Halfway from one Meditation to the Next One

I've been meaning to get in the habit of posting my programs from Music as Meditation events. It sometimes takes me many days, however, to dig down through the pile on my desk to find the actual wooden surface beneath all those papers.  Posting the program from October 1, allows me to highlight my plans for the program on November 5. That Meditation will include another Beethoven Bagatelle that is quite Haydn-esque along with more Chip Davis and some new notes from a Piano Sonata I seem to be composing these days. I hope you can join me. 

Music as Meditation

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Open fifth resonance and its outcomes on the violin Ellen Schwindt

And Bob Dylan—a poem by Mary Oliver

C diminished rising and its arrival at E flat major Ellen Schwindt

Interlude I Chip Davis

Bagatelle 1 from Seven Bagatelles Ludwig van Beethoven

composed 1802

Two tonal poles: The beginning of the middle Ellen Schwindt

Sonata in D Major Hob. XVI/24 Franz Joseph Haydn

to Nikolaus Esterhazy composed in 1773

Allegro

Adagio

Presto

Improvisation on Childgrove Ellen Schwindt

Improvisation on Hymns from Summer Suite Ellen Schwindt

A fast return Ellen Schwindt

Many Happy Returns of the Day

Welcome to this day, the beginning of a third season of Music as Meditation. Today's program seems to be about returning. I began working on the Haydn Sonata that is the centerpiece of today's music as a way to experience order in the world. Jospeh Haydn wrote music with precision and detail and still somehow lots of room for interpretation. It is indeed ordered and predictable, but full of humor, vivacity, sorrow, and joy. This music was a perfect antidote to a year full of surprises. Practicing it seemed like a way to reestablish order in life on a daily basis.

As a young person, I played a lot of Haydn and other baroque keyboard music. There was one particular volume of music I checked out from our local library repeatedly. I enjoyed the well-organized harmonies and the clear subdivision of time that made up the music. I still enjoy it, so in that sense playing Haydn is also a return. I find much

more in the music now, however. And perhaps in that way it is like a return as well, because in my experience, when I return to a topic well-loved, I usually learn something new. I hope returning to the baroque era is equally rich for you.

The picture on my new Music as Meditation card is also a symbol of return. It is Pequawket Pond. Please share some of the cards if you'd like to help spread the word about Music as Meditation. Please let me know what you think as well. You can reach me at ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com .