ECHOES FROM THE PAST

Echoes from the past, music from the American Civil War.

About a year ago (I can't remember exactly) I made a video of music from the Civil War that I had arranged for piano. I didn't particularly like the video because it was way too long and haphazardly done.

So yesterday I made another video with some new recordings of my Civil War music arrangements. 
Unfortunately this new video is way too long and haphazardly done (*smile*). If nothing else, my attempts at creativity are consistent. 

I originally (long ago) recorded twelve songs from the Civil War, which I arranged for solo piano. In this new video, I've used four of them:

1. Battle Cry of Freedom
2. Lorena
3. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier
4. Variations on When Johnny Comes Marching Home.

I haphazardly threw a bunch of  Civil War photos together with the music and called it a "video".

BUT there's a  method to my madness, sort of.
For the first song I used all photos of soldiers on the "front".

The second song Lorena is rather saccharine and sentimental, so I used photos of soldiers with their wives/sweethearts.

The third song Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier is a sad lament, which reminds me of death on the battlefield. 

The fourth piece is (are) my own variations on When Johnny Comes Marching Home. It's one of my personal favorite arrangements. 

I had to transfer all my Civil War piano recordings from mp3 to WAV and then splice them together for the video. The result is far from perfect - but what the heck... I'm being annoyingly modest and unduly self-critical.

Video is best viewed in full-screen

UNWANTED KISSES, AUDACITY, FRUGAL BURRITOS, UNWANTED WEEDS

 
All right, let's put aside our political differences for a minute and get down to the nitty gritty:
I couldn't imagine anything more devastatingly horrifying than getting a sloppy, unwanted, probing kiss from Al Franken.
(if you haven't been watching the news lately.........you're very fortunate).
 I was trying to be funny. Shoot me.

Change of subject and depressing fact:

My blog posts with piano music are consistently my very least popular posts (see previous post)
My reason for doing them?
1. To show off.
2. To establish the fact that I once had a meaningful life, far removed from the Hillbilly Boonies.

I use Audacity to transfer my old piano tapes to computer-friendly files (Audacity isn't an attitude, it's a software program).

I've noticed that Audacity doesn't always produce a completely accurate transition of my piano recordings. The speed is often slightly faster than my original performance, and very annoying skips and jumps appear for no apparent reason. I've tried using different settings and even tried exporting to different files (like WAVE instead of mp3) but nothing works.

I made potato burritos yesterday.

Whenever I don't have the ingredients to make regular burritos, I make frugal potato burritos. The Mexicans often made them in Texas.
My recipe:
I dice some potatoes (I use four), chop up an onion, and put it in a frying pan -
season it with garlic salt, black pepper, and paprika. Then I fry it with butter until it's golden brown. Or until the house fills with smoke and stinks.

Finally I garnish it with cheese (any kind), wrap it in a large flour tortilla, and eat it with sour cream and/or salsa.
(BTW- this recipe makes more than one burrito).

Who the hell do you think you are, Jon? Martha Stewart?

Settle down, Kemosahbee. I figured if my music doesn't charm them, my cooking will.

Weeds, anyone?
I've been going out early the past few mornings to clear "weeds" from my property. They're not exactly weeds..... more like five foot monsters. 
The work is cumbersome and the results are minimal. I spent half an hour picking stickers and burrs out of my clothes and scraping mud off my boots.

Despite the fact that it's mid-November, some of the foliage is still lovely. Here are some pics taken yesterday:

The sun at noon

I saved the best for last

RUMBLING FOURTH

This post is going to be bland and uninteresting. You're forewarned. I suppose I need a break after writing two good posts (Wild Ride 
and Echos of Distant Summers).

I haven't written anything caustic, controversial, or nerve wracking in over a week. I figured I'd give everyone a breather.

I just heard a big collective sigh of relief from my apprehensive readers - - who are sweating blood and have bitten their fingernails down to the quick.


Rumbling Fourth?

Yup. The thunder is rumbling tonight as I write this and had been intermittently rumbling all through Independence Day. There was a severe storm warning just as I was eating my 4th of July dinner. Now, late in the evening, an eerie fog has rolled in and it's raining furiously with growls and groans of thunder. No fireworks tonight, except those provided by Mother Nature.....
.....or Father Nature, if you want to be politically correct.

I've been in Tennessee well over a year and a half, and have never felt the humidity more ruthlessly intense. This was a cheerless and miserable holiday.

Despite the storms, I had a seedless watermelon

So, how did I spend my cheerlessly miserable holiday? Working around the house, cursing the rain, watching the weeds grow, swatting insolent wasps and flies, and dealing with three rambunctious cats - who have been intent on chasing a hapless but quick and evasive mouse.

After an extremely long period of depression, indifference, and an I-don't-give-a-crap attitude, I'm finally making the house look decent and livable - - or as livable as a small place with a trio of felines can look.

 The weeds yield curious flowers

I spent part of the afternoon going through my sizeable collection of piano music and arranging it on shelves - - - rejoicing over the ones the movers didn't "lose" and lamenting over those I'll never see again. 

Most of my personal music manuscripts are intact (I think about a dozen are missing).

All of the piano music that had belonged to my mother and grandmother is gone. Well over 100 pieces - mostly first editions. This loss, to me, is a death.

I haven't touched either of my pianos since I moved here. I've been too depressed. They are battered and out of tune - much like myself. This has been my longest absence from the keyboard. Ever.

It is difficult to convey the fact that music once was my entire life. The piano, in essence, was my spouse. I was a professional. I had an extremely vast repertoire. I seldom write about this on my blog because - - I feel so completely disconnected from my musical past. 

Rather than bore you with my words, I'll bore you with some photos.

 This is my oldest piano, which my parents bought when I was ten. It's the piano that my mom always played, and the one on which she gave me lessons.

 An old photo of my mom by that same piano.

Here's a bunch of my music manuscripts, photographed yesterday afternoon. Please try to contain your excitement.

 Some of my Schirmer editions

 I have a huge collection of the G. Henle Verlag editions......and the Edition Peters.....

 

....and, of course, the colorful International Music Company editions

 My cat Scratch, completely overwhelmed by the music, finally rolled over and went to sleep.



I appreciated all your comments on my previous post. I usually like to respond to them, but this time I was too lazy.
Don't be duped by my indifference - - I still love you.