Music for Lunch, Around the Corner

Yesterday around 1:30pm I had the pleasure of attending a concert at the Church of the Transfiguration ("the Little Church Around the Corner"). My colleague and friend Amy Bartram, with lutenist Ekko Jennings, performed a handful of 17th century English ballads. Some familiar to me, some new discoveries, they sang and played them beautifully. Amy's voice is light and clear, and goes perfectly with the lute. I enjoyed her historical commentary on the genre of songs and the various tidbits regarding specific songs. I especially liked the story behind England's Joy, set to the tune of Hey Boys up go we. The song has to do with the abolition of the Chimney Tax. Apparently at that time in the 17th century, homes with chimneys, or hearths, were taxed (why, I don't know), and if you couldn't or wouldn't pay that tax, the tax collector could take your belongings, like dishes, pewter, etc. People would run and hide their serving-ware when they saw the tax collector coming. So, there was much celebrating it seems when the tax was repealed. Sounds like a dumb tax to me.

Her compressing of Greensleeves both in tempo and by eliminating so many choruses of "Greensleves was all my joy..." was a great choice and I think better clarified the message of the song. Not just a pretty song to the memory of an ex-lover, it was a list of things he'd given her to "win her love," and when she said "not interested" he got mad and whined about it. I had forgotten that he gave her not just jewelry and dresses, but horses, too!

A beautful gem of a song I'd never heard was the very last one, Love Will find Out the Way. It's a beautiful tune, and I love all the animal references about two-thirds of the way through:

You may train the eagle
To stoop to your fist;
Or you may inveigle
The Phoenix of the east;
The lioness, you may move her
To give over her prey;
But you'll ne'er stop a lover
He will find out the way.

If the earth it should part him,
He would gallop it o'er;
If the seas should o'erthwart him,
He would swim to the shore;
Should his Love become a swallow,
Through the air to stray,
Love will lend wings to follow,
And will find out the way.

I'd seen concert annoucements for a while now of Amy and Ekko's collaborative performances, but hadn't made it to a concert of their's until yesterday. I enjoyed very much Ekko's delicate approach to her lute solos. I'm really glad I got to hear her and hope to hear her again soon.

Additionally, I got a chance to see Mark Mangini, director of the Greenwich Village Singers, with whom I played last May. I also was able to speak with Claudia Dumschat, the Director of the concert series, and it looks like there's a good chance I'll be on the series in the spring. So, watch for me!

Trinity Church Archive

As you can see from the archive list of this blog, there were no posts in May '06. That's because my life was (a good kind of) crazy full of performing and rehearsing for numerous concerts. That month I performed with my colleague and friend Sang Joon Park at Trinity Church Wall Street's Concerts at One series. It was a great concert experience and I feel I played well. We played well. I've been meaning to post the link to that concert, which is stored in their archives there. So, here you go. Enjoy!

The Phantom Accordion

Throughout the day while I've been working at home, I've been hearing some noodling on the accordion. I'm sure it's not a recording, because the music I'm hearing isn't a song or a piece, just snippets of melodies. I've gone to look for where it's coming from but I haven't been able to track it down. I thought perhaps this accordionist was practicing in the basement, but it doesn't seem to be the case. At least I don't find the accordion annoying as so many do. It's a nice sound addition to the street. We have a lot of musicians living on this street, besides us. The guys downstairs, the electric guitarist up the street, apparently a cellist a few doors down, and now the accordion. I hope this person stays for a while and continues on with the noodling.

Harpsichord Finds Itself in the Pop Realm Again

Natasha Khan.

Compared to Bjork, no less!

Who doesn't love the harpsichord?!?

My Long-Time Interest

One of the aspects of the harpsichord that continues to intrigue me is its use in the popular music (folk to pop, rock to jazz) realm. Case in point [Direct link]:



I often wonder what non-classical musicians and artists find so fascinating about the harpsichord, to the point of using it seriously in their work. I mean, I know what's cool and fun and interesting about it. I have toyed for sometime with researching and collecting enough info on the harpsichord in popular music to write a book on the subject someday. So, you may read more about this potential project as the year progresses. If anyone has suggestions or observations, please share. And enjoy this fun video of Björk singing Venus as a Boy with Guy Sigsworth at the harpsichord.