It seems to be catching.

Last night I went with Jared to Lectura Dantis. We took the BART (regional transit train that goes under the bay, for those of you "not from around here"). When the train came up the first thing in my head was "choo choo! Whooooo! Whoooo! All Aboard!" I guess not having Amália around to say this, I had to fill in myself, or the experience of hearing, seeing, and riding on a train was incomplete.

This morning, though, through all the noise of East Oakland in the morning, Amália picks out the whistle of a distant freight. "Choo choo! Whoooo! Whooo! All aboard!" Ah, how nice it is to hear her say that.

Friday Five (sort of)

Last post on old blog, first real one here: a belated Friday Five, kind of. I tried to write something funny. A sort of Me as Dictator biopic. Ha ha. OK, amusing.
Then I tried to take it seriously. Worse.
When it comes down to it, I cannot see watching, let along making a film of my life.
So, instead I will offer five films that I really like:
1. 8 1/2
2. Wings of Desire
3. The Night of the Shooting Stars
4. La Strada
5. Singing in the Rain
And here are five films that I find grossly overrated:
1. Schindler's List
2. Forrest Gump
3. Star Wars (all of them, but we'll count them as one)
4. Gone With the Wind
5. OK, let's face it, everything Spielberg did, with the exception of the first Indiana Jones film is sentimental gorp. I cannot narrow it down any more than that. The man collects Norman Rockwell, you know, the Rembrandt of Punkin Crick. His films are creepy. His philosophy is creepy. The music he uses is abominable. Oh yeah, don't bother to ask me "what about..." and then name something recent, as I have given up. I will not give that man any more money, nor my time. He has such a track record that I have no problem trashing any further films of his without seeing them. He needs to publicly repudiate all of his prior films before I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Welcome to the New Blog!

Well, since you have found this, obviously you know the new URL. Hopefully Moveable Type will be as cool as it seems.

Thanks are in order to Ann for making it all possible (building the new site, moving the archives, etc.), so to show my appreciation I am going to give her a big plug! Hire her for any web design needs (or cool percussion gigs). You can find her at pink mochi.

I will be continuing to fiddle with this, categorizing posts and so forth. I will also finally put my list of links in order and post it, as this is going to be my web home for awhile.

EDITED: I have added a few links, but have really just begun. They are in no particular order. Please don't be upset if your blog is not on there and should be. It will be. If I have still forgotten to add it by the middle of next week, shoot me an email and I will add it!

EDITED: As Ann pointed out, I misspelled Movable Type. It has been duly noted and will stand in error as a typographical sanbenito for the Keilholtz family to endure for generations upon generation. Amalia will check into college and the Dean will look over his spectacles at her and say, "oh, yes, um, Keilholtz, yes, well, it does sound familiar, AH, the family that could not spell "Movable." Tsk tsk, young lady, you might find it awfully difficult here at the University."

Fado and Food

I am writing a lot on the new fado this weekend (cover feature, so it has to be good), so I will not be working on the Victimae analysis. It is close to done, but needs some final touches (and I want to post it simultaneously with Building Blocks: Mode Part I). The fado story is due in my editor's inbox Tuesday morning, and I have Lectura Dantis on Wednesday, so it will be awhile. If you are anxious for more arcane analysis, I am sorry to keep you waiting. I will, as a slight compensation to you, post my Mariza and the new fado story on the blog on Friday or Saturday (I want Bay Area folks to have to buy the paper).

I have also been reading the founding documents of religious communities: St. Benedict's Rule, St. Augustine's Rule, St. Francis's Rule, the Dominican Constitutions, the Jesuit Constitutions, etc. Lots of interesting things have been going through my mind on the nature of government, society, community, penance, seasonality, etc. I might post some of these random thoughts.

I will try to post some more summer recipes, though. Tonight I am grilling lamb-burgers with Italian fontina cheese, served on grilled Pugliese bread with dressed mixed greens, avocado slices, and heirloom tomato slices (and grilled balsamic onions, for those who want them). For wine we will be having a Bonny Doon Clos de Gilroy grenache and a Quinta da Sonora (a dry red Portuguese style wine from the foothills of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range (ha ha ha, that and the Great Sahara Desert, buddy!)). I will report on the wines later tonight or tomorrow.

Music in the Time of Dante

If any of you are going to be in the Bay Area in late October, I will be speaking on Italian Music at the Time of Dante for the Lectura Dantis at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. For those of you needing a good excuse to get to San Francisco, this probably isn't it, but late October is a beautiful time of year in the city (it is also a good time to eat at local restaurants, particularly Oliveto or Chez Panisse).

The music of that era was interesting, and I hope to do it justice. Come one come all. Come for the Ars Nova, stay for the Vita Nuova!

Saw Players Picnic

The other great music event we went to was the Annual Saw Players Picnic and Music Festival at the Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton, California. This was one of those kill two birds with one stone sort of deals, as it appealed to Amalia's fanatical love of "choo choo's" and my love of the singing saw. We heard saw players from all over, some great, some good, some, well, enthusiastic. The food at Roaring Camp is an abomination (we would have been well served to have brought our own lunch, rather than spend $14 per each on the worst hamburger I have ever had in my life), but everything else is pleasant. We rode the choo choo, played in the stream, listened to the incomparable Robert Armstrong (of Cheap Suit Serenader's fame), and then went to Santa Cruz to visit Ann and Jaime (Ann is the one responsible for the cool look of this web page - hire her if you want a good web designer (or if you want your walls to look really good, too)). Anyway, nothing beats the singing saw, and if you are in Northern California on the third Sunday of July, it is worth a drive up Highway 9. The music is good, the trains are fun, and the setting is beautiful. Also, Felton is only a few miles from Bonny Doon Vineyard (and David Bruce and Byington, etc. etc.).

Hawaiian Music

Mark of Irish Elk fame is listening to one of Yazoo's great Hawaiian reissues, so it is as good a time as any to tell you about one of the great musicians we saw this weekend. Saturday we went to the Sounds of Hawaii show at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Most of the music was great (except for the rock band whose best song was a mid-80's new country cover), and some of it really stood out. For instance, I still cannot get the sound of Raiatea Helm out of my head. She has one of those great, soaring pure voices with perfect phrasing and intonation. What's more, she is only 18, so she should really improve (most singers, depending on the genre, hit their prime in their late 30's), although I cannot imagine how. I have no idea how she sounds on record, so I cannot report, but if she sounds just half as good as she sounded Saturday, I would recommend her without hesitation.

J'ai Ete Au Bal....on DVD!

Also released today for your musical enjoyment (c'mon, Keilholtz, is this a blog for discussion of weighty matters or is it a commercial platform?)...

For the first time on DVD, Brazos Film's award winning documentary of Cajun and Zydeco culture J'ai Ete Au Bal! By Les Blank, Maureen Gosling and Chris Strachwitz. Featuring Clifton Chenier, Queen Ida, Walter Mouton, Rockin' Sidney, The Balfa Brothers, Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, Nathan Abshire, Michael Doucet and BeauSoleil, John Delafose, Wayne Toups, BoisSec Ardoin, Chuck Guillory, The Hackberry Ramblers, Dennis McGee, Boozoo Chavis, Canray Fontenot, Paul Daigle and many more. There are 30 minutes of "Lost and Found" footage that are really good, and filmmakers' commentary that is interesting.

Now, I don't pitch all of our releases to you. You will not find me telling people to rush out and purchase a title unless it is something that stands out. Also, I tend to push non-Arhoolie titles more than Arhoolie ones on the Blog. However, the three releases we have today are all worth getting.

This will give you an idea of how good this documentary is. Melanie is lukewarm on Cajun and Zydeco music. She'll go to a concert or festival, but she is not one who would go to the shelf and pull out a Louisiana French record to listen to. But I was watching this one at home while I was recovering from the surgery, and she stopped to see a little and stayed in the room for the whole thing. As far as I am concerned, that is the ringingest endoresement for a documentary on Cajun music you can get.

The other DVD we are releasing today is Brazos Film's Chulas Fronteras and Del Mero Corazon. Both films are documentaries about the music and culture of the Mexican-American Border by Chris Strachwitz and Les Blank, and both are outstanding. I saw Chulas Fronteras several times long before I started working at Arhoolie and thought that it was great. Like J'ai Ete Au Bal, we have added 30 minutes of "Lost and Found" footage (and we are not just pushing crap from the cutting room floor onto the DVD - this is real stuff that is worth watching).

Frankly, I would recommend Chulas Fronteras just for the footage of Lydia Mendoza, alone (and if you don't know who Lydia Mendoza is, you are missing out on an amazing singer), not to mention getting a close up look at Narciso Martinez's hands on the button accordion.

I find it very easy to write up and push records and films like the ones we put out. I really don't think that I could work publicity for the garbage that has invaded and taken over the pop music world, though. I would rather be a trash collector than have to push Mariah Carey or Celine Dion. The trash collector gets to take all of the noxious refuse of a household and deposit it in the appropriately hideous place called the dump. The pusher of Mariah Carey has to go around encouraging people to bring more noxious refuse into their houses.

CD Review...Best of Clifton Chenier

For those of you in the record business, Happy Street Date! Records, like bishops, are released on Tuesdays. We have a very good bishop in His Excellency, Most Rev. Allen Vigneron, and he is not retiring, so we have no bishop new release to look for today, but we have a new record!

Arhoolie Records, ARH CD 474, Clifton Chenier, The Best of Clifton Chenier - The King of Zydeco & Louisiana Blues. Available at your local independent record store (or most Towers, Virgins, some Borders, and Wal*Marts in Louisiana) or directly from Arhoolie Records. Here is a capsule review a writer happened to drop my way:

Clifton Chenier
The Best of Clifton Chenier
Arhoolie Records
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

Subtitled "The King of Zydeco and Louisiana Blues," this collection features a mix of Chenier’s classic Zydeco standards, like "Ay, ai, ai" and "Zydeco Sont Pas Sale" as well as some great blues numbers. One of the strengths of this title, as well as a weakness, is that longtime Chenier producer Chris Strachwitz, set out to highlight Chenier’s blues abilities, which are considerable. Chenier was an outstanding blues singer, but the price for the inclusion of each blues number is the exclusion of a Zydeco masterpiece. Overall, though, the album is outstanding, with some of the best Zydeco music ever made, interspersed with top-notch blues and topped off with a fascinating interview, which, along with a previously unreleased version of "Zydeco Sont Pas Sale" make this interesting even to a long-time Clifton Chenier fan.

-Pete Flowers
peteflowersmusic@aol.com

The Building Blocks of Music: The Interval

The Building Blocks of Music: The Interval

When we have two notes to consider, we describe the relationship between the two as an interval. We can look at the interval in two ways: the vertical (when the notes sound simultaneously or at least overlap considerably) and the horizontal (when one note follows another). Because it is easier to hear horizontal intervals, we will begin with them.

Now for a personal aside: identifying intervals by ear was a stumbling block for me as a student of music. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, we had a grueling 64 Interval Test, of which we had to identify 58 correctly. I finally passed it, and have had little trouble with identifying intervals since then, but it did not come easily. I actually ended up with a rough perfect pitch as a result of working on hearing those intervals (you can wake me up in the middle of the night with a gun to my head and ask for A440, and I can give you A440 (although as a baroque geek, this is disturbing. Proper A is 415Hz)).

The first division of intervals is into consonance and dissonance. We will first look at the consonant intervals.

If you are sitting at a piano, please play C and then G, preferably around Middle C, but it can be any octave. What you have just heard is the Perfect Fifth. What this means is that the interval between the notes is a certain ratio (I will not confuse you with the exact ratios), which remains constant, no matter what the lower note is, so a Perfect Fifth above D is A, above E it is B, etc. By calling it Perfect we are recognizing two things: first, that this interval is found early in the harmonic series, which we discussed in Building Blocks: Tone, and, second, that the first note is found in the Major scale of the second and vice versa. So, in our example, one encounters a G in the key of C, and a C in the key of G. The Perfect consonances are dangerous to the composer, because they imply such a strong harmonic affinity. When we get into counterpoint, we will see the care that composers use in handling the Perfect Fifth (from here on referred to as P5), the Octave (P8) and the Unison (P1).

The P8 interval is simply a doubling of pitch, so an octave is C to C. The P1 is an identity: play the same note twice and you have it.

The other Perfect interval is the Perfect Fourth (P4). It is a tricky one, because it can sound incredibly dissonant. In fact, in the study of counterpoint, the P4 is considered a dissonance to be avoided (or treated with the care that one would treat any dissonance). Part of the reason is that the P4 is an INVERSION of the P5, so if we play C and then F, the P4, we know that F to C is a P5 (hint, inversions add up to 9).

If we play C and then E, we get an imperfect consonance, called a Major Third (M3). It is called Major, because E is in the key of C Major, but C is not in the key of E Maj. If we play C and then E flat, it is a minor third (m3), because the E flat is not in C Maj, but the C is in the Key of E flat Major (the Major key with three flats: B, E, and A). The inversion of the third is the sixth, so if we start on E our Major sixth (M6) is C sharp, and the minor sixth (m6) is C.

As you play these intervals, notice the associations with songs that come out of them. An ascending P5 (C up to G) may bring the Star Wars theme to mind. A descending P5 (G up to C) might call to mind Born Free. Use these clues to help you learn your intervals. If you know of handy guides to the intervals please feel free to post them in the comments box, to help others learn these. My examples are often a little esoteric, so many of you who are more attuned to popular music might be more useful here.

Now we have the dissonant intervals. We will start with the second. From C to D we have a Major Second (M2), or a whole step. If we move from C to D flat we have a minor second (m2), or a half-step. If we invert the second (2+X=9, and to add to the joy, an inversion of a Major interval is a minor interval and vice versa) we get the seventh. C up to B is our Major seventh (M7), while C up to B flat is our minor seventh (m7).

These are the natural intervals. If we augment an interval, it means that we add a half-step (so an augmented fifth (+5) is the same, for our purposes, as m6). Likewise to diminish an interval means to deduct a half-step (so a diminished fourth (-4, actually the degree sign is preferable, but I have no idea how to render that from the computer, so we will have to use the less preferable -sign) is the same as M3. All of this leads to the problem child of intervals: the tritone (also known as Diabolus in Musicam – the devil in the music), a thoroughly unstable interval. To hear a tritone, play C and then F sharp. Think, “Maria” from West Side Story. Avoiding the tritone is a serious business in writing counterpoint. Not only is it dissonant, but it gravely damages the melodic flow, and cannot even be outlined in three notes (C, E, F#). In tonal harmony the shifting nature of the tritone makes it incredibly useful in the V7 chord, but that is way down the road, so no need to worry about it now.

So the intervals are, in ascending order from the root:

P1
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
Tritone (+4/-5)
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
From here on, the intervals are the same, but added to the octave. No one really talks about anything larger than P12, or P5 an octave up.

The Vertical Interval. In some ways a note with a complex wave form can be described in the same language as a chord, or a stack of notes played simultaneously. The way to separate these two concepts is to declare that in looking at the vertical interval, we are concerned with the tones that have roughly equal sonic energy. Certainly each one will come with a host of overtones, but each of these overtones will have diminished sonic energy, as we saw in the Building Block: The Tone.

For this level of conversation we will only concern ourselves with two notes played simultaneously, so no need to think of the more complex harmonies of triads yet.

Basically, the language of dissonance and consonance is the same, but our ear has a little more work to do to tell which interval is which. Play the examples from above, but play them at the same time. Notice whether the resultant combination has a settled feel or whether it sounds like something needs to come after it. You will get an idea of the strength of consonance and dissonance: m7 is less dissonant than M7, for instance, P5 is more consonant than M6, etc.

When you contemplate these relationships and how they work together, you get a good idea of how marvelous the Cosmos is. All of these relationships are built into the very nature of sound! Almost. We cannot talk about the interval without talking about tuning.

For a variety of reasons, the ratios that make up the circle of fifths, that wonderful acoustic phenomenon that generates the 12 tones of the scale by moving up in fifths (C,G,D,A,E,B,F#,C#,G#,Eb,Bb,F,C) does not add up all the way, so if we keep the ratios of the fifths pure, the C will not be the octave C we started with. The gap is the Pythagorean comma. Resolving that gap has resulted in many tuning systems that either abandoned the use of some keys (most of the just tempered scales do this), or compromised the intervals so that the octaves work out, and the intervals are usable.

What you are used to hearing is the Equal 12 system, in which the ratio between each tone in the chromatic scale is identical as you go from one note to the other. To do this, the fifths, thirds, and sixths are compromised, so they are not as consonant as they should be. But temperament is a topic for another Building Block, so I will leave it at this introduction!

So, read this, plunk out the intervals, think about it, ask questions, digest it, and we will get to the analysis of Victimae paschali laudes.

Coming Attractions!

I have to get stuff for dinner now, but later tonight (much later, as I have to do some preparation for the Mariza interview), I will post the Building Blocks of Music: The Interval. I promise. No going to bed until I click "Publish."

Looking for the Full Story on Bison...

Could someone please tell me what is going on in the bison meat market? I keep hearing sob stories of bison farmers who are just not able to sell their meat, and have to settle for a pittance per pound. Then Melanie gets bison steaks without noticing the price, and they are outrageously expensive (but worth every bit of it, yum!). Then, a week later she finds at Trader Joe's ground bison for $5 for 2 pounds. For some reason she only bought one package. So, what is the deal? My butcher who sold us the steaks is a little on the high side, but would not gouge Melanie or me, but it would seem that if the bison rancher is getting any decent percentage on the sale, he has nothing to worry about, even if he is selling his lesser cuts to Trader Joe's for grinding into the $2.50/lb stuff.

Do any of you know the real story? By the way, I highly recommend bison meat. For Melanie's birthday I grilled bison burgers (with lovage and garlic, following Alice Water's recipe in Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook) over mesquite and oak, and served them on toasted pan de mie rolls with balsamic grilled onions and a green salad on the side (tomatoes are finally acceptable here). I was going to make classic pommes frites (cut thinly - McDonald's actually gets this right, par-fried in peanut oil, allowed to cool, then fried again in fresh peanut oil), but found a farmer at the market who was selling zucchini blossoms, which are one of Melanie's favorites (I batter them in a light egg/flour/milk/salt/pepper batter and fry them in extra virgin olive oil), so I did those instead.

We served it all with a bottle of 1995 merlot (that a friend made, sorry, it's not on the market) and were in for some good eating. Our friends brought over some gelato from the one place in the Bay Area that makes authentic gelato (not the best, but satisfactory).

41.02564% - Major Geek.

41.02564% - Major Geek. Thank God they are clueless on the realm of music geeks, otherwise I think that would have put me completely over the top. Still, 41% for someone who is not a computer geek is pretty bad. I may have to think of the ramifications of this.

Lectura Dantis...And You!

Tonight is Dante Night, but we are reading St. Augustine right now (on Free Will), then Virgil, then I am going to harangue the group about the ars nova period and then we will probably wind our way back to the Dark Wood, where we will again lose our way and require the Cosmic lifeguard.

I highly recommend doing this in your own parish. Our lecura dantis is made of a couple of professors, an Ignatius Press editor, a mayoral candidate, a high school teacher, a few students, a priest, a couple of artists, and a public transit administrator. We meet every week, discuss the reading (for the Divine Comedy, we stuck to 3 canti a week), get into heated arguments, drink tea and coffee, and go our merry ways.

It is a great way to spend an evening.

Twain on Cooper

Recently Jeff posted a quote by James Fenimore Cooper. I cannot let that stand without pointing you in the direction of this great piece by Mark Twain. Read it and weep (or laugh so hard you nearly wet yourself, almost wake everyone up in the house by nearly falling out of your chair, and come close to breaking the computer trying to use the keyboard to right yourself). An exerpt:

Now I feel sure, deep down in my heart, that Cooper wrote about the poorest English that exists in our language, and that the English of Deerslayer is the very worst that even Cooper ever wrote.

I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that Deerslayer is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of art; in truth, it seems to me that Deerslayer is just simply a literary delirium tremens.

A work of art? It has no invention; it has no order, system, sequence, or result; it has no life-likeness, no thrill, no stir, no seeming of reality; its characters are confusedly drawn, and by their acts and words they prove that they are not the sort of people the author claims that they are; its humor is pathetic; its pathos is funny; its conversations are--oh! indescribable; its love-scenes odious; its English a crime against the language.

Blogs and Archaeology

The topic has come up on Kathy the Carmelite's Blog about meeting fellow bloggers in person. I have met three St. Blog folks (although one I met before I realized he had a blog, and then read his blog and did not realize that it was the fellow I had eaten lunch with before), and it really is fun.

Thinking about this makes me think about the peculiar nature of the Blog discourse. I like the interactivity (as long as it is respectful and intelligent, the comments trolls that some folks seem to attract are an inevitable side effect, I guess), the balance between serious matters and less serious matters (they are actually arguing about retsina over at another blog), as well as formal writing and almost conversational discourse. I also like the fact that blogging becomes self-selecting, with folks gravitating towards various subinterests. Once in awhile I can scan some of the others to see if there is anything I need to read, but I have just a few that I look at every day.

The one thing that bugs me about blogs, however, is the time limit on a discussion. I suppose it is a good thing, as it keeps things from getting drawn out, but sometimes a good dialog gets cut off when the post moves too far down the page. There must be some way of letting particularly active posts float up towards the top.

When blogging will really get interesting is when the cultural historians, literature theoreticians, and semioticians start cataloging and developing a theory and poetics of the blog. Expect some whacky writing, as well as some good theory. Of course the big question is how much of this will really be archived. Will it float through cyberspace eternally? Will it quietly fade away? Will it fade away only to pop up on some fanatic's machine (Look! I single-handedly saves all web pages that were available on July 15th, 2003! This will revolutionize the study of 21st Century History!)? If it all lasts, how will all of it be sifted, sorted and digested? I foresee some horrible grad student projects in this.

If it is randomly erased from memory, with a few things popping up for random reasons, will they assume strange mythologies: We know that the writer known as Nihil Obstat served as some kind of judge to the religious community of the time (often referred to as St. Blog's Parish - even though we have no information about the life of St. Blog - some in Rome have even suggested, behind closed doors and in hushed tones, that he never existed, he was important enough that they named a whole system after him).

One last musing: what if Proust had a blog? Think about that as you watch the sun set over the horizon!

Dennis Kamakahi CD Review

We had an unseasonable summer day in the Bay Area today! Weeee. Sunshine. Warm. I had to review a Hawaiian record for the paper (just a capsule review, nothing giant- you will have to wait for the Mariza interview for a good meaty music article). Life can be awfully pleasant if you are not careful:

Rev. Dennis Kamakahi
Pua’Ena – Glow Brightly
Dancing Cat Records
**** (four stars)

When cattle were introduced to Hawaii it was essential to bring in trained cattlemen to maintain the herds, so Mexican, Portuguese and Spanish vaqueros came to work the burgeoning cattle industry. They brought their guitars with them and altered the sound of Hawaiian music forever. To fit Polynesian music to the guitar, it was necessary to retune the instruments and the slack key style of guitar was born. One of the masters of Slack Key Guitar is Rev. Dennis Kamakahi. His guitar playing and singing exemplifies the style, with his rich voice and solid accompaniment. Kamakahi creates a wonderfully relaxed sound that is perfect listening for a warm evening. His music is enchanting and soothing without preciousness or the slightest affectation. Pua’Ena is full of honest and straightforward music that instantly evokes the tropical sounds of Hawaii.

Mariza Concert

One of my writing duties is exciting. I just found out today that I am going to interview Mariza, who has probably the greatest voice in Portugal. She is going to be in San Francisco on Aug 2nd, and I am interviewing her this week for a story to run Aug 1st. I will post the story here (as well as the reviews I have written about her albums) on August 1. Of all the big name musicians and singers to write about, she has to top the list.

I thought that I was smitten by Cristina Branco's voice until I heard Mariza's Fado em mim. 20 years ago it would have been easier to be the best fadista. The only competition was the elderly and fading legend Amália Rodrigues (yes, that is where we got the name). Well, there were others, but not like today. Now, the field is much more competitive, with great singers like Dulce Pontes, Mariza, Misia, Cristina Branco, Ana Maria Bobone, etc.).

Now if someone could tell me why Madredeus still sells records I would appreciate knowing. Their arrangements are not bad (I don't mind the modern settings with synthesized strings and all that), but there are a lot of singers out there who can sing circles around Teresa. I liked their music in Wim Wender's Lisbon Story, but it was not much more than pleasant atmosphere. If I want to hear fado, I listen to one of the above.

Blog Image Mystery

I posted that last one and hit View Your Blog and something unusual came up: Some other person's template, complete with busty starlet with a come thither look. Or maybe it was a pop songstress. I am not what one would call au courante on these things. "why, it's an outrage! Good musicians go hungry and half talents like, like, Eddie Money make millions!"

OK, I am not that bad, but I don't think I could pick Christina Aguilera out of a lineup. At least I think that is who the girl who showed up on the blog was. I seem to see her face in Billboard, so it probably is she.

Anyway, I don't care who you are, what are you doing on my Blog?!? If I am going to post photos, they are probably going to be of Amália (although I am resisting that, because once you start there, you never stop. You start accosting random passers-by: "do you want to see pictures of my two year old? She is obsessed with 'choo choo's' and sometimes thinks she' a horse!").

My first thought was "hackers!"

"Hackers!" Keilholtz sputters. "Hackers! Imps! Rascals! Reds!"

Then I republished and it went back to the Taurine thing. Bull. Man. Lots of Red. I guess it was just a technoburp.

Blog Lull. Sorry.

I have been writing up a storm (OK, I have also been at the Scottish Highland Games at the Dunsmuir Estate in Oakland, but mostly writing), but it is for paying writing gigs, so I have been neglecting the blog. I will get to it: I have not forgotten you, but liner notes, record reviews, music features all come first, as that is the stuff that puts the pasta on the table.

Your continuing patience is appreciated!

Pan de Higo and Miscellaneous Food Musings

Someone found this site looking for "pan de higo recipe." Unfortunately I do not have one, but it would be something worth experimenting with. At worst it will not hold together and you will have a sticky mess of figs and almonds. No big deal. You just chop it up and use it as a cookie filling. I am not sure if I would try to make one using fresh figs or dried figs rehydrated in marsala (yum!).

My cooking priorities are pretty much set for the week:

1. Eat up leftovers from San Fermin, from Tuesday's risotto, and from the carnitas, salsa verde, guacamole and chips I made last night.

2. Cook up the veggies that I bought at the farmers' market.

3. MUST get out this weekend and pick walnuts. It will be too late in not that much time, and I will run out of nocino and have to do without for at least a year if I do not get this done.

4. Sweeten the current batch of limoncino.

5. Then, next week is Melanie's birthday week, so her requests definitely take priority.

So, experimenting with pan de higo will probably not happen for at least a week. I am sorry. I will dutifully report any results once I do it. I will not try to simply replicate the delicious pan de higo that I can buy from Spain. It is not expensive enough for me to want to take the effort to just make a clone. I will definitely be shooting for improvement.

Meanwhile, it looks like the comments are down, and I still am looking for Day of the Dead material. I have found some stuff, but the vast majority of what I have run accross is either completely ignorant of or hostile to Catholic traditions (when I get this thing written, I will write on here about the nonsense I have found). So, if you know of anything from a solid Catholic perspective (or at least by someone who is not an idiot when it comes to understanding Catholic theology and practice), please email me at EKeilholtz [ a t ] aol [ d o t ] com. Thank you!

URGENT REQUEST! Day of the Dead Material

URGENT REQUEST!

I am under a tight deadline on a project involving the Mexican Day of the Dead. Much of the anthropological literature is written by Marxists and assorted anti-Catholics who are determined to downplay the significance of All Souls and All Saints observances. As a result they yammer on about the syncretic elements of it, how it is really just a Catholic gloss on ancient Amerindian festivities.

Given the bias of most scholars in the Latin American studies fields and the lack of solid evidence of exactly what these ancient practices (most of the stuff is given the level of assumption and is poorly footnoted), and the erroneous notions of the Faith when it is not altogether ignored, I am assuming that there is a high degree of error throughout almost all academic discussion of this observance.

Now, this is the problem: I have to have a good rough draft of this project by Sunday. I have never been to Patzcuaro or any of the places where this celebration is done in a grand style, and I will probably only have one day to use the library (although I will have more time for checking sources after this rough draft is in). If any of you have any information about the Day of the Dead, can point me in the right direction either with print titles or (preferably) Internet sources (reliable ones, though), I will greatly appreciate it!

I am looking for solidly Catholic material, although I am not looking for a whitewash. If, indeed, there are syncretic elements in the theology (obviously there are in the art, and some of the rituals) and beliefs of most of the folks who observe this day, then I need to know about that, as the most important thing here is accuracy.

So, please, if you have any information, please let me know via the comments box or my email: EKeilholtz[at]aol[dot]com.

Gracias!

Pearl's Cafe Review

As promised, the full review of Pearl's Cafe. It was slightly edited for print, but I do not have an electronic version of that, and I do not have the time to hunt through for changes and to type. Sorry. I think we added something at the end, too. The long and short of it is EAT AT PEARL'S! Yum yum!

If one expects the façade of a restaurant to somehow advertise the quality of what is inside, Pearl's Café in Fremont will first confound then delight. The humble exterior yields absolutely nothing about the cuisine and setting that awaits the diner behind the red door that separates the restaurant from the front-yard/parking lot of what was once a humble single family home.

Although Pearl's is not in a rustic stone building in the countryside, nor has it the elegant formality of a classic haute cuisine restaurant, executive chef Christine Fahey is preparing food that will earn her a place in the canon of Bay Area culinary legends.

Starting with the freshest ingredients, Fahey uses her astounding inventiveness to combine the perfect blend of flavors and textures to live up to the dictum that in a well prepared meal, the diner should taste the food and not the cooking.

Fahey stands out from her peers by combining disparate ingredients while maintaining the integrity of the essential elements of the dish. For instance, in the first appetizer, clams and mussels in a tequila broth with tomatoes, avocado and cilantro (a special appetizer priced at $10), nothing is lost in a fog of competing flavors. Rather, the tequila structured the dish, while the cilantro and tomatoes provided a refreshing lift, with the edges rounded out by the avocado, leaving the center of the dish to be the wonderfully sweet and briny shellfish.

Our other appetizer, a goat cheese flan with fresh berries and baguette slices ($9) was exquisite. The warm flan was delicate and smooth, highlighting the flavor and texture of the goat cheese. The ripe, cool, seasonal berries counterbalanced the earthiness of the cheese with their sweetness and slight tartness.

All entrees are served with a choice of soup or salad (which can be ordered separately for $5 or $6, respectively). The salad, mixed organic greens with marinated red onions, blue cheese, strawberries, and toasted sunflower seeds, was an archtypical Californian salad. Perfectly dressed, the salad balanced the slight bitterness of the greens with the piquancy of the onions and cheese, the sweetness of the berries, and the nuttiness of the sunflower seeds.

The noble simplicity of Fahey's cuisine is exemplified in the soup of the day, which was a chilled melon and basil soup the evening we visited. Each bite of this soup exploded on the palate with two flavors that epitomize early summer. The soup was light and refreshing, a good palate cleanser between the appetizers and the main courses.

Choosing an entrée at Pearl's is one of those tasks that one undertakes with expectation and a touch of regret. From Cajun-spiced prawns sautéed and tossed in housemade barbecue sauce finished with a splash of cream over crisp fried polenta ($22) to semolina gnocchi stuffed with basil pesto and fresh mozzarella cheese ($18.50), everything on the menu tantalizes with daring combinations of fresh ingredients.

We chose the lightly smoked double cut pork chop on a warm German style potato salad with blackberry chutney and grilled asparagus ($23) and the daily special, a generous piece of escolar grilled and served with purple basmati rice, a coconut milk broth, carrots, broccoli, cilantro and a lemon grass aioli ($24). The pork was perfectly cooked, moist and not overpoweringly smoky. The sweet chutney was a good foil to the richness of the pork, and the heartiness of the potato salad. The only problem with our whole meal was the asparagus, which were slightly undercooked and should have either been peeled or had the bottom inch cut off.

The escolar was grilled to an even doneness, flaky and moist, and the preparation gave a pleasant Southeast Asian accent to the dish. The seasonings brought out the fish's delicate flavor, while the lemon grass aioli added richness that pushed the dish over the top.

For dessert we ordered the Scharfenberger chocolate and espresso crème brulee with almond biscotti and the fresh berry beggars purse with vanilla bean whipped cream and raspberry coulis (all desserts $6.50), both of which were outstanding. Each bite of the crème brulee was an explosion of chocolate and coffee flavor, with contrasting textures provided by the smooth custard and the crisp caramelized top. The biscotti were dipped in molten Scharfenberger chocolate and would have made a good dessert on their own.

The berry beggars purse was a buttery puff pastry base topped with an ample amount of warm coulis. Although the menu said it was to be finished with whipped cream, ours came with vanilla bean ice cream, which was a good contrast to the warm beggars' purse.

Portions of all of our dishes were generous, and the presentation of everything was appealing. All of the details of every dish were tended to with care and expertise. Even the bread, a homemade herb bread, and the homemade herbed butter were memorable.

Pearl's service is excellent, yet informal. Our server was exceptionally friendly, helpful, knowledgeable about the food, and attentive. The enthusiasm the staff has for the food is readily apparent in the attitudes of all the wait staff. Not only was our server able to recommend wines, but he gave us tastes of the wines available by the glass.

Pearl's Café's wine list is excellent, with some unusual varietals and blends alongside the usual offerings. Wine prices are reasonable, and the wine by the glass list is diverse enough to offer diners a match to any of the items on the menu.

In contrast to the rather subdued exterior, the interior of Pearl's Café is warm and inviting. Either in the two dining rooms or in the pleasant patio in the back, diners are surrounded by décor that harmonizes with the superb, yet unpretentious food Pearl's offers. The use of space in this small restaurant is efficient, yet does not feel cramped. There is ample room between the tables, and the noise level is acceptable.

Duck Risotto

For those of you following my recipe series on summer foods (which will be amended to include some no-carb stuff for various folks who need that), I would like to use this next one as an example of frugality in the kitchen. As you know, the other night I cooked a duck with a pluot sauce. It was a lot of food for the two of us (Amália had eaten something earlier, so it was just Melanie and I), so we had leftovers.

Last night Melanie picked the meat off the carcass and made stock from the bones. Tonight I will make a duck risotto:

Finely chop about 1/4 of a pound of thinly sliced pancetta and all of the duck skin that is left. The finely dice a carrot, a celery stalk, and an onion (or shallot). Finely chop a few dried porcini mushrooms. Peel two cloves of garlic.

In a large saucepan (or whatever you use to make risotto) heat up 2 T of the duck fat leftover from cooking the duck to begin with, 2 T butter and 2 T extra virgin olive oil. Gently fry the pancetta and chopped duck skin. Add the garlic cloves and fry for a minute. Add the onions and fry for a few minutes. Add the carrot and celery and fry until aromatic.

Add two cups of arborio rice, a generous pinch of fresh time, and the chopped mushrooms. Cook for about four minutes until the rice starts to get translucent. Pour in a cup of white vermouth and cook off.

Lower the heat and add hot duck stock, ladle by ladle, stirring occasionally, until the rice is cooked al dente. Take it off the heat. Salt and pepper to taste, finish with 2 T butter and a generous helping of freshly grated reggiano parmeggiana.

Serve with a pinot noir and a green salad.

In Praise of MSG

I am just finishing my lunch and contemplating what a marvel msg is. I just ate a few too many barbecue potato chips, enough to make my tongue tingle a bit, and it got me to thinking about what msg can do for flavor. It is powerful stuff, and needs to be used in moderation, but it is really the unsung hero of the kitchen.

Now, I don't have a bottle of msg in my kitchen, but I use it in other subtle ways: in the fermented anchovies of Worcester sauce, in dried seaweed flakes, in Maggi sauce (I guess it's called a sauce), etc. Obviously some folks are allergic to it, and should stay away, but for those who are not allergic, it is time to rehabilitate msg into the canon of valid kitchen seasonings.

Now, if my foodie friends read this I am probably going to have to defend myself on charges of heresy, but I will stand by my defense of our noble friend, monosodium glutamate.

Identity Borrowing?

Warning!

My father has been reading this blog. No problem here. In fact that is great. The problem is that I sometimes read the blog from his computer and have commented from his computer. So, if he comments and does not change the name and all of that, you will think that his ideas are coming from me. Some of them we share, but if it suddenly seems that I am a big supporter of unregulated markets, individual liberties, and Stanford University, don't worry that I have some alter-ego coming through, nor that a vicious hacker has taken over my identity, rather that he is commenting and has not changed the settings.

Of course if he were reading this, he could see this as an invitation to comment, too (not to mention the great silent majority out there).

Performance Practice Inegales?

Someone found this site looking for "performance practice" inegales. I will be discussing baroque performance practice in regards to rhythmic variation (notes inegales, overdotting, etc.) as well as jazz swing rhythm when I get to Building Blocks: Rhythm. I will warn you that this will be fairly basic. I will get to the more in depth discussion of these things when we get to Baroque keyboard works, so stay tuned!

San Fermin Nude!

A big welcome to the person who found my site by searching for "san fermin" + nude.

Please note that I do not endorse running the bulls au natural.

In bullfighting a natural is a pass of the bull with the muleta in the left hand. It is one of the most elegant things a man can do. However, it would be absurd to do this nude, and would result in arrest by the Guardia Civil (at least it would have in the old days). Likewise, those running through the streets of Pamplona should wear clothes, preferably white with a red sash.

On another, more positive note, I see quite a few people finding this site looking for Zand's Pastries on Solano Avenue. I heartily endorse them, as I have in the past, and particularly recommend the Iranian pistachio baklava, an explosion of nuts, butter, honey and rose water served by really nice people.

Coming Attractions Guessing Game!

And now it is time for the weekly guess as to what to expect on the old Blog:

1. Building Blocks of Music: The Interval
2. Victimae Paschale laudes analysis
3. More recipes
4. A record review.

Beyond that, all bets are off. If I get to it, I will also post:

5. Building Blocks of Music: The Mode
6. Building Blocks of Music: Rhythm Part I
7. Carbon Monoxide Culture Part II
8. Analysis of Miles Davis's "So What" from Kind of Blue.

San Fermin Menu

Oh yeah, here is my menu for San Fermin:

Tapas:

1. Anchovie stuffed olives
2. Spanish chorizo
3. Queso Manchego with membrillo

Sopa:

4. Gazpacho

Carne:

5. Linguiça
6. Chourico
7. Boef Gardienne de la Comargue
8. Basque marinated steak
9. Bifanas (Portuguese marinated pork)
10. Carnitas con guacamole y tortillas

Dishes that were on the menu but got nixed:

11. Papas bravas
12. Tortilla español

Main Course:

13. Paella

Postres:

14. Cheesecake.
15. Fresh fruit

Dessert that was on the menu but no one remembered to take it out:

16. Pan de higo.

If you want recipes or sources for any of these, holler and I will post them.

New Release Alert.

Collectors Choice (one of the great funky resources for music you never knew you needed) is offering Martin Denny's Only Live Recording! It is called Baked Alaska - The Cool Sounds of Martin Denny. I may have to get my hands on this to review it for the paper. The CD era is great!

Another quiz-thingie is going around

Another quiz-thingie is going around that I will pass on. This one shows your preferences for President in the next election. Since my candidate is not on it, I am not going to participate. Of course my candidate is not on it because he is a Spanish citizen and happens to be dead. Oh well, win some you lose some. My second choice is a Portuguese citizen and is dead, so I cannot even settle for second. As for the eligible nuts on the ballot, well, I suppose in the end I will vote for Bush again, although he is a free-market (and corporate welfare) Protestant. I never said I liked him, I just vote for him.

Happy San Fermin! If you

Happy San Fermin!

If you are running, bueno suerte!

We celebrated early with our Iberian barbecue. We began at 4pm with tapas and brought the paella out of the oven at 11:30pm.

For the first time ever at one of my San Fermin parties, we actually watched bullfight videos (by the request of others, too). Saw a great performance by Enrique Ponce, in which the bull was granted the rare indulto. Magnificent animal matched with brilliance on the part of the matador! This sort of combination yields breathtaking results. I think that all of the inexperienced folks watching were drawn into the whole thing.

Being with folks who are experiencing the bulls for the first time always makes me think of when I was turned on to bullfighting at the age of 12 in Spain. The first bullfight I went to was in Madrid, and it was a mixed bag. I wasn't immediately gripped by it, but some spark was ignited, since I wanted to learn more about it. In the course of the next week I read Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. The next weekend I could not go to a bullfight, but watched one on TV. It all came together a bit more. The next week I was dragging my parents to Plaza Monumental de Barcelona, where Emilio Muñoz, Paco Ojeda and Espartaco were performing. That did it. I have been an aficionado ever since.

For someone in the United States, being an aficionado involves more reading books, more watching videos, and more email exchanges than actually getting out to the bulls. I like reading about the bullfights, but so far no one has written a satisfactory poetics of toreo. Most books about bullfighting tend towards the overly romantic, often with an Anglo trying to demonstrate that he is the great expert of bullfighting and showing very little knowledge of poetics or aesthetics. I still love Death in the Afternoon, but it falls into this category (with some rather amusing howlers - how Hemingway could have gotten some of the things wrong that he did is amazing).

Even among aficionados there are some crazy ideas. One fellow on the Mundo Taurino list insists all sorts of mystical nonsense about the bull recognizing the inevitability of its death (from a fellow very smitten with post-Endarkenment philosophy, nonetheless), another thinks that the bull has precise control of the horns to the point of practically being able to crochet with the things, and so forth.

A corrective is needed, based on solid science, poetics, and aesthetics. Every so often I think I should give it a go, but I have other projects with higher priority, and the market for such a thing would be minimal. If any of you, dear readers, want to take the task up, let me know, and I will point you in the right direction.

Summer recipe update: We did

Summer recipe update:

We did not grill bison, because they did not have the goat cheese I wanted for the figs, and if I am going to build a fire, I want to maximize it and cook a lot of stuff on it. So, we went out to fine Swedish food (Ikea), and will eat the bison tonight. Then I will give a report on the menu with recipes. I think it will be:

1. Figs stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in pancetta and grilled (recipe given a few days ago).
2. Pasta al pesto (pound fresh basil, a couple of garlic cloves, olive oil, and toasted pine nuts in a mortar, add freshly grated reggiano parmeggiana and serve over fresh pasta).
3. Grilled bison steaks (as described in the fiorentina recipe).
4. Ratatouille (leftovers - eggplant, zucchini (actually three varieties of summer squash), capsicum (red and some other yellowish one), green garlic, all sauteed individually in olive oil (except the green garlic which was sweated for 7 minutes in olive oil and water on low heat), seasoned with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Reduce canned tomatoes with fresh thyme and lavender salt over medium heat. Layer in buttered dish: eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, green garlic, tomatoes, then pour a cup of white vermouth and a cup of homemade brown chicken stock over it and bake for 30 minutes)
5. Fresh fruit and cantucci for dessert.

I will serve this with some sort of red wine (probably a sirah or a merlot) and mineral water.

I will probably throw a bird of some sort on the grill to use up the fire and the pluot sauce leftover from Tuesday. If I can find inexpensive pigeons I will use those.

Building Blocks of Music Vol

Building Blocks of Music Vol 3. NOISE

When we think of noise we tend to think of a social definition, which is basically sound that we do not want to pay attention to. The social definition is rather nebulous, as it can describe true noise (the clatter of garbage cans at 7am on a Saturday morning) or tone (the incessant Reverse indicator of a delivery truck), or even sound we would consider pleasant music in other circumstances (living with a string quartet and listening to the same thing over and over at 2am on a Wednesday). This definition will not do. It is completely subjective, and does nothing to communicate anything about the nature of the sound.

Noise is a random distribution of sound energy, so that no recognizable pattern can be discerned. On our Cartesian grid, think of a bunch of random spikes, like an EKG gone horribly wrong. In its purest state, we have white noise, which is the perfectly random distribution of sound energy throughout the audible spectrum. If we run the white noise through a filter and get rid of certain ranges of sound energy we get pink noise. We can do this creatively and build a piece of music entirely on filtering and changing white noise (find a copy of Joji Yuasa’s Icon: On the Source of White Noise for a stunning example of this).

Generally, though, we hear noise in music as a part of a tone. When we describe a flute as “breathy” we mean that noise is part of the sound. Noise gives an earthiness to sound. Noise can break the monotony of constant tones (that is why snare drums can liven a symphony). Noise can be repeated to establish rhythmic structure (the drums in a march, or in jazz). Noise can have a complex relationship with tone, as in the timpani, so that if the timpanist is playing sharp, the whole orchestra sounds flat. Noise can have a similar relationship with tone in the low notes of a pipe organ to make us quake in terror of the impending horn phrase in Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra.

When we synthesize sounds, we add noise to make them more believable. When we record music, we try to kill all noise that is generated from the machines, the ambiance of the room, the nature of the recording medium. If we want a bit of a recording to have the effect of, say, coming out of an AM radio, we add selective noise to be believable.

Because the sounds of life are noisy, we can take noisy sounds and use them to evoke complex memories. In the middle of the 20th Century, there was a whole school of music called musique concrete that used nothing but sounds recorded and edited to create music. When it worked, it was otherworldly, as it transformed the sounds we are familiar with into a context of structured music or even narrative. To this day there are sections of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry’s work in this direction that haunt me.

Sound effects men do this sort of thing all the time, and have, in fact, altered what we think things sound like. For instance, many people think that the sound of a ricochet is integral to the sound of a gun firing. It isn’t, but has become such a part of the auditory culture that it has to be in the sound for people to accept it. When they made Apocalypse Now they spent a fortune flying recording engineers to remote jungle locations and recording helicopters and guns. The didn’t use this footage, since it was deemed unbelievable. Instead, the sounds were generated in a studio.

If we are to equate the world of pure tone with the otherworldly and the world of noise with the terrestrial, then it is important to see how in the music of an Incarnational Faith the two have an important role. God became man in a noisy world. He was a carpenter. If we see Christ bringing the celestial harmonies in their purest form in his Divine Nature, we must see the terrestrial noises as being intimately attached to His Human Nature. A Puritan music would be entirely synthesized with sine waves. A Catholic music (I am thinking the Baroque in particular, but all genres and styles), is full of gritty violins, windy organs and reeds, clattering percussion, breathy voices, even pianos once in awhile. It bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth, Man and God. It aspires to the high Heavens, but it does so with the means of making music we have on Earth. If we say that music is good, we are saying that it is inherently Catholic. It might be played and written by all manner of men, but that which is good music is Catholic music, insofar as it is good.

Around the time of musique concrete, which was centered in Paris, the Germans in Cologne were playing the Puritans, fiddling with oscillators to yield totally controllable tone-based music. They called this elektronische Musik. There was a young Catholic musician, however, who had spent time in both places. He studied under the great Catholic composer Olivier Messiaen and worked in Cologne (OK, I hate spelling it this way, but the umlaut is being flaky on blogger). Now I have no idea what manner of Catholic this fellow was at the time. He certainly had some funny ideas in the 60’s and 70’s, but I think he has come back to his roots in a way. However, his formation was certainly Catholic, and he is a bright man who would understand the implications of all of this. Anyway, this young German Catholic composer bridged the gap between Paris and Cologne, and created some of the most incredible electronic music ever made. He even wrote one of the most important pieces on the theory of electronic music and the balance of Tone and Noise makes up a quarter of it. Of course, the composer I am referring to is none other than Karlheinz Stockhausen.

As I mentioned earlier, we will tackle Stockhausen’s essay later, but first we must look to the next Building Block: the Interval.

Building Blocks of Music, Vol.

Building Blocks of Music, Vol. 2. Tone

When a sound has a repeated pattern between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz, we use the term pitch or tone to describe the sound. I am trying to avoid excessive mathematics, although music is a mathematical art, so some mathematics will be necessary. I am going to ask you to remember back to the old Cartesian graph, with the horizontal X-axis and the vertical Y-axis.

On our graph, the X-axis represents time, moving constantly from left to right. The Y-axis represents the amount of energy of the wave (the amplitude). Any pitch may be graphed using this system. In an analog sound generator, whether it be a string, a vibrating column of air, or the diaphragm of a loudspeaker, the far points on the Y axis represent the vibrating thing, whether it be air, string or paper, at the points where the motion stops in one direction and goes the other direction. So, if a vibration moves in a pure pattern of up/down over time, the result is always a sine wave (that roly-poly paradigm of regularity). This sine wave is the purest expression of tone. A sine tone sounds excessively pure. In fact, because it is so rarely found in nature, it is sometimes difficult for us to grasp which pitch the tone is. We are used to dirtier sounds, with multiple layers of sound energy at different pitches and different energy levels.

The closest we have in the world of acoustic instruments to a sine wave is the flute or recorder. Even then, there can be harmonic energy as well as noise energy (but we will leave noise out until Vol 3). We tend to use language of purity to describe sounds that are close to the sine wave: crystalline, ringing, etc.

The sounds we associate with musical instruments, however, tend to have layers of pitches, known as harmonics. The lowest pitch is the fundamental. When we say that an oboe is playing A, nowadays we mean that the fundamental is vibrating at 440 Hz (cycles per second). Mozart would have assumed 432 Hz and Bach would have been comfortable with 415 Hz, but the ever-brightening sound of the orchestra is for later discussion. However, we do not expect all of the sound energy of the oboe to be vibrating at 440 Hz. In fact, above this fundamental is a whole range of sympathetic vibrations that follow a pattern known as the harmonic series.

The harmonic series is expressed as ratios of vibrations, and it is a constant. The fifth harmonic, for instance, has the same relationship to the fundamental whether that fundamental is A or E flat. When the harmonics are present in a certain pattern, the wave starts to look less like a sine tone and more like a saw blade. We call that sort of sound a sawtooth wave or a triangle wave. A tone with a triangle wave pattern is richer, and easier for us to hear as a tone than a sine wave. If we add energy to the higher harmonics, we get a square wave, which is a rather complex arrangement of harmonics.

Now, jumping ahead two volumes in the Building Block series, we will get to the interval, which describes the relationship between two pitches. We will see that each tone of the musical scale is based on the harmonic series. We will also see that the purest expression of the harmonic series is problematic in terms of real music, as the harmonics get a little out of whack, so that the logical progression of fifths, thirds, and octaves, do not come together. As a result we have a variety of tuning systems to reconcile this gap. When we look at temperament we will particularly pay attention to the tyranny of the equal 12 system, why it was accepted, and why it is about the worst sounding tuning possible.

Tone is related to timbre, or the quality of the sound, because the timbre is made of harmonics interacting with the fundamental, however, timbre generally refers to the stable relationship of the harmonics to all of the pitches of the set. An A (or la, as I prefer to use fixed do solfage (with do and ti, not ut and si, for my French and Italian readers) can have the same timbre as D (re), if the amount of sound energy is the same, relative to the fundamental, between the two. The significant difference is the frequency at which the fundamental vibrates.

When we get into intervals, we will discuss these ratios more in depth, but there is one that you need to know right away, and that is the interval of the octave. An octave is simply the doubling of a pitch, so if A=440, the next A will be 880. What we do to the notes in between is a matter for our discussion of temperament. So, if we look at the octaves between the standard points of audible sound we get: 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240, and finally 20480, or about 10 octaves. When we discuss Stockhausen’s “Four Criteria of Electronic Music” and look how it can help us understand all music, we will visit this concept in depth.

When we look back at our Cartesian graph, we can determine how loud a sound is by the range between high and low points on the Y-axis. The louder the sound, the more energy is in the sound, and the more distance will be registered on the Y-axis. The pitch is not changed by the dynamic (loudness), but our perceptions can be, particularly in a sound with a lot of harmonic activity in it.

One final point of dynamics and pitch is that this analog is exactly what happens when the sound hits our eardrum. The points that the ear drum moves to in either direction are the points on the Y-axis. The amount of time between crests and troughs is the X-axis.

The next Building Block to consider is the effect of a distribution of sound without a regular pattern, which we call noise.

I knew that these words

I knew that these words would come back to haunt me. This last weekend I went to Amalia's first art show (it was a group show, not a solo one yet). It was great.

Of course the audience was the proper one for a show of children's art: namely the parents. The general public was not subjected to this. There was a lot of good stuff though. These little ones have potential.

PS: Blogger used to have no trouble with the accent on the second "a" of Amalia's name, but now it replaces it with a "?" Does anyone know what can be done to correct this?

For some reason my comments

For some reason my comments have been down more than they have been up recently. I am at my wit's end (which is not too far out when it comes to these machines). Perhaps they will come back, perhaps not. In the absence of them, you can always comment directly to me at EKeilholtz[at]A[merica]O[n]L[ine][full stop]com[MERCIAL]. You can decipher that.

I haven't posted a record

I haven't posted a record review in a while. Here is a capsule one that ran last week in the ANG papers. Unfortunately I have limited space to discuss a recording in a capsule review, but you will do yourself a good service if you rush out and buy this record:

Various Artists
Down in the Basement
Old Hat Records
**** (four stars)

Subtitled "Joe Bussard’s Treasure Trove of Vintage 78s 1926 – 1937," this disc, with its accompanying 72 page booklet is as much a look at outstanding American roots music as it is a portrait of "the King of Record Collectors." Bussard is one of the great 78-rpm record collecting fanatics, and the booklet is full of stories of his collecting. No stodgy academic, Bussard collects music he loves, music that is as exciting and moving today as it was when it was recorded. The transfers have some surface noise, but not enough to really interfere with the music. The 24 tracks on this disc are the best of the best and feature everything from early jazz to a 1931 cut of Gene Autry yodeling a blues, a la Jimmie Rodgers.

One point I forgot to

One point I forgot to make in the duck recipe is that it can be done with any of the stone fruit: plums, apricots, cherries, pluots, peaches, nectarines, etc. If you use peaches and nectarines, you may want to add some lavender salt or dried lavender blossoms.

I promise, no more rambling

I promise, no more rambling rhapsodies to fruit this week. I couldn't help myself, as I had just eaten duck, which is one of the great pleasures of life.

Today I will be posting the next two volumes of Building Blocks of Music. I may also post another round of summer recipes (tonight we grill bison!), but that might wait until after dinner, as I am not sure exactly what else I am going to serve with the grilled bison. Maybe pasta al pesto. Maybe not. We'll see. I will tell you when it is done.

Summer Recipes, Vol 3. Plums,

Summer Recipes, Vol 3. Plums, Cherries, Apricots and Pluots.

There is something magnificent about the genus Prunus. Beautiful blossoms in February, lovely fruit in early summer, dried fruit the rest of the year, not to mention the noyeaux, the kernel of the stone, which can be used for ice cream or liquers (but, please be careful with using them in liquers, as the cyanide can be dangerous if you do not know the exact proportions and amount of steeping).

For me, nothing speaks better of summer than the few weeks that apricots are at the peak of ripeness. The smallest bite evokes a whole lifetime of early summers, with a good part of the day spent at my grandparents’ house, under the shade of elm trees (51st and T Streets for those who know Sacramento). The temperature in the shade would be 100+, but it was great.

My grandparents had a next-door neighbor named Edward. Edward was a classic eccentric: the Christmas tree was disposed of around the time the apricots were ripe, newspapers accumulated, the usual stuff that eccentrics would do if they followed any sort of pattern. Behind the houses on T street is an alley, a dirt road where the Italians would have their Victory gardens (although my family was raising their own produce since time immemorial).

At some point Edward planted an apricot tree, even though he was not a big fan of apricots. The result was that my grandmother and I had the run of the tree in the height of the season. And the rest of the year meant my grandmother’s fantastic apricot jam. So, for me, these great stone fruit resonate with early summer.

Some of the other great uses for these fruit include various brandies. From the Serbian Slivovica to the Hungarian Barak Palinka to the Prunus eau de vie made by Bonny Doon, the flavor of these fruit is well suited to the making of clear spirits. Other uses include the lekvars, those delightful pastes made from dried apricots and prunes.

At some point, some genius decided to hybridize the plum and the apricot. The resultant fruits are known as Pluots, and sometimes favor the apricot, but generally favor the plum. At the local farmers’ market one of the farmers wanted to go home and was selling pluots for $1 for as many as one could fit in a bag. I could not resist, and, even though many of his pluots were overripe and oozing juice, I bought a bag. At home I put the firm ones in a bowl and the others went into the refrigerator for cooking.

Tonight I decided to make a duck with pluot sauce, and that is the recipe I will share (there had to be a point somewhere in this rambly post other than a tribute to the noble stone fruit).

I started by removing all the loose fat from the cavity, and cutting out the excess skin. I chopped this into small bits and put it into a saucepan and covered with water. I set the saucepan over a low flame to render. If you cook duck or goose and throw away the fat, you are committing a grave sin. Duck and goose fat is the best cooking fat known to man. We will return to the fat later.

I sauteed the liver in olive oil and pounded it to a paste in a mortar. I added a handful of pounded pancetta and four mashed garlic cloves and then fried some caraway seeds in the remaining olive oil in the skillet. I added them and about five pounded juniper berries to the pancetta and liver. This is the subcutaneous stuffing (known as battuta in Italian).

I rinsed and dried the duck and made about 10 incisions in the duck in which I stuffed the battuta. I then thoroughly rubbed sea salt and fresh cracked pepper all over the outside and cavity of the duck, and placed a lemon, sliced into about 5 slices, into the cavity. I placed the duck in a baking pan.

I heated a half cup of extra virgin olive oil to the smoking point and poured it over the duck and immediately placed the duck in a preheated 425 degree oven. I basted the duck and lowered the heat to 375 about 15 minutes into the cooking. I basted the duck every 10 to 15 minutes and added a diced carrot, a diced stalk of celery, and a diced onion at 40 minutes into the cooking.

Meanwhile, I cooked the overripe pluots (I just squished them into the saucepan, removing only the stones) at medium low heat. When the duck was done (about 1 ½ hours), I removed it, placed it on my cutting board and covered it in foil. I then skimmed off the fat (which I reserved to fry day old bread for fabulous croutons), and deglazed the pan with cognac. As it was cooking the alcohol off, I added a generous pinch of flour, and stirred it over medium high heat. When the flour had cooked for a couple of minutes, I poured the whole thing through a strainer, mashing the vegetables to extract all of the juices. I put this into a saucepan, added the cooked pluots (similarly pressed through a strainer) and about a half cup of ruby port. I cooked it down at medium high heat, skimming occasionally. After the duck had been out about 10 minutes, I carved it into good serving pieces and covered with the pluot sauce.

Now, let us get back to the rendered fat. When it is done (the sputtering stops), you have two elements: clear, rendered fat and cracklings. The fat is reserved for other uses later (put it in a container in the refrigerator and it will last quite a while, unless you use it as frequently as I use the stuff). I strained the whole thing and put the cracklings in my mortar. I added freshly grated nutmeg, allspice, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper and pounded it with the pestle. I put this in my salad (like bacon bits, but much better).

I served the duck, the salad (forgot to get a baguette today), San Pelligrino sparkling mineral water, and Rosemount Estate’s 2002 Shiraz. I saved the leftover sauce (there is a lot), and will probably use it on either smoked cornish game hens or a roasted pork loin.

Summer is good.