Walk In Brain

Full disclosure: This desk supports Barack Obama, though if somehow Hillary Clinton gets the nod I will of course support her in the general election. I am not sure the country could survive a third term by the current GOP.

Though many of my fellow Democrats are decrying the ongoing nomination process, one of the benefits of it not having yet ended is the increase in interest in states where there was not much interest before. Both Indiana and Kentucky will be difficult for the Democrat to win in the fall at the national level, but it’s highly likely that the mobilization of forces necessary for these primaries will build the Democratic base; this will (a) possibly allow some more Democrats to win local and state offices in Indiana and Kentucky, and (b) force the GOP to spend money to defend these now less-safe seats.

So I’m not worried about the length of the primary, so long as no one is stupid or goes nuclear.

WF

This desk sends good thoughts and hopes for a speedy recovery to that liberal lion of the United States Senate, Ted Kennedy.

As you’ll recall, I met Sen. Kennedy the first week I lived in Massachusetts. While he is not without faults, very few people understand like he does just what it really means to be a United States Senator.

WF

Jawa Girl and I saw La bohème at CCM last night. Not surprisingly, they did a fantastic job.

Though I have to ask: how can someone dying from tuberculosis sing like that in the fourth act?

I love opera - I plan on writing one or more at some point - but it is an inherently silly art form.

WF

Y’know, this Facebook thing is pretty cool. I can understand why the kids are all “down with it,” as the kids say (do they still say that?).

I’m already thinking of pedagogical applications.

Leave it to me to suck the cool right out of it.

WF

The third letter writer brings up a question: Could Abraham Lincoln win Kentucky today?

Here’s the thing: He didn’t win it in 1860 either.

WF

I’ve been thinking a lot about net-structures lately, since that’s what I’m teaching in my post-tonal class tomorrow. In the book I use, this lecture is accompanied by an analysis of György Ligeti’s Ramifications for two sets of strings tuned a quarter-tone apart.

A short description is appropriate here: A net-structure involves lines or repeated patterns continually interacting with each other, with all the attendant transformations that may result. A simple type of net-structure involves taking a simple idea, repeating it in multiple voices (with regular or irregular temporal displacement), and possibly altering the pitch material over time (with each alteration happening at more or less the same point in each voice, accounting for the temporal displacement). Here’s an example displaced textually, rather than with notes:
1:A B C A B C A B C# A B C# A Bb B C# A Bb B C#
2:- A B C A B C A B C# A B C# A Bb B C# A Bb B
3:- - A B C A B C A B C# A B C# A Bb B C# A Bb
4:- - - A B C A B C A B C# A B C# A Bb B C# A

If you were to realize this musically, the overall sound would slowly (or quickly, depending on how long you played each note) transform from a general A minor sound to A major to a more chromatic cluster sound.

This is a very simple net-structure; Ligeti explores more complex ideas such as growing and shrinking outer intervallic boundaries and expansion of internal intervallic boundaries, as well as such rhythmic techniques as different subdivisions in each voice (triplets vs. sixteenth notes vs. quintuplets vs. sextuplets, for example).

Anyway, here is your assignment:

Write a simple, 1 - 2 minute piece involving a net-structure like the one shown above. If anyone wants to share with the class, send me the mp3 (wfmusic AT rocketmail DOT com) and I’ll post it.

(Mike, this ties in to your discussion on analysis-based vs. composition-based theory pedagogy: in this case, I believe a compositional exercise might shed some light on the system.)

WF

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann did the right thing and stepped down. (Compare that to Sen. David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana.)

I don’t think he should have been impeached over an affair; how he lost the right to continue as AG was in the way his office responded, and in the sexual harassment by his underlings.

But we’re done now, so let’s see who Gov. Strickland appoints and get this behind us, where it belongs.

WF

Well, I can’t believe it.

I’ve joined a social networking site that rhymes with “Mace Rook.”

Go search for Wes Flinn if you want to be one of my “friends” or whatever the kids call it.

WF

…and what it is is actually quite clear.

A Democrat won a special election in Mississippi yesterday to replace Roger Wicker (R), who was chosen to replace Trent Lott in the Senate. Mississippi’s First District has a Cook PVI of R+10. And yes, Rep.-Elect Childers is more conservative than I am, but it’s tremendous fun watching the GOP try to spin this into This Can Only Be Good News For Republicans. (The media will no doubt help them with that.) Couple that with picking up Louisiana’s 6th District (with, yes, a more conservative Democrat) and Illinois’ 14th (with a bonafide progressive - AND taking Denny Hastert’s old seat), and now there are less than 200 Republicans in the House. We could be looking at a sea change, though the GOP and their allies in the media will still try to spin it as TCOBGNFR.

Also from that story: West Virginia’s Chief Justice had the nickname “Spike” - Really?

WF

Two years ago today, Jawa Girl and I got married.

She is the first thought as I awaken and the last as I go to sleep.

She is my center and my guiding star.

And for reasons I don’t completely understand, she loves me as I love her. Thank Heaven for mysteries.

WF

For once, the Enquirer prints something positive about the city and its school system. Though Hughes looks like a scary old Gothic building, it looks and sounds like a major transformation is taking place, and for the better.

WF

I crack on the suburbs here, but I really do believe that the ‘burbs are becoming more diverse and more tolerant. Every poll shows that teenagers and early 20-somethings don’t ascribe to racial/gender/orientation bias to anywhere near the same extent as their parents and grandparents.

It’s a shame those parents and grandparents haven’t yet figured that out. I commend the Lakota school board for terminating this person’s contract.

WF

As someone who knows from Quixotic campaigns (I’m pretty sure that there are people in Westwood and Covedale still trying to vote against me from my 2001 City Council race), I wish Mr. von Stein all the luck in the world.

My in-laws live in the 8th District, and they deserve someone far better than John “Day-Glo” Boehner.

WF

Someone clearly has not actually read or studied what feminism is all about. And she’s a journalism major - she’ll fit in well in modern “journalism,” which is all about shilling for conservatives come what may.

WF

This is one example of the arts giving back to the community. The new Madisonville Arts Center ought to help with the redevelopment of what is a potentially very cool place.

WF