WALNUT - Shape-Note Score with Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

The text for this shape-note tune WALNUT is from William Billings' Lamentation Over Boston. Billings was the first American composer to publish American music in America, & hung out with the likes of Paul Revere & the Adamses. His Lamentation echoes Psalm 137 (By the waters of Babylon...) but about the Revolutionary War, & it ends with this lovely bit about dissonance & consonance. Around this time, Billings also published a dissonant composition called "Jargon", in rebellion from his critics who claimed his American harmonies were breaking the rules. "Walnut" doesn't break too many rules, not that there are any left to break, but it does have a couple of nice Billings-esque parallel motion moments. Here's a demo mp3 of the harmonies, which you could download here.


The text as I use it: (& I apologize, the second word should be "horrid" in the score & recording, & will be fixed next time around.)

Let horrid Jargon split the Air and rive my nerves asunder.
Let hateful discord greet my ear as terrible as Thunder.

If I forget thee, yea, if I do not remember thee,
Then let my numbers cease to flow, Then be my Muse unkind,
Then let my Tongue forget to move and ever be confin'd.

Let harmony be banish'd hence and Consonance depart;
Let dissonance erect her throne and reign within my Heart.

If I forget thee, yea, if I do not remember thee,
Then let my numbers cease to flow, Then be my Muse unkind,
Then let my Tongue forget to move and ever be confin'd.

(The full poem is here.)

Quotes: William Billings' Numb-Skull, & inharmonic Caverns

Kind Reader, No doubt you (do, or ought to) remember, that about eight years ago, I published a Book entitled, The New-England Psalm-Singer, &c. And truely a most masterly and inimitable Performance, I then thought it to be. Oh! how did my foolish heart throb & beat with tumultouos joy! With what impatience did I wait on the Book-Binder, while stitching the sheets and putting on the covers, with what extacy, did I snatch the yet unfinished Book out of his hands, and pressing it to my bosom, with rapturous delight, how lavish was I, in encomiums on this infant production of my own Numb-Skull? Welcome; thrice welcome; thou legitimate offspring of my brain, go forth my little Book, go forth and immortalize the name of your Author; may your sale be rapid and may you speedily run thru ten thousand Editions, may you be a welcome guest in all companies and what will ad tenfold to thy dignity, may you find your way into the Libraries of the Learned.

Billings also included a dissonant song called Jargon in response to "critics of the harmonic vocabulary of his first tune book." He includes a long discourse, addressed "To the Goddess of Discord":

DREAD SOVEREIGN,
I have been sagacious enough of late, to discover that some evil-minded persons have insinuated to your highness, that I am utterly unmindful of your Ladyship's importance; and that my time, as well as my talents, was wholly taken up in paying my divoto to your most implacable enemy and strenuous opposer, viz. the GODDESS OF CONCORD, which representation is as false as it is ill-natured; for as your Ladyship may believe me without hesitation, when I assure you on the word of an honest man, that knowing your Ladyship to be of a very cautious disposition; I have always been very careful of trespassing on your grounds for fear of incuring your displeasure, so far as to exite you to take vengeance (which is well known to be your darling attribute.)

I have likewise been informed, that some of my most implacable enemy's are some of your Majesty's privy council, and that your Majesty's Secretary at war, viz. Lord Jargon, was about to send some of your other Lords in waiting, viz. Lord second, Lord 7th, Lord 9th, alias 2d, junior [i.e. dissonant musical intervals], with some others, to beat a tattoo apon the drum of my ear, with so great a number of contra-vibrations without the intervention of a single coincidence, and with so much Forte as to dislocate my auditory; upon which was, to repel force by force, and we had even proceeded as far as to order Lord Consonance, our Secretary at peace to furnish our life guard with an infinite number of coincidences, without the intervention of one contravibration; and altho we have the majority on our side, yet we held it in scord to take any advantage from our numbers, therefore we had selected an equal number of those who had attained unto the first three, viz. Lord Unison, Lord Diapente, Lord Octave, alias Lord Unison, jun'r, and for their Aid de camps, we had chosen two twin brothers, viz. Major and Minor Trio, together with Major Sixth, &c we had proceeded thus far when in turning over a very antient history I met with the following passage, viz. "by wise council thou shalt make thy war, and in multitude of cousellors there is safety." [...]

This goes on for several more pages, & continues with a response from the goddess herself:

Quotes: William Billings & Rules for Composition

I'm reading a book called "William Billings of Boston", (about the great hymn & psalm composer, essentially America's first composer, & one with a real voice.) The authors point out that it was the conservative elders who, earlier in the 18th Century, established the singing-schools, to educate the masses how to read music & sing the English hymns right (things were getting kind of folksy & enthusiastic); & it was this singing-school movement ("ironically" they point out) that made it possible for some of the more adventurous hymns that the New Englanders in the 1770s-1800 produced. The book's pretty dry, but there's some good quotes about the controversies surrounding music in the colonies:

The singing of Psalmes, tho it breath forth nothing but holy harmony, and melody: yet such is the subtilty of the enemie, and the enmity of our nature against the Lord, & his wayes, that our hearts can finde matter of discord in this harmony, & crochets of division in this holy melody.

-The Whole Booke of Psalmes
(Cambridge [Stephen Day], 1640), p. [1] of preface.

Where there is no Rule, Men's Fancies (by which they are govern'd) are various; some affect a Quavering Flourish on one Note, & others upon another which (because they are Ignorant of true Musick or Melody) the account a Grace to the Tune; & while some affect a quicker Motion, other affect a slower, & drawl out their Noted beyond all Reason; hence in Congregations ensue Jarrs & Discords, which make the Singing (rather) resemble Howling.

-A Brief Discourse Concerning Regular Singing
(Boston: B. Green, Jr. for John Eliot, 1725), pg. 7

William Billings published The New-England Psalm-Singer in 1770 at age 24, with a Hundred-Twenty-Something original compositions--, that increased more than tenfold the amount of American-written music ever published in America. In the preface, he defends some of his unconventional harmonies (illegal parallel fifth & octaves, et cetera); in a time when puritan music was supposed to be somber, he had a lot of explaining to do.

Perhaps it may be expected by some that I should say something concerning Rules for composition. To these I answer that Nature is the best Dictator, for all the hard dry studied Rules that ever was prescribed, will not enable any Person to form an Air any more than the bare Knowledge of the four and twenty Letters, will qualify a Scholar for composing a Piece of Poetry, or properly adjusting a Tragedy, without a Genius. It must be Nature, Nature must lay the Foundation, Nature must inspire the Thought.

-William Billings, New-England Psalm-Singer (Boston, 1770), pg. 19

I have read several Author's Rules on Composition, & find the strictest of them make some Exceptions, as thus, they say that two 8s or two 5ths may not be taken together rising or falling, unless one be Major and the other Minor; but rather than soil the Air, they will allow that Breach to be made, and this Allowance gives great Latitude to young Composers, for they may always make that Plea, and say, if I am not allowed to transgress the Rules of composition I shall certainly spoil the Air, and cross the Strain that Fancy dictated.
-ibid.

For my own Part, as I don't think myself confin'd to any Rules for Composition laid down by any that went before me, neither should I think (were I to pretend to lay down Rules) that any who come after me were any ways obligated to adhere to them, any further than they should think proper: So in face, I think is best fr every Composer to be his own Carver. Therefore, upon this Consideration, for me to dictate or pretend to prescribe Rules of this Nature for others, would not only be very unnecessary, but also a great Piece of Vanity.
-ibid,

FOUNDERS ROCK - New Shape-note tune with Demo Solo-Quartet Recording

Hello, & here is another shape-note tune from The Western Harmony! The shape-note score, unfortunately, is not quite up, but will follow shortly. The text is from the Bishop George Berkeley's 1726 poem "On the Prospect of Planting Arts & Learning in America". Apparently, this poem is the reason Berkeley, California, is named for the Irish philosopher - - According to the Centennial Record of the University of California, "In 1866…at Founders' Rock, a group of College of California men were watching two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate. One of them, Frederick Billings, was reminded of the lines of the (Irish Anglican) Bishop Berkeley, 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be named for the eighteenth-century Irish philosopher and poet." As the Sacred Harp has several grand patriotic songs, with sometimes antiquated notions ("...to crown the young & rising states", &c), I attempted to keep the music for this song appropriately conservative. Once again, I warn & apologize that the "solo-quartet" recording is merely a demo, to sort of test the harmonies, & it will sound cooler with real singers, when I make some friends.

The Muse, disgusted at an age & clime
Barren of every glorious theme,
In distant lands now waits a better time
Producing subjects worthy fame;

In happy climes, where from the genial sun
And virgin earth such scenes ensue,
The force of art by nature seems outdone,
And fancied beauties by the true:

In happy climes, the feat of innocence,
Where nature guides, & virtue rules;
Where men shall not impose for truth & sense
The pedantry of courts & schools.

There shall be sung another golden age,
The rise of empire & the arts,
The good & great inspiring epic rage,
The wisest heads & noblest hearts.

Not such as Europe breeds in her decay;
Such as she bred when fresh & young,
When heavenly flame did animate her clay,
By future poets shall be sung.

Westward the course of empire takes its way:
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

Easter Anthem at the Golden Gate

The first recordings & photos are trickling in from last weekend's Golden Gate Sacred Harp Convention.


Here's William Billings' Easter Anthem, 236 in the big book, recorded by Will from Kalamazoo. Sorry it's over-driven, but we're singing real loud in a medium-sized old room.

Easter Anthem
William Billings (1746~1800)

The Lord is ris'n indeed! Hallelujah!
Now is Christ risen from the dead,
And become the first fruits of them that slept.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

And did He rise? Did He rise?
Hear it, ye nations! Hear it, O ye dead!
He rose, He rose, He burst the bars of death
And triumphed o'er the grave.

Then I rose,
Then first Humanity triumphant
Passed the crystal ports of light,
And seized Eternal Youth.

Hail, all immortal hail, hail.
Heaven all lavish of strange gifts to man,
Thine's all the glory,
Man's the boundless bliss.

I will post more later, as I weed thru for gems. The whole afternoon can be heard here.

Follow-up: Violence to compensate for lack of talent.

Someone named Albert posted a long essay dissecting Seung Cho's bad plays on my April 18th "literary review." I responded below, but mostly what I meant was, don't look too closely at the perceived symbolism, any "symbolism" in this case or foreshadowing of violence is inflicted by the critic, the plays have zero depth. As for reading a lot of racial tension into Cho's life & work, even in his manifesto, he states his "revenge" was more driven by class than by his insecurities about his name & heritage.

Anyway, I feel vindicated by Stephen King, who came to some similar conclusions about Cho's artistic merit. I'll reprint his short essay for Entertainment Weekly here in full:

I've thought about it, of course. Certainly in this sensitized day and age, my own college writing — including a short story called ''Cain Rose Up'' and the novel RAGE — would have raised red flags, and I'm certain someone would have tabbed me as mentally ill because of them, even though I interacted in class, never took pictures of girls' legs with my cell phone [...], and never signed my work with a ?.

As a teacher, I had one student — I will call him George — who raised red flags galore in my own mind: stories about flaying women alive, dismemberment, and, the capper, ''getting back at THEM.'' George was very quiet, and verbally inarticulate. It was only in his written work that he spewed these relentless scenes of gore and torture. His job was in the University Bookstore, and when I inquired about him once, I was told he was a good worker, but ''quiet.'' I thought, ''Whoa, if some kid is ever gonna blow, it'll be this one.'' He never did. But that was in the days before a gun-totin' serial killer could get top billing on the Nightly News and possibly the covers of national magazines.

For most creative people, the imagination serves as an excretory channel for violence: We visualize what we will never actually do (James Patterson, for instance, a nice man who has all too often worked the street that my old friend George used to work). Cho doesn't strike me as in the least creative, however. Dude was crazy. Dude was, in the memorable phrasing of Nikki Giovanni, ''just mean.'' Essentially there's no story here, except for a paranoid a--hole who went DEFCON-1. He may have been inspired by Columbine, but only because he was too dim to think up such a scenario on his own.

On the whole, I don't think you can pick these guys out based on their work, unless you look for violence unenlivened by any real talent.

I also think it's relevant to bring back up a controversy from ten years ago. I just remember Peter Schickele lambasting on his radio show a feminist music critic who claimed Beethoven was a "suppressed rapist" who took out his violent sexual longings on his music instead of on women. Schickele said that if that's the case, we should be giving manuscript paper to inmates. Beethoven either was a rapist or he wasn't (he wasn't), he may have been a tad crazy, but violent music is uncomparable to repressed violent urges. Many artists go to some pretty dark places to illuminate the human condition - Cho had more human condition than he did illumination.