mounsey Bartholomew
Barbara Dennerlein
Barbara Harbach (also editor of „Toccatas And Fugues On Hymns By European Women“)
Beate Leibe
Brita Falch Leutert
Caroline Charrière
Christiane Michel-Ostertun
Christina Harmon
Emily Porter
Emma Lou Diemer
Heather Hammond
Johanna Senfter
Liselotte Kunkel
Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen
Marga Richter
Maria Scharwieß
Marianne Kim
Mary Jeanne van Appledorn
Mel Bonis
Odile Pierre
Rolande Falcinelli
Rosalie Bonighton
Ruth Norman
Sarah Watts
Sharon J. Willis
Ute Springer

A good source in Germany to buy music by these composers is bodensee-musikversand.de, but any music store should be able to order the sheet music for you.

Last Sunday, I played „Andante patetico“ by Kate Boundy as introduction to the service, and it has been well received.

Please get in touch if you have further suggestions and/or links.

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Musikalisches im Februar – February Music

Dieses Jahr ist der Februar ja mal wieder einen Tag länger. Da muss ich doch glatt auch bloggen, denn einen 29.2. als Veröffentlichungsdatum hat man nicht so oft.
Musikalisch war der Monat sehr intensiv. Ich hatte einen Orgeldienst, einen Kantorendienst (ein Gottesdienst ohne Orgelmusik, das war vom Orgateam so gewünscht, dafür aber mit Gemeindegesang, von mir angeleitet), und vorgestern dann das große Ereignis, auf das zwei Chöre hingearbeitet hatten: die Aufführung der Petite Messe Solenelle von Rossini in der Dankeskirche in Bad Nauheim. Und weil das alles noch nicht genug war, habe ich gestern noch auf einer Matinee Akkordeon gespielt.

Es war anstrengend, neben dem Vollzeitjob der Musik gerecht zu werden, aber es hat sich gelohnt. Viele unserer Chorsänger haben sich für meine Stimmbildungssessions bedankt und einige wollen nun sogar Einzelstunden haben, und das Publikum der Matinee hat bei fast jedem Akkordeonstück mitgesummt oder gesungen, und am Ende kam noch eine Dame und bat mich, ein weiteres Stück zu spielen, zu dem wir dann ein spontanes Duett gesungen haben. Das hat unheimlich viel Spaß gemacht.

This year, February is one day longer, and I will use this additional day to write a new blog post. Getting to publish something on the 29th of February doesn’t happen that often.
Music wise, this month was very intense. I played the organ once, had another service where I lead the singing (the org team didn’t want to have the organ, don’t ask me why, but at least I got to conduct the congregation), and last Saturday we had the major event with two choirs: performing Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle in a large church in Bad Nauheim (north of Frankfurt). And because all this wasn’t enough, I played accordion at a matinée yesterday.

It was hard work to find enough room for the music while holding a full-time job, but it was well worth it. Many of our choir members thanked me for the voice training and warm-up sessions, and some even asked for solo sessions with me. The audience at the matinée hummed and sung to almost every melody I played, and at the end, a lady came and asked for an additional song, and we sang a spontanueous duet. This was so much fun!

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(Organ) Music by female composers

It’s time to finally write this blog post – I said to Morwenna (http://www.theladyorganist.com) in June that I would write something about (organ) music by female composers, and now it’s almost Christmas… I’ve been busy playing the occasional Sunday service and singing in my choir and doing stuff. Everyone who juggles a day job and a second life as a musician probably knows this only too well.

When you’re asked about female composers, you might think of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, or might not know anyone at all. If you’re interested in film music, you might know Rachel Portman or Anne Dudley. For most people, however, female composers remain in the dark and when you mention that they exist, you often get answers like, well, if they were any good (=if they were as good as the men), their music would be played more often. I don’t think it’s a simple question of quality, but I don’t want to get all philosophical about this.

What I want to do is share some resources and links with you, so that in case you’re planning to go out and find music written by women, you’ll get some help just like I had when I started my journey of finding out about the topic.

I’m deeply grateful to Morwenna and Kathryn (http://artsyhonker.net) who’ve supported my research and came up with some links and suggestions. Kathryn is a composer herself and if you’re looking for choral music, make sure to have a look at her work.

Morwenna directed me to John Spellers collection of organ music: http://spellerweb.net/poindex/organmusic/OrganMusicFront.html
In this collection, you can find music by Esther Elizabeth Fleet, Kate Boundy, Ann Mounsey Bartholomew, Elizabeth Stirling, Elisa Fuchs-Delaye, Helene Fleury, Juliette Folville, Augusta Holmes, Marie Prestat, Alice Saufrezix, Fanny Mendelssohn and some more. Morwenna also mentioned Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Elizabeth Turner and Jeanne Demessieux. And there’s Theophania Cecil: http://www.theladyorganist.com/repertoire-revivals-theophania-cecil/

For organists, there is a very interesting collection of various pieces in Schott’s ED9741 („Frauen komponieren – 22 Orgelstücke“. 22 organ pieces by female composers), some of them quite doable, others really tricky. But you got to have goals 😀

Kathryn pointed me to Barbara Kennedy (http://barbarakennedy.co.uk/composing/) and Jenni Pinnock (http://www.jennipinnock.com/).

On imslp.org, there’s a list of women composers. Unfortunately you can only search by country of origin, not by type of work, but it’s an impressive list nonetheless: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Women_composers

In Frankfurt, there’s the archive for women and music: http://www.archiv-frau-musik.de/cms/

Then there are two publishers worth mentioning if you want to buy sheet music by female composers: http://furore-verlag.de/shop/noten/orgel-solo/ and http://www.certosaverlag.de/

For those who’re into research, there’s the „MUGI“ project in Hamburg: http://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/en/Lexikon
And if you speak German, check out http://www.susanne-wosnitzka.de/projekte-aktuelles/komponistinnen/

Now to something more practical. 🙂
Last Sunday, I played a piece by Margaretha Christina de Jong (http://margreethdejong.nl/) and two pieces I have written myself. One is a piece for alto recorder, variations on the song „Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme“ („Wake up, a voice is calling“) and the other is an organ piece called „Kleine Adventsfantasie“ (little advent fantasia) where I used melody fragments of three well-known advent songs.

Thanks to Susanne (https://twitter.com/SusanneW) I now know the adaptiation of two Clara Schumann preludes for organ and Cor anglais, and I hope to be able to play these pieces in a recital one day. Finding someone near me who plays cor anglais („English horn“) will certainly help, but I need to start practising the organ part first anyway.

 

Thanks, readers, for your interest, and please share your thoughts and comments!

 

 

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Musikalisches im Oktober / October Music

Anfang Oktober waren wir noch im Urlaub, wo ich mir schlauerweise bei einem hocheleganten dämlichen Sturz den Knöchel verdreht hatte, was der Orgelei, die für den zweiten Sonntag im Oktober anstand, gewisse Probleme in den Weg stellte. Ich kam mit dem Knöchelschoner nicht in die Orgelschuhe, und ohne ging es auch irgendwie nicht. Aber obwohl ich großen Wert darauf lege, keinen Schuhtick zu haben, ist mein Schuhschrank doch groß genug, dass ich passende Schuhe fand, die sich auch einigermaßen zum Orgelspielen eigneten, und so stand diesem Orgeldienst nichts mehr im Wege.

Einige Tage zuvor hatte ich wieder das Vergnügen, einen Abend für Frauen musikalisch gestalten zu dürfen. Ich spielte „Luftblasen No. 2“ von Barbara Heller auf der Blockflöte und eine Improvisation über mein eigenes Stück, die Ouvertüre zu „Alice im Wunderland“ auf dem Klavier. Die Noten zu den „Luftblasen“ finden sich im Altblockflöten-Solobuch (Schott), zu meinem Stück gibt es (noch) keine Noten.

 

—-

 

At the beginning of October, we were still on vacation, and I elegantly stupidly managed to hurt my ankle which didn’t help much for my organ playing scheduled for the second Sunday in October. I used a bandage but with it, my foot didn’t fit my organ shoes. Without it, it didn’t feel good enough. So, while I must insist on not having a shoe fetish, I have enough shoes to find a pair that was okayish for organ playing and allowed me to wear the bandage at the same time.

A few days before the organ Sunday, I had the pleasure to play the music at an event for women. I play „Luftblasen No. 2“ (air bubbles no. 2) by Barbara Heller on the recorder and improvised on my own piece, the ouverture for „Alice’s adventures in wonderland“ on the piano.
You can find the music for the „air bubbles“ in the „solo book for alto recorder“ (Altblockflöten-Solobuch, Schott Music). There is no sheet music (yet) for my own piece, though.

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It’s the year 2015…

… and you might think it’s a good time to be a grown-up professional woman since we have all the possibilities in the world (at least if you live in a Western European country and are of Western European origin) and we can do as we please etc. etc.

And, yes, it is as good a time as any other, and I don’t want to complain about little things. I’m in fact a rather happy person.
I’m privileged, I have a job, a relationship, a house, a garden, and so much more.

Still, today I feel like ranting about the obstacles we come across, the still existing preconceptions, and I want to share some of my recent experiences and also stories I heard from other women. I think we need to talk about this more, we need to bring those stories to light, and we must not stop working towards a world where every person has equal rights and is treated equal, not just on paper, but also in daily life.
You might argue that those are first-world-problems and that I should just be content with what I have. People who know me know that I have a rather quick tongue and that I’m not afraid to speak up and get heard. I tend to fight for others (sometimes more than for myself), for fairness, honesty and respect.

So I just need to write this blog post today and if any of my stories ring a bell, please feel free to comment or get in touch by email or on twitter.

A while ago I started looking for organ music by female composers. I need some pieces written by women for a small project. I asked around on twitter and got some really good answers from Morwenna (http://www.theladyorganist.com) and also from Kathryn (http://artsyhonker.net). Kathryn also mentioned a few composers whom I started to follow (Jenni Pinnock, Barbara Kennedy). I will write a separate blog post on our findings and on organ playing.
While I did my research, I came across a discussion in a German piano forum. A user (a man, judging from his user name) had published information on the Frankfurt based archive „Frau & Musik“ (Woman & Music) and asked for support. There were quite many users who said that they didn’t want to support this organisation as it discriminates against men. Some said that if women composers were any good at all, their music would be played anyway and that they wouldn’t need any additional help. One person even said that it was a fact that women are just not as creative as men and that this is why there are less female composers and that this was just the way it should be. When one user (a woman, judging from her user name) claimed that there weren’t any successful women in film music, Rachel Portman was mentioned, and Anne Dudley. However, the woman said that she thought if female composers were just good enough, they would get those Hollywood jobs. Having worked both in the creative industry and in technology companies, I have to say that it is a fairytale that you simply have to be good enough to get those jobs. You need to be good, yes, absolutely, but you also need to have a strong network and maybe a mentor, and much more, to really get your foot into that door. And it does help to be a man (and not have too dark skin). Which seems rather wrong to me.

Speaking of tech companies, why is it that talented women in this year 2015 still have to fight against gender bias and some even quit their jobs out of sheer frustration? How can it be that we’re told to not aim for managing positions since these are not for women? Whether you’re good in tech has more to do with your personal talents and skills and not with your gender.

I’ve been driving trucks (lorries, HGVs, however you’d like to call these vehicles) for many years now. I own a 9-ton veteran truck and I take it to shows from time to time. I do as much as I can regarding repairs and maintenance, and my husband and I need to remind each other regularly that we should stop adding more vehicles to our collection. In May this year, we went to a truck show and I noticed that there was a group of people very interested in our truck. So I went and said, hey, is there any question I could answer for you about this vehicle? They looked at me, rather taken aback, and then said, oh, no, thanks, I probably couldn’t. I said, well, you could try it since I’m the owner. One man from the group opened his mouth and all that came out was, but you are a… (woman, he didn’t say).
Yes, of course women who own and drive trucks are a minority, and that’s not a problem. Men who own veteran trucks are a minority as well when you look at sheer numbers. I’m quite used to people frowning upon my love for those old Diesels, but most of the time, they don’t question my ownership or know-how and this is how it should be.

I’ve been told more than once in my life that I am too loud. My voice is resounding and I put it to good use when singing or presenting, and even in conversations, I sometimes stand out even when I didn’t plan to do so. Sometimes, women tell me that my normal tone of voice is intimidating and that I should speak lower. A woman should be calm and placid and not rub people the other way. Or should we?

I’ve been told to be quiet and behave instead of getting the support I needed from my manager when I was in a difficult situation at work. I’ve been told that men get confused when women act like a man. My observation is that many women act like girls (unknowingly or deliberately) and that some men get confused when they meet a woman actually acting like a woman. Of course we need to adjust our behaviour according to the situation and the group we’re in; of course we shouldn’t shout at each other (this would neither be manly or womanly but plain bad manners); of course we need to respect the other’s viewpoint and we need to constantly learn and work towards understanding the others.
But! Why shouldn’t a woman be extrovert if that’s the way she is? Why shouldn’t a man be shy? Why shouldn’t a woman speak her mind? Why shouldn’t a man love housework?
It’s the year 2015. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. Dorothy L. Sayers, who’s more known for writing crime novels than for her translation work and academic work, once was asked about how she knew so much about men and had her main character speak like a man. She answered that she didn’t think about having her characters talk or act like men or women, but like humans.
When I first read this, I didn’t quite catch how important this was.
Now I do.

We’re all human, and that’s how we should treat each other. And I hope that one day I will look back at this text and smile and say, oh, this was sooo 2015. Thanks for reading! Comments are welcome, as always.

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Online resources for organists

Today I would like to share some online resources that I find really helpful for (church) organists.

There’s a good reason why I write this post in English – so far, I’ve found the most helpful and open forums and blogs in the English-speaking organ world. I tried to register in a German organ forum only to be told I had to wait for the admin to approve my request, and the wait goes on and on and on… at the same time, I’ve had a very friendly and open welcome to the Organ Forum (http://www.organforum.com). It’s a large community where you can talk about all kinds of organs and organ music: church, classical, theatre, Hammond… I can spend hours just browsing through the discussions.

I’ve found this forum in the link list of Mowenna’s wonderful organist’s blog: http://www.theladyorganist.com. I’ve been following her blog for a while already and it’s about time to recommend it 🙂

Then there’s a blog I’ve only discovered a few days ago, http://www.organduo.lt/ by Dr Vidas Pinkevicius. What should I say, his blog is one of the most concise and informative resources for organists I’ve found so far.

I’m sure there’s a lot more inspiring blogs and forums out there – if you would like to share your favourites, please feel free to contact me or write a comment. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

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Musik in der Karwoche und an Ostern / Music during passion week and Easter

In unserem Dorf gibt es eine kleine evangelische Kirche mit einer kleinen Orgel. Ich spiele seit einigen Monaten regelmäßig in den Gottesdiensten und möchte heute einen kleinen Einblick in meine musikalischen Aktivitäten geben.
Letzte Woche habe ich auf einer Abendveranstaltung Akkordeon und Blockflöte (Alt & Tenor) gespielt, was dazu führte, dass ich gebeten wurde, den Gottesdienst am Gründonnerstag mit dem Akkordeon zu begleiten. Wir feiern den Gottesdienst nämlich nicht direkt in der Kirche, sondern an Tischen sitzend im kleinen Saal, der an die Kirche angebaut ist. Nach dem Gottesdienst essen wir gemeinsam zu Abend = wir feiern Abendmahl. Ich habe als Vorspiel das Stück „Trost“ von J. Kiessling ausgewählt.

Am morgigen Karfreitag spiele ich als Vorspiel das Präludium in g-Moll von A.F. Hesse und als Nachspiel das Trio in g-Moll (op. 49) von J.P. Rheinberger.

Der Ostersonntagsgottesdienst beginnt um 6 Uhr morgens, und zunächst ist die Kirche dunkel. Es gibt weder Glockengeläut noch ein Orgelvorspiel. Die Orgel beginnt erst im Verlauf des Gottesdienstes mit dem Lied „Christ ist erstanden“. Das Nachspiel ist ein Orgelstück in C-Dur von J.W. Häßler, ohne Titel, aber mit dem Hinweis „Fürs volle Werk“ und „Allegro di molto“. „Volles Werk“ heißt bei unserer kleinen Orgel ganze fünf Register, aber für die kleine Kirche ist das völlig ausreichend, und dass manche Töne leicht verstimmt sind, wird den Osterjubel kaum stören.

—–

In our village, there’s a small protestant church with a small organ. I’ve started playing the organ for Sunday services regularly a few months ago and wanted to give a small summary of my current musical activities.

Last week, we had an evening event where I played accordion and recorder (alto & tenor) which led to me being asked whether I would play the according for Maundy Thursday service. This service takes place with the congration sitting at long tables in the hall adjacent to the church. After service, we have dinner together = hold eucharist/communion. I will play the piece „Trost“ (consolation) in A-flat-major by J. Kiessling as prelude.

On Good Friday, I will play the prelude in g-minor by A.F. Hesse and the trio op. 49 in g-minor by J.P. Rheinberger as postlude.

Easter Sunday service starts at 6am in the morning, and the church will be dark. The bells will stay silent, and so will the organ. During service, the organ’s first piece will be the song „Christ ist erstanden“ (Christ has risen). As postlude, I will play an organ piece in C-major by J.W. Häßler. It doesn’t have a title, but is supposed to be played „with full organ“ and „allgro di molto“. „Full organ“ means using all 5 stops the small organ has, but that’s enough for the small church. And the fact that some notes are a bit out of tune shouldn’t interfere with Easterly rejoycing.

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Recommendation for lovers of handmade music

When it comes to music, I have a very broad range of styles that I like.
I listen to a lot of different types of music, and I like to keep an open mind and open ears. I’m not a specialist for certain styles, and I’m not one of those enthusiasts who would say more or less witty things like „Yes, this is just like I remember Sir Vincent Lancelot conducting the Royal Stately Wonderful Philharmonic at the Met“ or „Don’t you think Mork The Gork Ladidah and the Whatever Trio are overdoing it here when they end this song on Fmaj7?“

I like honest, authentic, handmade music.

My latest discovery is the Icelandic pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs (http://www.sunnagunnlaugs.com)

I ordered some of her CDs and am listening to this fantastic, first-class jazz over and over again. If you, dear reader, also like handmade music, make sure you treat your ears to Sunna and her music. Don’t expect any „easy listening“, but let yourself be taken away by pleasant, enjoyable sounds which don’t fail to surprise every now and then.

And if you have any recommendations for my hears, I’d love to hear from you.

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