Workshop

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

One of my favorite things about living where we live is the relatively low cost of living. Our home is beautiful and at this point, Zheng and I are each able to have amply-sized offices. 

I’m a recovered clutter-bug, but now with digital technology and the ability to store things via cloud or scan (or however), it has helped me stay much more organized, and as a result, much less mental clutter or chatter. 

I re-organized my home office back in late February, and I feel like it’s one of the most important reasons that we’re in the thick of a very busy “season” (concerts, projects, life, taxes, etc) but that I’m still feeling some semblance of sanity.

Here is a photo of an in-process “arrangement,” one which will be performed with the New Mexico Philharmonic, my beloved UNM Chamber Singers, and my husband’s combined middle school student orchestras! You can read more about that concert here.  

The effort in noticing

Over the Christmas break, I noticed that I had a lot more scope - and space - for the imagination.

I noticed and remembered things about my teenage years, now bygone, that I hadn't thought about for a very long time.

There was a period of two years, following Oberlin, when I was living my own flat for the first time. I knew *nothing* about housekeeping, decorating, cooking, dating, or being a very young professional musician in a large musical community.




Yet there I was.

Some close friendships forged in those years remain close to this day. And I still remember being happy, non-judgemental on my self, and have fond memories of the coffee shop and grocery store nearby.

Sometimes we ask, how can our "older" self be a gift to our younger self. That question is on the point of absurd. It's impossible.






It is entirely possible, however, to have the past teach the present.




Therein lies the reason for this blog.

We've had more snow here in January than last. (We didn't have any in the northeast for Christmas!). It has yielded some gorgeous pictures and moments. Now that Zheng is teaching during the day in addition to evenings, I am without a car altogether. My commute is by foot.




I'm able to stop, breathe, and take pictures.




Even the ordinary can stop us in our tracks.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Wellesley Dr SE,Albuquerque,United States

Let it rain

I should learn better than to leave anywhere without an umbrella. 

Carrying one was common practice in Rochester (and is in Europe too, especially during the summer). However, in Albuquerque, we get little precipitation at all. 

This is Zheng's and my first July in New Mexico, as we were gone in July last year. Thus, we have yet to experience the "monsoon season." We are getting a good dose of it these days! Last night was a storm so bad that it kept our cats awake (which kept *us* awake).

I was about to head to my car with my office plants - and just beat the rain. The picture you can see is from the beautiful Fine Arts and Design Library, of the hail and rainstorm which descended so suddenly. 

And just like that - the rain stopped. The behemoth percussion noises the rain made, atop the tin roof of the library, were extraordinary (and exceptionally loud for a library). 

I will leave you with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." 

Wait it out. Take cover. The sun will come out eventually.

Faît accompli!

Yesterday was a great day.

I got to share music with new friends and colleagues, who, a year ago, I had just met. One year later, we were rehearsing, forming our own “community” as a vocal department of five, and then - of course - properly celebrating afterwards with a Chinese food reception! 

Heartfelt thanks to everyone - my faculty partners, the faculty there to support, the crew of Keller Hall, the audio and video crew, my family for cooking the reception … 

There will be more photos, along with beautiful sound and video forthcoming! 

In the meantime, enjoy photos of the “celebration” afterwards. 

What's all the "Chatter" about?

Yesterday was an important “debut” for me in Albuquerque. There is a unique, 50-weeks-per-year series in town, which has a tremendous following and is an institution of the highest creativity (with a little bit of “crunchiness”). 

It’s called “ChatterABQ." You can view the website here.

The organization and events which it sponsored used to be called “Church of Beethoven.” It is a one-hour event, every Sunday morning at 10:30AM. Tickets are sold on-line and also at the door (though a special guest, who I had invited yesterday, said he got the last ticket!). Performers are booked months in advance and the repertoire ranges from Bach Cantatas to Pärt or Schnittke or world-premieres. For the price of a ticket, you are treated to about an hour of music, some poetry, and two minutes of silence. The venue which hosts this, the Kosmos Art Gallery in Albuquerque, is an old warehouse which has been re-purposed as a performance venue and artists’ loft. 

The ticket also includes some pretty fantastic coffee and biscotti-pastries-croissants, of your choice. You just have to get there early to get your “free” coffee and get a good seat!

Joel Becktell, cellist and baroque cellist, had invited me to participate in a concert with him back in August, when I came to another event at Chatter. After this event, we came up with the program in the parking lot of the gallery. The past weeks have been spent working through the Schnittke First Sonata (1978) and the Bach Third Gamba Sonata, in g minor. 

I have long loved the process of analyzing music, either for the first time, or examining something again under close lens when it has been “put away” for a while. I most recently performed the g minor Gamba Sonata with Wendy Richman (a long-time friend from Oberlin, Eastman, and who is now on the faculty of University of Alabama). It was wonderful to take out the old Bärenreiter part and re-work it, thinking about different possibilities of cross-phrasing, hemiolas, tendency tones, and evaded cadences. Ah, J.S. Bach, how you continue to make me swoon ...

The Schnittke was another matter, as yesterday was its first performance for me. The piece is a bit of a “bête noire” - as Joel puts it. There are pacing decisions, texture challenges, not to mention the technical demands put upon both players. 

The audience responded in exactly the way I hoped they would. Ears have to get acclimated to the relative quiet sounds of a five-string baroque cello with a harpsichord. They were “with” us in the Bach in that way! I could especially tell during the arioso slow movement. The Schnittke brought about an entirely different reaction, including audible real-time gasps at the shocking climax of the middle movement.

I am so grateful to this institution for what it does in promoting live music, poetry, and a community who relishes both in such an “espresso” way.

PHOTOS: Aziza Murray from ChatterABQ, 2/8/15.

Workshop

Zheng and I headed up to Santa Fe for my birthday a few weeks ago. Among the list of “immediate necessities” to see were Santa Fe Opera and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. 

Georgia O’Keeffe has been a fascinating artist to me for a long time. We studied her in high school, and I was interested in her flower paintings and “cow bones.” As an adult, I learned of her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, and therefore of his contribution to the photography and modern art world. 

I have long admired her independence, and her following her calling to explore the West, at a time when it was much more desolate and isolated than it is now. She pushed herself to try new things and to be “uncomfortable,” and definitely not follow the “normal expectations of a woman and housewife in the 1930s.” 

She walked miles a day, painting things that would have been considered “garish” or “not worthy of someone’s canvas.” She held her own with her headstrong husband, and invented modern American art in the process. 

I am constantly fascinated by how creative people work. What time are they the most creative? What do they need as “fuel” (food, drink), or supplies? Do they like clutter or do they need clean surfaces?

Georgia’s kitchen bookshelf and studio workshop are on display at the museum. Her artwork is also on constant rotation at the museum, which means that Zheng and I will have to go back and visit soon. 

PHOTOS: Her workshop and bookshelf!

 

The desert of Eden

(PHOTO: Kim Jew)



“God takes everyone he loves through a desert. It is his cure for our wandering hearts, restlessly searching for a new Eden ...The best gift of the desert is God's presence... The protective love of the Shepherd gives me courage to face the interior journey.” - ― Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

This quote is both moving and appropriate. Finding it is also perfectly timed. For today is the chasm between His crucifixion and resurrection. 

As of this week, it is the beginning of an inner and outer journey for my husband and I. We are being called to the desert.

I have been offered, and have accepted, a full-time position in New Mexico. When I have full disclosure from my new position, I can speak more of the details. I have received my (un) official letter today, preceded by a verbal offer which came on Maundy Thursday. 

In reading Luke 1:80, we know that "the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel." This child is not Jesus Christ, but is John the Baptist. The desert offered John the Baptist an isolation, which enhanced his spiritual growth and focused his message on God. (NIV - Life Application Study Bible)

(IMAGE: Georgia O'Keeffe)