Hail Caesar

I saw the Coen Brother's "Hail Caesar" yesterday streaming on Netflix.  This film is higher rated by critics than by audiences, but I think the popular response is correct. There were funny moments, but the overall production seemed overproduced and self-indulgent. A lot of attention went into costumes and elaborate parodies of movies like Ben Hur. It's the kind of thing Tarantino does much better.

The movie seemed pointless. The moral decision of the main character at the end was whether to accept a job at Lockheed or stay at "Capitol" cinema. But there is not much at stake in this decision. The kidnapping of the George Clooney character by the "communist writers" is just plain stupid.

Maybe the critics liked it because it is meta and they enjoyed the allusions to other movies.

Article Workshop

I've decided to give an article workshop on zoom.  It will be for our graduate students, but any lurkers on the blog are welcome too. There will be 8 sessions, since the idea is to have it last a semester (every two weeks). It will be free, but I ask that anyone who can afford to do so donate to their local food bank.  Here is an outline:  

THE SCHOLARLY ARTICLE

Week I: Outline of the course. The article as a "fixed form" like a sonnet or sonata. The gold standard of our field. Mastering the form is a matter of craftsmanship. Elements of the form. My experience as reviewer of articles for more than 30 years. (And also I've written a few.)

II: The critical problem and the thesis. What question are you addressing? What is your answer to this question? Does the thesis outline the argument of the article? 

III: Rhetorical effects of the title. Epigraphs. The introduction. Its various functions. "Well begun is half done."

IV: The body of the article: presenting evidence. Developing an argument with individual segments. 

V: Scholarly prose. [This could be a workshop in itself.] Finding a "voice."

VI: Savvy use of citation. How to quote, paraphrase, and integrate other critics into your argument.

VII: Signposting. How NOT to do it. Or how to do it less obtrusively. 

VIII: The publishing process. Journals. Addressing the "revise and resubmit." 

Walking

One way of measuring progress is if a something that was once difficult is now easy.  I used to have a hard time constructing walking bass lines, let alone improvising them.  Now I worked out these lines several separate chord changes and can improvise variations on them, such as Autumn Leaves (in several keys), Blues (in several keys), Rhythm Changes. It is still difficult for me to play these lines while I improvise over them on the right hand.

I am good at knowing what I like in these lines, and can avoid what I don't like.  The basic rules are to outline the chords and have good voice leading, which usually means that beat four will lead easily to the root of beat one of the next chord. The other rule is that they shouldn't be too corny sounding or obvious, but still very convincing. Then I could get into having them be phrased confidently, being in the pocket and being truly jazz like. So this is still difficult in some sense: not just having the notes, but having it sound really good and then also doing the improv over them.  Just knowing what you want is a huge step. How could you possibly achieve anything if you didn't know what you wanted?

Blue Skies

I tried to learn a jazz standard by ear.  I started with Irvin Berlin's "Blue Skies." I listened to some recordings and found out by ear, with my keyboard out, that it is usually played in C. The next step was to play the melody by ear. That wasn't hard to figure out.

The first chord is A minor. I tried to figure out the second chord but what I came up with didn't sound right. I tried to get E7 to work, but I was not satisfied with it. I got some other things "right," after I looked at what the chords were supposed to be. Then I remembered that I had played the song by looking at the chords, maybe a year ago, so I was partially reconstructing it from memory.

The result was an inexpert reharmonization of the tune. I'm not discouraged, because I learned something about my own abilities.

I can tell what key a song is in

I can figure out the melody

I can figure out some of the chords easily

I can hear when a chord is completely wrong when I try out something that isn't even in the ballpark

When I am wrong I can reharmonize things in a way that doesn't always sound completely bad

I have some musical memory to rely on.

On the other hand, I cannot

hear exactly what the chords should be / I'm at about 30%.

reharmonize with skill

I will try this with another song next.  

If I play something and it sounds wrong, then that is actually a skillful event. It is MY ears that are telling me that, therefore my ear has some capacity.

***

I looked at a first sentence of one my chapters, and I realized it was not a good sentence, especially to introduce a chapter. You don't want to lead with a weak sentence. That feedback loop is like my "ear" for prose.  I'm sure the sentence was functional in some previous version of the chapter, but it is not, so I changed it.  Normally I read through a paragraph many times, on many days, making small changes, until I can come back to it and leave it alone.

Analynn Sober Lecture Recital Keith Gates's The Barren One

Kosma

Joseph Kosma is interesting. He wrote the music to "Autumn Leaves," with words by Prévert, and was a Hungarian Jew who wrote a lot of other music as well. The English lyrics are my Johnny Mercer, one of the best lyricists in the great American songbook tradition. I found a recording of Autumn Leaves by Germaine Montero, whom I am studying now as a link between Lorca and the Chanson Française.

2 dreams

In one dream, someone was trying to get me up to work at 2 in the morning (this was about when I was having the dream). It wasn't the chair of my department, but it was in response to a request from her. We began to argue, and then I asked myself whether I was "communicating like a Buddhist." (I had read part of a book with the title in real life the morning before).  Obviously I was not, and I woke up.

In the second, I paid for some food in a Mexican restaurant but there was nowhere to sit. I was in a crowd of people and had to leave because it was unsafe (social distancing). I was riding in a car with someone who had also ordered food.  We were going to take it home. When I got back the restaurant was closed.  Later, I was showing people some books I had purchased in Spain.  One was the second volume Antonio Gamoneda's memoir. I said I didn't like it "no me gustó," but Gamoneda was there in my apartment too. I was embarrassed but he agreed with me that it wasn't very good and a conversation ensued, with other people giving their opinions. Donald, Gamoneda's translator, was also there.